Dear Friends,

2020 is here and we’re kicking it off with a bang. Our Community School Parks (CSP) program is more vibrant than ever, with attendance and parent participation at an all-time high. We’ve engaged key stakeholders on the importance of shared use with wonderful results: the City is expanding its own CSP program to include 25 additional schools by 2025 and the Los Angeles Unified School District is working with us to streamline CSP operation for sites not managed by the City.

This exciting momentum brings the need for enhanced capacity. Thus, I’m thrilled to be able to share that increasing capacity for this work is exactly what we’re doing: People for Parks is uniting with the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT). Operating as a program within LANLT, People for Parks will continue to advance park equity through Community School Park operations, community organizing, and shared use policy advocacy. 

With guidance from funder-supported strategic consultants, we combined each organization’s best assets so that we may expand our critical work. Over the coming months, I’ll continue to oversee program operations as an advisor to LANLT. 

Having People for Parks integrating with another organization in order to expand our work has been a goal of mine for some time. To see it finally happen is incredibly rewarding. None of this would have been possible without the hard work of PFP’s and LANLT’s staff and boards. Stronger together, we will continue the fight for greenspace equity so that all Angelenos, regardless of race, zip code, or income have access to a safe, accessible parks and gardens. 

Many thanks,

Anna Gruben,
People for Parks Program Director