The Trust for Public Land in Texas THERE IS SO MUCH TO BE PROUD OF
in 2021
AND MORE TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE YEAR AHEAD
THANK YOU FOR JOINING US IN TEXAS As a Trust for Public Land supporter, you are contributing to healthy, equitable, resilient communities. Like you, we believe that green spaces are precious and that everyone deserves access to nature. In early 2020, when the pandemic first limited travel and inside gatherings, Texas families turned to nearby open spaces, rediscovering the ease and stress-free joys of walking, camping, and picnicking. But this mass movement outdoors also exposed stark disparities between lowerincome and more affluent communities. As our state recovers from COVID-19, equitable access to nature is more important than ever. Now is the time to champion parks’ pivotal role in healthy, thriving communities.
This past year we’ve been hard at work ensuring every Texan has close-to-home access to parks and nature. In Dallas, we opened South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park—our first park within the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt—and acquired an additional 82 acres of land for the future Woody Branch Park. We also opened six Community Schoolyards™ across the city, providing park access to tens of thousands of people. In Fort Worth, we developed a new open space planning tool, which the city is now using to guide its efforts to conserve open spaces for future generations. And thanks to our philanthropic partners, we closed our 10-for-10 Campaign a year early, which had the ambitious goal of raising $10 million to create parks within a 10-minute walk of those who need them most. Thank you for creating happier, healthier neighborhoods where all people can thrive!
BRIT TANY GRYDER
South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park ribbon cutting celebration
COOL SCHOOLS NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS their kids, get active, and spend time with friends outdoors.
Found in every neighborhood, public schoolyards offer a common sense solution to expanding park access to everyone in Dallas. We are partnering with the Texas Trees Foundation, Dallas Park and Recreation Department, and Dallas Independent School District to remake 20 schoolyards into green spaces for students, and, when school’s out, park-poor neighbors. And by planting shade trees and other greenery at schools, we can protect students and whole neighborhoods from rising temperatures. The Cool Schools Neighborhood Parks partnership is a win-win solution that will make a real difference in peoples’ lives, at a fraction of the cost of a new city park.
this mural to allow the viewer “toI want step into a unique natural world that comes directly from the children’s minds and imaginations.
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– Alejandra Camargo Artist and Muralist
Looking ahead...
Over the coming years, we will continue working with our partners and the community to open an additional 14 Cool School Neighborhood Parks, bringing park access to thousands more people across Dallas!
MUR AL BY R AY-MEL CORNELIUS AT REINHARDT ELEMENTARY
We work closely with neighbors, students, and teachers so that each schoolyards is designed with and for the community. Not only does this ensure that these new schoolyard parks reflect local needs and character, but it also deepens peoples’ connection to these places and each other. From barren blacktops and overgrown fields have sprung new playgrounds, outdoor classrooms, shade trees, and more. With the opening of six community schoolyards in 2021, another 32,000 people can now play with
While every campus is unique, all feature vibrant murals. We worked with local arts organization 29 Pieces to connect artists, teachers, students, and community members; then translating their stories and drawings into beautiful and meaningful artworks at all six schoolyard parks. From a cactus patch flittering with birds, to a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, to ancestors communing with nature, each mural roots the schoolyard within its community.
THE FIVE MILE CREEK URBAN GREENBELT JASON FLOWERS
The Woody Branch of Five Mile Creek
Five Mile Creek twists through the hills and valleys of southern Dallas like a green ribbon in an otherwise grey landscape. Yet for many low-income communities, what should be a beautiful place of natural respite is instead a polluted, overgrown eyesore.
SOUTH OAK CLIFF RENAISSANCE PARK In the heart of the Five Mile Creek watershed is South Oak Cliff High School, one of the most storied schools in Dallas that has produced neurosurgeons, attorneys, and countless professional athletes.
BRIT TANY GRYDER
Since 2018, we have partnered with the community to bring to life The Five Mile Creek Urban Greenbelt, a bold vision for 20 miles of trails and 500 acres of parks along the watershed. In 2021 we crossed several major milestones, including opening the greenbelt’s first park, and acquiring an additional 82 acres for the future Woody Branch Park. By expanding park and trail access in neglected neighborhoods, the greenbelt will go a long way toward improving health and equity in Dallas. The campaign got a boost thanks to the Boone Family Foundation’s $1 million matching gift campaign.
In 2018 we joined the school, local nonprofit For Oak Cliff, and the South Oak Cliff community to transform the littered, overgrown eyesore into a green oasis that would benefit both students and nearby residents. And in November 2021, we celebrated the grand opening of South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park!
Parks are the soul of a community because they represent the respect “ and reverence we have for beautiful outdoor spaces. Judge Charles R. Rose Community Park will be essential to the well-being of this community and its residents, giving individuals and families multiple recreational and leisure options in a natural and pristine setting. — Tennell Atkins, Dallas City Council, District 8
Called South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park in celebration of the growth and optimism in the neighborhood, this new 1.8-acre green space is designed to be an anchor of health and wellness for the community. Located near the high school and Bluitt-Flowers Health Center, the park features an outdoor classroom, exercise equipment, all-abilities playground, and a climbing wall funded by The North Face. This newly opened park has already become a beloved amenity for the neighborhood.
JUDGE CHARLES ROSE, SR. PARK Farther south, along an unnamed tributary of Five Mile Creek, lie 40 acres of unspoiled wilderness in the heart the city, the site of Dallas’s next park. Just blocks away from its expanses of blackland prairie and riparian woodlands lie the dense and diverse Highland Hills, Singing Hills, and University Hills neighborhoods. With the support of donors like you, in 2018, we purchased the land. The Trust for Public Land leveraged philanthropic contributions with city bond funding to purchase the land. Last fall, together with the city’s Park and Recreation Department, we hosted a series of virtual meetings to gather input for the park. Even more people were reached through the project’s website CharlesRosePark.org, social media, and automated phone calls. These meetings led to the creation of a community-driven master plan for the park, which was formally adopted by the Park Department earlier this year.
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We will soon begin implementing the community’s vision for walking trails, educational signs, playgrounds, sports fields, and spaces for the community to come together. The park’s natural elements will also serve as a learning laboratory for nearby college, high school, and elementary school students. Restoration of its woods and meadows will also help keep neighborhoods cool, capture rainwater, and shelter migrating wildlife. Thanks to your support, in a year’s time this treasured landscape will become one of the largest additions to the Dallas park system in a generation, with its natural beauty accessible to all.
Looking Ahead... This spring, The Trust for Public Land acquired another cornerstone for the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt, 82.6 acres of forestland along the Woody Branch. The creek passes directly through the property and is one of the most beautiful stretches in the entire watershed. The Trust for Public Land is beginning to raise funds for the design and development of the future Woody Branch Park, which will provide opportunities for recreation, gatherings, and education for local residents and students.
FORT WORTH OPEN SPACE PROGRAM JASON FLOWERS
Little Fossil Creek Fort Worth, TX
From Little Fossil Creek to the prairies around Benbrook Lake, Fort Worth is home to some of the most beautiful places in North Texas. And—as the second-fastest growing city in America—it has never been more important to protect these incredible natural areas for the benefit of future generations.
During the 18-month project, Fort Worth residents participated in a public opinion survey. The survey found that 96 percent of respondents think conserving natural areas is “very important,” and 99 percent support the city establishing a permanent open space conservation program.
The Trust for Public Land worked closely with the City of Fort Worth to develop a comprehensive roadmap for protecting and stewarding its treasured open spaces.
Thanks to our partnership, the City of Fort Worth has the tools it needs to build a future where every resident can enjoy the benefits of close-tohome nature. The City of Fort Worth has already begun using our research to support its open space program.
Our work included developing a GIS-based mapping tool that uses data to pinpoint the most important natural areas for conservation in the city. We also completed a public policy white paper covering strategies for funding, operating, and maintaining the city’s open spaces.
Learn more by visiting
FortWorthOpenSpace.org
Texas Advisory Board We are so grateful for our volunteer leaders Tillie Borchers, Civitas Capital (Chair)
Jerome Frank, Frank Investments
Tamela Thornton, E Smith Legacy (Vice Chair)
Ron Gafford, retired, Austin Industries
Chris Applequist, Generation Housing Development
Dr. Michael Horne, Parkland Foundation
William B. Chaney, Gray Reed
Heidi Pandya, Sg2
Lucy Burns, Billingsley Company
Andrés Ruzo, Boiling River Project
Sharon Lyle, Ensemble
Jim Shipley, Beck Construction
Robert Abtahi, Law Office of Robert Abtahi
Enisha Shropshire, Vector Strategies
Chantel Cheatham, Pizza Hut, LLC
Joan Walne, former Park Board President
Trammell S. Crow, EarthX
Asheya Warren, PRAXIS
Alan Dorantes, T-Mobile
Karl Zavitkovsky, retired, Office of Economic Development for City of Dallas
Lois Finkelman, former Dallas City Councilmember
Tim Maiden, Simmons Bank
TPL STAFF
BACK COVER: BRIT TANY GRYDER • FRONT COVER: BRIT TANY GRYDER; JASON FLOWERS; JASON FLOWERS; DARCY KIEFEL; DARCY KIEFEL
Thank you for helping improve the health, equity, and climate outcomes for communities in Texas and beyond. We couldn’t do this without you.
Join us Help ensure everyone has access to the outdoors. Every park we create, schoolyard we transform, trail we extend, and landscape we protect is thanks to supporters like you.
tpl.org/donate
Robert Kent Texas State Director 214.957.5527 | robert.kent@tpl.org Ray Garvin Director of Philanthropy 832.919.0744| ray.garvin@tpl.org 325 North Saint Paul Street, Suite 2210 Dallas, TX 7520