George Dusenbury ● gdusenbury4@gmail.com ● (404) 604-7803

Park Pride Case Study

1989 – Park Pride is Formed

• MOU with City of Atlanta

• Free office space & utilities (within Parks Department)

• $60K first year, $30K second year, nothing thereafter

• City staff to act as E.D. for first year

• Park Pride has liability insurance with City as additionally insured

• Park Pride to manage:

• Volunteer Program ● Adopt-a-Park ● Beautification Incentives

• Park Donations ● Fiscal Partners (1998) Program

Park Pride Case Study

Evolution into Advocacy

2000 – People for Parks Initiative

2001 – Park Atlanta Rescue Campaign (PARC) formed

The Trust for Public Land, Grant Park Conservancy, Trees Atlanta, Piedmont Park Conservancy,

Olmsted Linear Parks Alliance, Georgia Conservation Voters, Georgia Recreation and Parks

Association, PATH Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and Conservation Research Institute

2002 – First Parks & Greenspace Conference

Mayor Shirley Franklin creates Parks &

Greenspace Task Force

2003 – It all blows up

Park Pride Case Study

Lessons Learned

• Everybody loves parks!

• Most people really don’t care about your park

• For every park, a handful or more people who really care about it

Park Pride Case Study

A New Mission

• Find the people who love their park

• Get them to work with us to improve their park

• Introduce them to each other

• Leverage our relationships to advocate for all parks

Park Pride Case Study

Park Pride Reborn

• Community Micro Grants (2004)

• Conference Scholarships (2004)

• Good-bye Volunteer Coordinator, Hello Community Builder (2004)

• Park Visioning – Dreams on Paper (2005)

• Park Inspection Program

• Park Pride Inspiration Awards

Park Pride Case Study

Park Pride Case Study

Building Trust with Communities

Park Pride Case Study

Maintaining Trust with the City

2005 Victories

• Creation of BeltLine Tax Allocation District

• Passage of $105 million parks bond

• $1+ million (10%) increase for parks maintenance

Park Pride Case Study

Building on Success

• Adopt-a-Community Garden (2006)

• Community Grants (2007)

• Adopt-the BeltLine (2010)

• Expanding into DeKalb County (2010)

Park Pride Case Study

Lessons & Observations

• Working with the City – It’s Their Park System

• Working with the Community – The Park is in Their Community

• Sustaining the Organization – Balancing Public and Private Support

Park Pride Case Study

We Are Selling Parks

Park Pride Case Study

Park Pride Case Study