Partners for Parks wins Lehman Award

For 24 years, Partners for Parks has been Breathing Life into our Community with grassroots projects that serve the greater Charlotte region. Now, the nonprofit’s work to preserve, promote, and enhance parks, greenways, and open spaces for all is being recognized nationally with a prestigious Lehman Award for Park Foundation Excellence from the National Association of Park Foundations. Partners for Parks is one of 5 foundations recognized with a Lehman Award in the NAPF’s national virtual celebration on October 16, 2020.

“We are very honored to receive this prestigious award that recognizes what we have done,” said Partners for Parks Treasurer Al Brown, accepting the award for Regional Support during the NAPF’s virtual celebration. “We are dedicated to advocating for parks, greenways, open spaces, nature centers, and recreation programs for all ages.”

Charlotte’s Partners for Parks is best known for the popular Open Streets 704 events and the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Trials, which had an estimated $1 million local impact when they were held in Charlotte. The foundation provides a funding vehicle for 80 different local friends of parks groups and foundations, and has allocated more than $400,000 for parks programs and program scholarships for kids since its inception in 1996.

“The recognition they gave us was for the vast umbrella we’ve become for the regional foundation — 80 different projects we’re supporting,” says Brown. “We were blessed that they decided to recognize us.”

Other projects that set Partners for Parks apart from other groups were the Friends of Hickory downtown market playground, beautiful Dogwood Park at Wesley Chapel’s sports complex, and the Newtown Playground at Charlotte’s Park Road Park, which was a tribute to the children killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012.

The Lehman Award is named for Ron Lehman, a commissioner in his park district in Illinois for more than 40 years, who served more than 10 years as the President of the Illinois Association of Park Districts. As a founder of the National Association of Park Foundations, he understood the importance of community fundraising for local parks. The NAPF is a way for local foundations to learn best practices and share documents and processes.

“Philanthropy is there at a local level if led by local leadership,” explained Lehman during the virtual awards. “If you team up park and recreation staff with citizens in a community, a lot can happen with park and recreation and quality of life, that isn’t possible when professionals are working with a limited budget.”

As budgets feel constrained from the economics of 2020, and residents seek the outdoors as a way to ease the stress of working from home, the work of park foundations will be more important than ever. The goal of Partners for Parks beyond 2020 is to make sure everyone in the region has access to a park they can enjoy.

“Our focus in 2020 is advocacy — to make sure everyone has equal access to parks, greenways, and recreational facilities across the Charlotte region, regardless of race, income, or zip code,” Brown told the virtual audience from his home in Charlotte. “Parks and greenways are truly gathering spaces in our community that are critical to the health and well-being of ALL of our citizens.”

Beth Poovey, President of Partners for Parks, echoes Brown’s vision of the work ahead creating equity across local park systems.

“Parks play a critical role in the health and well-being of our communities,” says Poovey. “During this time of COVID, the need to ensure equal access to open spaces for everyone has become even more apparent. Our entire community needs safe places to reconnect, exercise, play, and relax.”

The Lehman Award reflects the work Partners for Parks has done to enhance park and recreation opportunities over the last 24 years, but there is still work to do as the Charlotte region expands.

“We are dedicated to fulfilling our vision, which is to Breathe Life into our Community,” says Brown.