Park Pride Logo This Goodwill Spotlight shines on Park Pride. The nonprofit has been around for more than 25 years, and has provided more than $800,000 in grants all over the city in the last year alone. Park Pride operates with the help of more than 87 “Friends of the Park” groups, who take on projects in a specific area, offering community support to better local parks.

Park Pride has provided more than half a million hours of service in support of area parks, and has been voted the best volunteer program in Atlanta for multiple years. The organization offers a variety of ways to get involved with local parks. “We are trying to get people involved in preserving their park,” said Michael Halicki, Park Pride Executive Director.

Halicki said that this involvement comes as people come to expect more from their neighborhood parks. A third of Atlanta does not live within a ten minute walk of a park, and Park Pride seeks to change that.

Michael Halicki Quote“The idea that you would have to get in your car to go drive to a place where you can walk and be out in nature is a little crazy,” he said. “Everyone should live within a ten minute walk of a park.”

The organization benefits from multiple partnerships, and uses those to hold a Parks & Green Space Conference every year. This year’s conference, to be held beginning March 21, has a “Parks and Play” theme to talk about the needs of all ages in parks. More than 500 people, including corporate partners, come to the conference every year.

Jim and Elaine asked Michael about the Park Pride grant process, and what individuals should do to make changes to a park that’s not in the best shape.

Grant workshops are available through the organization, and can be found at parkpride.org. This will help listeners learn more about setting up “Friends of the Park” groups for their local park. Large grants go to groups and conservancies through a competitive grant and evaluation process by the Park Pride staff, including a registered landscape architect.

Grants range in award amount from $2,500 to $50,000, and require a matching gift to be raised or secured from the local community (city, other foundations, or individual fundraising). This creates a stronger community investment and interest in the park.

“The focus of our organization is trying to enabling communities to achieve their hopes and dreams for their neighborhood parks and green space,” Halicki said. “Our mission is to provide programs, funding, and leadership to engage communities in developing and improving parks and greenspaces.”

While the organization has many individual park projects, they all are part of a larger plan. “We are not just looking at wins in one specific place, but how does it fit within a parks and the city as a whole,” Halicki said.

Community buy-in and volunteer support is critical to this process. “Our focus on community staying power, and taking on a level of responsibility to make those improvements happen,” Halicki said. “The initiative that communities show, in advancing a project through and taking ownership for it is really the determining factor in what gets done and what doesn’t.”