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TPL Welcomes New Cohort to the 10-Minute Walk® Park Equity Accelerator
Today, Trust for Public Land (TPL) announces the addition of seven U.S. communities to the third cohort of the 10-Minute Walk® Park Equity Accelerator. Cities including Chicago, IL, New Haven, CT, and San Jose, CA, will be working to create equitable park access, addressing long-standing disparities in outdoor opportunities and building vibrant, resilient communities.
Established in 2017, TPL’s 10-Minute Walk program partners with mayors and city leaders nationwide to close the park equity gap. Through reenvisioning how park systems are planned, funded, and activated, the program helps cities harness the transformative potential of parks to tackle pressing challenges such as public health, climate resilience, economic development, and community cohesion. By equipping cities with knowledge, capacity, and relationships, the Accelerator helps cities address high impact, “frequently experienced” barriers to park equity, to support meaningful local change, test new ideas, and generate nationally applicable learnings.
“Close-to-home parks are critical to a healthy future for our cities and communities,” said Bianca Clarke, Parks Initiative Lead and Associate Vice President of TPL’s 10-Minute Walk program. “When our neighborhoods have welcoming green spaces, we drive well-being, connection, climate resilience, and economic vitality all at once. Yet far too many communities still lack access to the benefits that quality public and greenspaces provide. The Park Equity Accelerator empowers cities to address these disparities, turning bold aspirations into tangible and lasting change that benefits everyone.”
The third cohort of cities was selected based on their commitment to advancing local park equity goals, readiness to innovate, and potential to generate insights that could inform field-wide learning and practices. Each city will focus on pressing challenges, such as equitable budgeting, co-development of parks and housing, and increasing park access. The cities and their areas of focus are:
- Birmingham, AL and Tacoma, WA: Increasing park connectivity and access.
- Bridgeport, CT and San Jose, CA: Equitable budgeting for parks.
- Chicago, IL and New Haven, CT: Increasing funding for parks.
- King County, WA: Encouraging co-development of parks and housing.
“Closing the gap between people’s access to parks and public spaces is important to us,” said Birmingham, AL Mayor Randall L. Woodfin. “These are welcoming places for our children, our seniors, and our visitors. They are havens for them to run, play, read, write, exercise, be free to soak in the sun and experience the freedoms we are all born to enjoy. I am thrilled that the City of Birmingham will join the list of municipalities being supported by Trust for Public Land.”
To learn more about Trust for Public Land’s 10-Minute Walk program, please visit www.10minutewalk.org.
About Trust for Public Land
Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. As a leader in equitable access to the outdoors, TPL works with communities to create parks and protect public land where they are needed most. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,420 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, raised $110 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 9.7 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.
About 10-Minute Walk® program
The 10-Minute Walk program, a Trust for Public Land award-winning national program, is engaging city leaders to close the park equity divide so that every resident has access to a quality park or green space within a 10-minute walk of home. The program calls on U.S. mayors to address cities’ most pressing needs around health, resilience, environmental protection, economic development, and community building through parks, and provides the resources needed to create and support parks that drive equitable, healthy, thriving communities. Through investigating and implementing high-impact policies and best practices for accelerating parks development, we aim to serve as the go-to group for closing the park equity divide.
