ANNOUNCING OUR MERGER WITH THE PARK PEOPLE, INC.
For thirty years, the Houston Parks Board and The Park People have worked both independently and in collaboration with one another to provide private support for parks in Houston. “By coming together, we are able to combine the Parks Board’s expertise in park acquisition and park construction projects with the Park People’s strength in advocacy,” explains Elkins, who will chair the new Board of Directors. “Our missions were complementary and several months ago members of our respective boards got together to explore the possibility of joining forces, with the theory that when two effective nonprofits come together the combination will be much more productive than the two acting independently.”
The Houston Parks Board was created in 1976 when Houston’s major foundations and civic leaders such as Wilhelmina Robertson Smith, W. S. Farish, III, and Mike S. Stude approached the mayor’s office with a simple request. They wanted to contribute to the city’s parks system through a private organization that would respect their needs and desires. The mayor responded by creating the Houston Parks Board, which has made possible the acquisition of almost 13,000 acres of new parkland, and $70 million in park improvements since its inception.
The Park People was founded in 1979 as a nonprofit citizens’ organization for parks advocacy, and over its history provided nearly $4 million in private funds to serve Houston and Harris County with advocacy activities and public education programs, workshops, seminars, and public forums. Their efforts have been instrumental in the Houston area’s success in generating increased funding for park land at the state and local levels.
