The City Parks Foundation, founded in 1989, is one of the oldest and largest citywide parks organizations in the country.
City Parks Foundation in NYC is one of the oldest and largest citywide parks organizations in the country. They make city parks a vibrant center of community through free sports, arts, community building, and environmental education throughout all five boroughs. They touch the lives of thousands of New Yorkers every year.
I recently had the chance to chat with Heather Lubov, Executive Director and Mike Silverman, Director of Sports. To say the least, what they do is inspiring, rewarding and provides an amazing canvas for people of all ages to participate in their free programs in the city parks.
Heather and Mike are two people who believe it's their eyes and ears that are central to their mission. They revisited their mission and fine-tuned what it is CPF does. They arrived at two things that represent their guiding principles: "joyful" and "of the community". These two principles provide a vast umbrella under which people and their communities thrive. Their sports programs reach 12,000 young people annually so they have touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
A few of Heather's and Mike's comments really resonated with me:
- Parks are democratic spaces; they are the great equalizer
- Outreach workers are "of the community", deeply listening to and participating in the community heartbeat
- Sports build confidence, social skills, goal setting and respect for rules
- Lead by example
Heather said it well, "Don't lead from your chair". She attends 100's of their events because it's where the learning is and demonstrates that CPF is "of the community".
Listen to Heather and Mike. You'll enjoy it.
Best,
Tom
