Austin Parks Foundation (APF) is pleased to announce our latest ACL Music Festival Grant awards to parks across Austin! So far this year APF has granted a total of $85,500 to fund improvements and amenities identified by community members and park adopters. These grants are in addition to the millions that APF invests in our parks each year. Using ACL ... Read More The post 2024 ACL Music Festival Community Impact Grant Awards Announced appeared first on Austin Parks Foundation ..read more

THANK YOU! Thanks to all of our efforts, Austin City Council voted in favor of a FY25 Budget that includes 16 new full-time positions for park maintenance, 4 new full-time positions for homeless encampment response within park maintenance and the creation of a land acquisition fund! This is a major win in our effort to ensure that we have a ... Read More The post We did it! FY25 City Budget includes big wins for parks funding appeared first on Austin Parks Foundation ..read more

Austin Parks Foundation and other outdoor organizations are sensitive to the nature of this budget year being tight and have respectfully limited our PARD budget ask to the most pressing, equity-centered and community-supported needs. Like in years past, PARD’s most pressing need for the FY25 budget is adequate staffing to maintain parks, recreational and cultural centers, and pools. We ask for your help advocating to add these items to PARD’s budget to meet Austin’s previously asserted goals of providing parks and open space close to where people live, work and play (Imagine Austin), creating ..read more

Rosewood Neighborhood Park: a place to gather, play, laugh and learn. The history within the park is evident with the Henry G. Madison Cabin and beautiful artwork on the Eastlink Pillars. All of these factors played into Daniel Thomas and Antony Jackson taking it upon themselves to adopt Rosewood Neighborhood Park in March.  Both Daniel and Antony, grew up in and around the Rosewood area. They recalled family reunions, hot summer days cooling off in the pool and a place where they could create memories.  “As kids, for me, that was the park that I was raised up in.” – Daniel Danie ..read more

We’re celebrating 32 years of People + Parks “In 1992, park advocates, recreationalists and environmentalists came together to raise community awareness of the parks in Austin. Many long-time Austinites had seen the city’s park system deteriorate in recent years. The Austin Parks Foundation was born.” That’s from our first Report to Contributors that went out in 1996. This was our Mission Statement at that time: The mission of the Austin Parks Foundation is to develop partnerships and resources to support the needs of Austin area parks. These principles guide the actions of the Austin Parks ..read more

On May 13th, C3 Presents announced that the 2023 Austin City Limits Music Festival generated $8.1 million dollars for Austin’s parks.  C3 Presents COO, Emmett Beliveau, and Austin Parks Foundation CEO, Colin Wallis, were joined by PARD Director, Kimberly McNeeley and council members from District 4, José “Chito” Vela; District 5, Ryan Alter; District 8, Paige Ellis; District 9 Zohaib Qadri; and District 10, Alison Alter for the check presentation at McBeth Recreation Center inside Zilker Park. A 19-Year Partnership Benefitting Austin’s Parks Austin Parks Foundation is a longtime partne ..read more

Each month, Austin Parks Foundation hosts multiple volunteer projects, and it can be difficult to keep up with sharing their impact. So, we’re doing a round-up of all our April volunteer events – from corporate volunteer projects to the Bioblitz – and sharing their impact! Take a look: April 5: The University of Texas at Austin’s American Society of Mechanical Engineers spent time mulching the young trees along the Boggy Creek Greenbelt! Their hard work will greatly benefit the health of the trees as we head towards another hot summer. April 6: During our April Open Workday, volunteers pic ..read more

It’s National Volunteer Month! This April, we’re celebrating all of our fantastic volunteers, and shining a special spotlight on the newest Adopt-A-Park group: Rosewood Neighborhood Park. Daniel Thomas and Anthony Jackson have hit the ground running with various park activations at Rosewood Neighborhood Park. In March, they hosted volunteers for a park cleanup and offered sports activities for kids.   Daniel and Anthony grew up in the Rosewood Neighborhood and remain active in the community today.  Daniel owns Anything’s Baked Potato, a food truck located just up the street from R ..read more

  It’s the most wonderful time of the year: National Volunteer Month! This April, we’re celebrating all of our fantastic volunteers, and shining a special spotlight on our 2023 Volunteer of the Year, Lisa Sledge. Lisa is a longtime park adopter with APF and an advocate for accessibility and inclusion in parks through her work with Friends of Therapeutic Recreation Services. She is also an integral advisor for the future All-Abilities Playground, which APF will be building at Onion Creek Metropolitan Park.    Lisa has been the steward for Danny G. McBeth Recreation Center since ..read more

100 Projects Austinites, y’all continue to impress us! It’s My Park Day proves time and time again just how beloved Austin’s parks are. It’s My Park Day Impact: The impact from these projects extends well beyond a Saturday morning in the park. At these 100 projects, there were 3,568 volunteers. Again, WOW! Volunteers and project leaders were able to remove 42,750 pounds of trash and spread 816 cubic yards of mulch. This work will continue to make our public parks, trails and green spaces better for everyone. We are so grateful to everyone who took part in this event! Without our com ..read more