With four out of five Americans living in urban areas, you’d be forgiven for thinking that our cities’ parks would be at the front of the line when it comes to resources and funding. After all, the evidence is pretty clear that parks bring enormous benefits to local economies, as well as to people’s health, well-being, and quality of life.

The Institute examines how parks can target diverse youth through programming designed by the youth themselves.

Diversity, what is that? One of the main topics of conversation in the environmental movement is that of diversity. Here in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, we are home to an incredibly diverse population, both culturally and ethnically. Therefore the question remains how parks can actively engage all of these different communities.

The Institute has been analyzing fabulous, unexpected outreach strategies at work in national parks near big cities. We’re finding an underlying philosophical approach that is not intuitive: quit focusing on the park.