Thank you for giving us so much to be grateful for

Thank you. 

Thank you for giving our team so much to be grateful for. 

Thank you for continually supporting us, and more importantly, our collective vision – in partnership with the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and other partners – to strengthen parks so they are welcoming for all people. 

As we wave goodbye to 2021, we took a moment to look back on all that we experienced and built together this year. Here are a few of our favorite moments!

We welcomed our newest cohort of grantees with the Natural Resource Stewardship Career Pathways and Route to Parks grants. 

The inaugural Natural Resource Stewardship Career Pathways grants are part of a greater effort to diversify the workforce in California State Parks and in other outdoor spaces for those who historically have not had the same access.

Similarly, the Route to Parks grant program supported organizations dedicated to strengthening parks and inspiring all to experience these extraordinary places. 

We launched an initiative to increase equitable access to parks with Parks for Everyone beers and concerts.

Fellow members of 1% of the Planet and craft breweries, Smog City Brewing Company and Alvarado Street Brewery created a custom craft beer playfully named “Park Hopper.”

The joint endeavor benefited the Parks for Everyone initiative, which builds opportunities that give all people the opportunity to reap the benefits of connecting with the outdoors in a way that’s meaningful to them.

We honored Indigenous history and culture with the renaming of a state park to Sue-meg State Park.

Partnering with representatives from the Yurok community, California State Parks and the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, we collectively discussed the cultural significance of this name change and celebrated the precedent-setting step to honor the Yurok Tribe and indigineous communities statewide.

We celebrated alongside PORTS (Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students)® Program for connecting one million students to parks! 

The PORTS ® Program reached a huge milestone of connecting one million students to parks with live virtual visits. PORTS inspired students and bolstered educators’ efforts throughout the pandemic by bringing parks to classrooms and homes on Zoom.

We hope you and the people you love have a safe and happy holiday season (hopefully with some outdoor time!) and we’ll see you in 2022.