Land trusts play an important role in the conservation and preservation of natural assets in a community. By working with communities to protect green space, land trusts contribute to greater access, increased recreational opportunities, and healthier residents. With park and recreation agencies facing budget cuts as a result of COVID-19, working more effectively with local land trusts can increase a community’s capacity to provide additional green space when it is needed most. By leveraging a land trust’s special abilities and expertise in areas such as legal work, fundraising, and real estate transactions, park and recreation agencies and other partners can help to bring important park and trail projects to fruition, which might otherwise have been impossible.
Join us to hear how land trusts from around the country approach their work in unique ways. Learn how they pursue funding for projects, partner with agencies and organizations to leverage each other’s skills and maximize effectiveness, and engage the community throughout the process.
Continuing Education Credits Available:
- AICP
- LA CES
2020 Funding Webinar Series Sponsored by:
Moderator:
Kathy Blaha, President, Kathy Blaha Consulting
Kathy is a parks and public space planner with expertise in research, community and organizational engagement, and planning and governance solutions that support public parks and their partnerships. Founded over ten years ago, Kathy Blaha Consulting, LLC, has worked with local and regional public agencies and their parks partners across the country in creating and implementing plans and projects for the governance and management of parks.
Speakers:
Jonathan Pacheco Bell, Program Manager, Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust
Jonathan Pacheco Bell is Program Manager at the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, a nonprofit that develops parks and gardens through bottom-up organizing exclusively in LA’s communities of color. An urban planner by practice, Jonathan believes community-driven creation and stewardship of green spaces can reverse inequities in park-deprived communities. He holds an M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and an MLIS from SJSU iSchool.
Carolyn Buck, Red Rock Trail System Director, Freshwater Land Trust, Birmingham, Alabama
Freshwater Land Trust’s Red Rock Trail Director, Carolyn Buck, works very closely with numerous municipalities, landowners, and local and regional partners to expand the growing Red Rock Trail System throughout Jefferson County, Alabama. In the last three years, Carolyn has secured land for 37.5 miles of planned multi-use trails, opened four new trail segments, and raised over $500,000 to help municipalities fund the land acquisition and construction of multi-use trails.
Kelly McCarthy, Urban Conservation Projects Coordinator, Thriving Communities, Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Ohio
Kelly McCarthy is the Urban Conservation Projects Coordinator at Western Reserve Land Conservancy where she now coordinates public funding for urban land conservation efforts. Kelly graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in Environmental Studies. Though originally from Massachusetts, Kelly was inspired by the grassroots energy and unrelenting spirit of Cleveland, and was drawn to stay in the Midwest post-grad to pursue a career in sustainable development.
Isaac Robb, Director of Urban Projects, Thriving Communities, Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Ohio
Isaac Robb is the Director of Urban Projects for Western Reserve Land Conservancy. Isaac is responsible for redevelopment scenario planning and structuring land transactions for urban green space projects. A native Oregonian, Isaac holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Willamette University and his Master of Arts in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University.
