Parks and greenspaces provide well-documented benefits for physical, mental, and social health. Yet, the level of substantive partnerships between park and health organizations in terms of funding, programming, and planning lags the promise. In this panel, hear directly from health leaders on what it takes for them to partner with community organizations to invest in parks and programming as a community health strategy.
One community health strategy is a Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA), which are required of all non-profit hospitals in the U.S. and inform how community benefit dollars are prioritized. They’ll discuss examples from around the country of successful cross-sector partnerships and park investments from health organizations that have prioritized park equity for health equity. Another promising strategy are park prescriptions, in which doctors can prescribe time in nature to patients to support their health and well-being. Hear about a unique partnership in WA State where Project Nature, Trust for Public Land, Parks Tacoma, and Pediatrics NW came together to go beyond simple park prescriptions to connect pediatric patients to their local parks resources.
