Natasha Blakely, natasha.blakely@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Department of Interior announced that over the next five years the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program will provide $450 million in grants to communities to create or improve local parks.
ORLP was started in 2014 to help economically disadvantaged communities with little to no access to public outdoor recreation spaces by funding the creation or improvement of parks and outdoor recreation amenities. It has funded dozens of projects over the past 10 years, including the Belle Isle Park Athletic Complex in Detroit, Michigan, Three Mile Creek Greenway Project in Mobile, Alabama, and Buchanan Street Mall in San Francisco, California. This year three rounds of ORLP grants to specific projects were announced, $58.3 million in March, $46.7 million in August, and $254.68 million in September.
In response, Jackie Ostfeld, director of the Sierra Club Outdoors for All campaign, made the following statement:
“After a year of record investments in communities that historically haven’t experienced this level of investment in their neighborhoods, it is wonderful to see the administration committing to continuing the impactful work of the past 10 years of this program. The importance of access to nature and time outdoors is an idea that unites all of us, and the funding from this program will positively impact families and communities all across the nation whose kids will be able to enjoy safer parks, cleaner air, and more trails.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.