Parks are essential.

Our parks are reaching the breaking point. Urban growth, funding shortfalls, chronic understaffing, overwhelming visitation, and climate pressures are straining our park systems’ ability to provide the benefits that Americans expect and deserve. These pressures threaten to destroy the virtuous cycle sustaining our park systems.

The Park Institute of America addresses this problem head-on by ensuring all park benefits are well-understood so park support can grow. The Institute focuses on ways to both demonstrate and communicate the many values of parks, as well as the best ways to generate the public support needed to resource them. We spotlight successful collaboration: where businesses meet communities, where marketing meets natural science, and where individuality meets compromise.

Our mission is to connect communities, organizations, researchers, and park leaders so that parks can provide the most value to people and the planet. We envision a world where everyone believes parks are essential to a healthy existence.

With the support of its donors, volunteers, partners, and park communities, the Institute will show how the pressures threatening our parks systems can be reduced. Together, we will demonstrate that the virtuous park cycle can be balanced and, in fact, grow. We will show how every community benefits when parks are supported.

We will show why parks matter.