Park Pride’s Post

We’re proud to release "Leading Together: A New Model for Thriving State Parks." Our new report shares lessons from California State Parks and Parks California's unique statutory partnership—a model we believe can be successful almost anywhere. Our hope is that by sharing these lessons from California, we can help parks everywhere to thrive. Learn more about this unique statutory partnership model and how it works by reading the full report. Read more and download the report >

The National Park Foundation is excited to invest $2.2 million in grants to affinity groups to build lifelong relationships with national parks. Everyone should be able to fully experience the benefits of the outdoors. The 62 projects selected for funding this year span 59 parks and focus on representation, accessibility, and interpretation – all things that leaders in outdoor recreation and equity spaces identify as barriers for communities that have been historically excluded from parks. https://lnkd.in/eQceMF-E

Dearest Mr. #WarrenBuffett, Thank you for the lasting impacts you're making in our world. I'm Amy, founder of the Haunted Texas Theme Park, an endeavor designed to blend entertainment with educational enrichment and historical preservation, nestled in the heart of Texas. Drawing inspiration from your esteemed career and the wisdom you've imparted, I am reaching out to share an opportunity that aligns with the values of community betterment and social responsibility you champion. Our project aims not only to entertain but to educate and unite people from all walks of life in an immersive historical experience that also champions sustainability. Set in #Taylor, #HauntedTexas is more than just a theme park. It is a beacon of learning, offering state-of-the-art #augmented and #virtualreality experiences that bring pivotal moments of history to life, alongside attractions that celebrate the cultural heritage. The park plans to integrate sustainable practices like #atmosphericwatergenerators and waste-to-energy technologies, making it a pioneer in environmental stewardship. Our initiative includes a significant educational component, working in partnership with local educational institutions to provide programs that enrich the curriculum and ignite a passion for history and technology in students of all ages. In essence, Haunted Texas aims to be a place where fun meets learning, past meets future, and all walks of life come together in celebration of history and innovation. Much like your own path, where missed opportunities have sometimes led to even greater insights and investments, we believe Haunted Texas represents a unique chance to build something truly historic. It's not just about creating another theme park, we're laying down a foundation for education, community and sustainability that will serve generations to come. Your involvement would not only help propel this project to success but would also set a powerful example of investing in ventures that seek to make a significant social impact. With your support, we can ensure that Haunted Texas becomes a symbol of unity and progress. We humbly invite you to consider investing in the Haunted Texas Theme Park and USA History Preservation Project. Your belief in bridging divides and fostering community coherence through thoughtful investment could help us ensure that our project not only succeeds financially but becomes a vital community resource that promotes understanding and unity. We would be honored to discuss this project with you further and explore the possibilities of your involvement. Your expertise and support could be the key to helping us achieve a vision that aligns so closely with your principles. Thank you very much for considering this opportunity. I look forward to the possibility of discussing our project with you and hopefully partnering to make a lasting impact. Warm regards, #AmyBroadnax #Founder, #HauntedTexasThemePark & USA History Preservation Project

My Heartfelt Message to the City of Taylor & It's Residents, Hi y'all! I'm Amy Broadnax. My family moved to Taylor when I was 12 in 1992. Over the years, I've been in real estate and helped run billion-dollar companies, but somehow, was never paid what I was worth. I started learning about economic impact and beautification deals a few years ago. When I came back to Taylor over a year ago, I saw the opportunities coming and started working on something that made all my childhood friends think I lost my mind. My goal is to make ALL OF YOU WEALTHY! I'm thrilled to introduce Haunted Texas Theme Park, a project close to my heart. This isn't just any theme park; it's a unique blend of thrills, education, and history, all designed to benefit TAYLOR first and foremost. #Why #HauntedTexasThemePark? #EconomicGrowth: The park will create hundreds of jobs, from construction to operations, ensuring that Taylor residents have first dibs on these opportunities. Not just high-tech careers most people in Taylor didn't have the opportunity to be trained or attend college for. 🤑 We're even going to have emergency funding for Taylor residents only. #TourismBoost: By attracting tourists from all over, we're not just putting Taylor on the map; we're bringing in revenue that will support local businesses and services. We're flippin' the script on our historically accurate narrative of this "cotton pickin town." 🤭☺️😉 #CommunityFocus: We're committed to preserving Taylor's rich history and using it as a foundation for the park. This isn't about outsiders capitalizing on us; it's about us celebrating and profiting from our heritage. #GenerationalWealth: This is our chance to build real generational wealth for our families and community. We can turn this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity into a legacy that benefits Taylor for generations to come. 🏦 #EducationalPrograms: We’ll have partnerships with local schools to provide educational programs that highlight Taylor’s history and contributions to the state of Texas. Keeping #TaylorFirst Unlike other developers who see Taylor as just another business opportunity, we are deeply invested in our community. Our focus is on ensuring that the benefits of this project stay within Taylor, empowering our residents and fostering a sense of pride and ownership in what we're building together. I love y'all, even though some of you think I lost my mind. 🤪🤣🤭☺️ #CalltoAction This is our chance, Taylor. Let's seize this opportunity to transform our town, create wealth, and build a future we can all be proud of. Join me in making Haunted Texas Theme Park a reality, and let's show everyone that when it comes to our community, we are unstoppable. Thank you for your support, and I can't wait to see what we achieve together! #TaylorTexas #HauntedTexasThemePark #EconomicGrowth #CommunityFirst #GenerationalWealth #TaylorStrong #TexasPride #SupportLocal #BuildOurFuture #TogetherWeCan #EmpowerTaylor #EconomicFreedom

Are you considering a new chapter? Come along and understand how we can support you write the next one. #nextchapter #kingsway #sjp

Flying south? ✈️ It’s that time of year again when the swallows are readying themselves to fly south. Look upwards when you are out and about in the country this weekend as many of them are congregating on phone lines readying themselves for their onward journey. Why relevant to LinkedIn you ask? Well firstly, it’s because I saw a load of them this morning and it got me thinking 🤔… about secondly, the clear analogy to my legal practice and the world of business. Swallows have fundamentally clear objectives, a tried and tested flight path, and a vision for what the next 6 months for them holds … They are focussed and determined. Take a ‘wing’ out of their book and apply this to your professional and personal lives. What are your objectives and goals for the winter months ahead and set a target to achieve them before the swallows return next Spring. Particular drivers for me this winter include taking on another large Landed Estate as a long term client for Moore Barlow and my team. We have capacity to provide long term legal support to another landed estate providing it with the rural asset management support it needs and a full legal service @Moore Barlow. We will be actively looking to partner up with another estate when the time is right and can provide references on our services from our existing landed estate client base. Long term, quality and trusted business relationships are really important to us. As a team we are also heading further south ourselves. With the Isle of Wight on our doorstep we are perfectly positioned from our Southampton and Lymington offices to continue supporting Islanders and investors with their complex legal needs from commercial, residential and agricultural property portfolios, complex land transactions and advisory work as well as our private wealth services. I will review this post next Spring when the swallows return to see if my team’s focussed activities over the autumn and winter months in these areas help to secure the additional clients that we would love to be supporting.🤞 #flysouth #swallowsandanalogies #wearemoorebarlow #whocareswins

Please read my friend and BREC Superintendent Corey Wilson's response to an ad-hoc petition drive to transform the City Park Golf Course into a world-class central park. The petition drive is being led by the city's most influential business leader, Rolfe McCollister. City Park is central to the city's racial history - in the 1950's the city filled in the public swimming pool there to protest integration. I agree with McCollister, but Wilson's response is a teachable moment. It exposes a dysfunctional culture that for too long has characterized how Baton Rouge approaches urban development.   Since moving back 17 years ago, I've seen many in the city's business and political elite pursue civic initiatives outside of the civic institutions established for those respective purposes. A few years back there was an effort to create an entire light rail system separate and apart from the transit agency. There are on-going talks of redeveloping North Baton Rouge while the redevelopment authority's capacity has been effectively gutted. It's not as if we don't know better. Year after year the city's business and political elite take canvas trips to cities that were once comparable to Baton Rouge but are moving on decidedly more progressive trajectories. They have institutions that lead civic improvements that bolster their image as great places to live.   Baton Rouge has shown some ability to do the same - i.e., downtown's revitalization and the University Lakes restoration project. But parks, public transit, and urban development - essential components of economically viable cities - simply do not receive sustained, committed support from the city's business and political elite. Our civic institutions are at-best poorly supported and at worst have been systematically under-developed for years. More than pass-throughs for public dollars or tax credits, civic institutions facilitate co-governance and allow all residents to be heard regardless of race, class, or position. In a city that's half Black with a 25% poverty rate, that matters.   There's a growing concern over the steady loss of young professional talent and a feeling of stagnation as our peer cities appear to be booming. I respectfully submit that the tendency against developing and supporting robust civic institutions is partly to blame. We also cannot ignore our city's racial history. That it's taken 70 years since the racist closure of City Park pool for elites to rally around creating a public amenity in its place is simultaneously heartening and tragic. Change takes too long here. We can't expect that our brightest, most talented minds will be content to wait around for the timid, slow pace of change that seems endemic to Baton Rouge.   Mr. Wilson and Mr. McCollister both care about Baton Rouge and I'm sure they'll soon be working together. Again, I strongly support replacing the golf course with a world class central park. But the way we choose to do things matters more than what we do.

Tending to Our Garden First: In 2023, we decided it was time to take Marlin Capital to the next level of impact. When one thinks about impact, it is often an outward-facing thought. Questions like “How do we have an impact on the world around us” come to mind. We are driven by our Purpose to Elevate Lives and Ignite Impact. We want to give power to opportunities, using our resources to make an impact that will result in unlimited potential and success. It was clear from the onset that it was important for us to focus inwardly for the first year of proactive action toward our new structure. We needed to understand all facets of our company—marketing, strategic networking, operations, and finances/administration. We also needed to empower people within our organizations to take ownership of these functions and bring their unique perspectives to the table. Simply put, we needed to tend to our own garden first in order to provide for greater impact. We have an ambitious goal of generating an income that enables a $3,000,000 annual contribution to the Harvey Family Foundation. This will represent 30% of our adjusted income, exemplifying our commitment to our Purpose. This is a lofty goal, but one we truly believe we can accomplish, given our past six months of inward focus on the right people focused on the right things. The wheels are starting to turn.

Discover why more and more people are choosing Jacksonville as their new home! Check out our latest article highlighting the top reasons for this trending migration.

Just like the beautiful growing network of greenway trails themselves, there is a growing statewide network of brilliant advocates like Thomas Wright and Naomi Hersson-Ringskog, AICP pushing transformative local projects forward. The connections being made (in all the ways!) are truly inspiring, made more so by the great reporting and storytelling of local journalists like Jeff Simms. These are the ingredients that build stronger local communities. Naomi makes a super cogent point here at the end of the article, that these types of worthy projects that serve green transportation, #publichealth and local economies should not go begging for new sources of funding. Indeed, in our view here at Parks & Trails New York there are few better ways to spend taxpayer dollars.