News

President & CEO Jackie Carrera Speaks At America's Great Outdoors Conference

President & CEO of the Parks & People Foundation, Jackie Carrera, was a speaker at the Chesapeake region’s America’s Great Outdoors Listening Session and Discussion on June 25 in Annapolis. 

Ms. Carrera joined senior members of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to discuss land conservation, recreation, and reconnecting people to the outdoors.

Starting with the White House Conference on the Great Outdoors on April 16, 2010, President Obama launched a national dialogue about conservation in America. 

Over 500 people attended the conference and there was a special listening session for young people which was attended by Parks & People environmental educators Kareen Adams and Andrew Thomas (pictured above with Ms. Carrera).

Ms. Carrera's comments centered on the importance of local parks and green space in urban communities. The following is an excerpt from her remarks:

"Another idea is to reconceptualize what we mean when we talk about Americas Great Outdoors. Are we talking about Yellowstone, Glacier, Acadia? Or are we talking about a system of parks, recreational and open space that connects us to these places by weaving their way through the lives of everyday Americans who will see our local, state and national landscapes as one. Not only do we need a way to physically and emotionally make the connections for people, but we also need a platform for ongoing collaboration among the various stakeholders—for public private partnerships to take root.  In Atlanta, they call this the Beltline, in Baltimore, we call this One Park.

But in order for this to work, we need to recognize that our local parks, rivers, trails and open spaces are a key part of the system.  It’s where 80% of our population live and we often find that cities are caught in a Catch 22. Those cities that have lost population over time have lost their tax base. Fewer tax dollars means fewer services and as a result, the infrastructure is aging and unattractive.  Bringing homeoweners and businesses back to cities would help increase the tax base which would support the aging infrastructure. But, people and businesses are making their choices about where to live based on the quality of life that a place has to offer – that our parks, trails and streams could provide –if they weren’t so unkept, shabby, dirty.  

The federal government can and must help break this cycle of disinvestment and we hope that through the AGO initiative we will begin to see that all parks are well managed and maintained. Because after all, for many, a city park is their Great Outdoors".

For more information on the America's Great Outdoors initiative, click here.