Austin Parks Foundation Awards $100K Grant

AUSTIN, TX — Austin Parks Foundation revealed its annual ACL Music Festival Impact Grant of $100,000 has been awarded to Alderbrook Park, officials confirmed on Thursday.

The funds will be used to support the playground project at the park, which includes a traditional playscape, boulders, nature play elements, and tree plantings, officials said in a press advisory.

“For years, Alderbrook Pocket Park had been a vacant lot with no amenities," Ladye Anne Wofford, chief mission officer at Austin Parks Foundation, said in a prepared statement. "Park Adopter Joan Ivy and her neighbors advocated to make the land a park and have since dedicated 10 years to this project. We are proud to financially support a community so deeply dedicated to improving the lives of their residents through the power of our park system and help finish the project they started.”

The project is in partnership with the community and the City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department with additional funding from Parkland Dedication Fees. The Impact Grant allows Austin Parks Foundation to aid in a variety of large-scale park improvements throughout the Austin community, officials said. The $100,000 gift is awarded once a year to an Adopt-a-Park group looking to embark on significant capital improvements in their designated park, officials added.

“Our neighborhood stayed dedicated to small improvements over the last decade and was able to turn an open field into Alderbrook Park, home to a beautiful butterfly and community garden,” Alderbrook Park adopter Joan Ivy said in a prepared statement. “We’re thrilled to receive APF’s Impact Grant and come together as a larger community to create a park that meets the needs of North Austin.”

The goal of the Impact Grant and of the ACL Music Festival Grants Program is to expand the reach of Austin City Limits Music Festival’s generosity and offer more opportunities for local park adopters to take ownership of the care and maintenance of their neighborhood parks. Additional grants in the program include Community Grants, which vary from $5,000 to $50,000 and are intended for large-scale projects, and Neighborhood Grants that range from $500 to $5,000 for smaller-scale projects. Previous Impact Grant winners include St. John Park, Houston School Park, and Georgian Acres Neighborhood Park.

2020 grant applications are currently being accepted. For more information about APF’s Grant Program and to apply, visit austinparks.org/grants.

ABOUT AUSTIN PARKS FOUNDATION

Founded in 1992, Austin Parks Foundation (APF) is dedicated to partnering with our community to enhance people’s lives by making our public parks, trails, and green spaces better through volunteerism, innovative programming, advocacy, and financial support. APF is focused on creating equitable access to great parks for all Austinites and helps fill the city’s funding and resource gap in order to develop and maintain Austin’s nearly 300 parks. APF fosters unique public/private partnerships and, since 2006, has given over $3 million in community-initiated grants in service to the greater Austin community. APF is known for its annual flagship volunteer event, It’s My Park Day, and is a presenting partner and beneficiary of the popular Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Metropolitan Park.

For more information, please visit www.austinparks.org.