Five-Mile Moonshot Propels Dallas Parks

One of the clearest examples of that leadership was Smart Growth for Dallas, a Lyda Hill Philanthropies-funded, Trust for Public Land-developed decision-support tool that gave Dallas a data-driven roadmap for directing public and private investment to the neighborhoods where parks and green space could have the greatest impact on health, connectivity, climate resilience, and quality of life. That investment did more than fund a planning tool. It helped Dallas move from aspiration to implementation by funding a shared evidence base public leaders and civic partners needed to act with greater urgency, confidence, and alignment. 

As Molly Morgan, TPL’s Texas state director, said, “Lyda Hill’s team challenged us to come with our moonshot to significantly move Dallas as quickly as we could to have the highest ParkScore ranking in Texas.” That challenge, and the philanthropic investment behind it, helped transform ambition into action.  

In 2017, the mayor signed the 10-Minute Walk pledge. Using the Smart Growth data as a guide, TPL helped lead advocacy efforts that contributed to the passage of park bonds in 2017 and 2023, directing more than $500 million toward green space improvements across Dallas, including a citywide community schoolyard program and the Dallas Greening Initiative. Lyda Hill Philanthropies did not simply support that momentum from the sidelines, it helped turn strategy into visible results. Through a series of public-private partnerships, Dallas added 45 new public parks on schoolyards now open to their communities after school and on weekends, and is converting 15 city-owned vacant lots into public green spaces – resulting in 60 new parks in less than a decade from these TPL involved initiatives alone.

Over this same period, Lyda Hill Philanthropies invested more than $45 million in both signature and neighborhood parks across Dallas. That support helped build the strategy, demonstrate the model, and create visible proof that investment in parks could deliver meaningful returns for Dallas families and neighborhoods. Without that kind of early and strategic philanthropy, this work would not have advanced at the same pace, with the same clarity, or at the same scale.

Thanks in part to that public-private momentum, Dallas had made substantial progress by 2021, increasing overall 10-minute walk park access to 73 percent. But the Five Mile Creek watershed south of downtown remained one of the city’s clearest examples of why this work still matters. Only 54 percent of its 190,000 residents lived near a quality park, and residents in this historically underinvested area experience life expectancy nearly a decade shorter than those in Dallas’s wealthiest ZIP codes.

Five Mile Creek became the next test of that citywide approach: using data to identify need, public-private partnership to align resources, and catalytic philanthropy to move from plan to implementation. A plan emerged for a system of parks connected by a 17-mile trail. According to a 2021 analysis commissioned by TPL, the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt could generate $123 million in economic benefits for the city, including $17 million in new wages from construction jobs and $25.9 million in increased property values and related tax revenue over 20 years. The same analysis projected $92.8 million in healthcare savings over 10 years, due in part to safer conditions created by separating cyclists and pedestrians from vehicle traffic.

Now underway, the greenbelt plan spearheaded by TPL includes three new parks: South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park, Judge Charles R. Rose Community Park, and Woody Branch. Just as importantly, it shows what becomes possible when philanthropy does more than fund a project, when it helps shape a strategy, leverage public dollars, and move an entire city toward a more equitable and healthier future. Lyda Hill Philanthropies’ support has already helped do exactly that, not only in Five Mile Creek but across Dallas, including new parks and natural areas throughout the city and a mountain bike trail in Big Cedar Wilderness, a new 300-acre park minutes from downtown. Trust for Public Land is now more than halfway through a $100 million fundraising campaign, to which Lyda Hill Philanthropies has contributed $3.5 million.

As of 2025, 81 percent of Dallas residents, 330,000 more people than a decade ago, now have 10-minute access to a high-quality park, one of the largest increases in people served among ParkScore cities over the past 10 years. That progress did not happen by accident. It began with a bold philanthropic challenge, early strategic investment, and a big-bet approach that paired ambition with patience – proving what was possible, then helping turn that proof into citywide progress.

“Big change usually starts with a simple question: what would it take to move faster and do this at a scale that matters,” says Lyda Hill. “For Dallas parks, Trust for Public Land helped answer that question with data, community partnership, and the ability to get projects done. Five Mile Creek shows what can happen when philanthropy is willing to make an early bet and stay with the work.”