Trust for Public Land has only $350,000 left to raise to protect and create the North Deering Park in Portland

Trust for Public Land (TPL) is in the homestretch to reach our fundraising goal to protect and create the North Deering Public Park in Portland, Maine. With only $350,000 left to raise to make this project a reality, they are asking for the public’s help to close the remaining funding gap.

The future North Deering Park, a 24-acre property, is the largest, undeveloped area of Portland in the heart of the North Deering neighborhood. The property includes a baseball diamond, open field, forested trails connecting to Washington Ave, a skating pond and sledding hill and will be the largest addition to the city’s park system in Portland in a generation.

TPL, in collaboration with the City of Portland and the Portland Park Conservancy, has already secured $1,000,000 from public funding, individuals and private foundations. The deadline to raise the remaining funding is June 1, which will support the land acquisition and the initial planning, design, management and stewardship of the park. Once protected, the City of Portland and the Portland Parks Conservancy will engage the community in the planning, design and vision for the new park.

TPL is asking the public for their help to close the remaining funding need and helping to protect this beautiful park for generations to come. Checks can be mailed to the TPL Office at 30 Danforth Street, Suite 106, with a note saying the gift is intended for the North Deering Park. Gifts can also be made on the TPL Maine website and the Portland Parks Conservancy website. TPL and Portland Parks Conservancy are very grateful for the public’s support and enthusiasm for this new park.

While 94% of Portland residents live within a 10-minute walk to a green space, 1,111 people living in the North Deering neighborhood don’t have this close-to-home access to a high-quality park – a gap that the City of Portland and TPL are committed to addressing. Protecting this acreage is critically important to closing the park equity gap for the North Deering community and providing residents space to connect with the outdoors.

Protecting this park also keeps intact the home of urban wildlife in a densely populated area and helps mitigate the impacts of climate change. Parks—especially those that are densely wooded and deep green—can counter urban temperatures exacerbated by heat-trapping buildings, pavement, and concrete. TPL analysis of 14,000 cities and towns shows that nationwide, areas within a 10-minute walk of a park are as much as 6 degrees cooler than areas beyond that range.

In March, the Portland City Council voted unanimously to approve moving forward with the land acquisition. In addition to support from the city, the Maine congressional delegation has advocated for the project, including recommending to the Interior Department that funding be allocated for the creation of the park.

In May 2022, the city received a federal grant of $400,000 to help acquire the park land. In addition to this funding, the acquisition and related project costs will be covered through a $164,123 from the Land for Maine’s Future Program, an $80,000 commitment from the Portland Land Bank, and a private fundraising campaign led by the TPL and Portland Parks Conservancy. The partners are looking to raise the remaining $350,000 from private foundations and individuals before June 1, 2023 in order to successfully acquire the land and convey it as a park to the city.

To learn more about this project, please contact Ally McDougal, Director of Philanthropy at Trust for Public Land at Ally.mcodugal@tpl.org.

About Trust for Public Land

Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. As a leader in equitable access to the outdoors, TPL works with communities to create parks and protect public land where they are needed most. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,364 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, raised $93 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 9.4 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.