Pennsylvania

In 2017, a science teacher from West Philadelphia's K- 8 Add B. Anderson School saw what The Trust for Public Land was doing across Philadelphia and worked with Anderson's principal to identify the school as a high priority site for a new schoolyard. The Add B. Anderson School community uses the current asphalt schoolyard for a variety of activities including morning greeting, recess, and participation in the Harlem Lacrosse mentorship program. An upgraded schoolyard will give the 480 students, and the 9,500 people within a 10-minute walk of Anderson, a quality play space in which to exercise, grow, and learn.

In 1998, TPL helped add 97 acres to the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania.

There is limited high quality green space among the bustling shops and restaurants along Rising Sun Avenue in the Lawncrest neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia where students at Benjamin Franklin Academics Plus School and neighbors can connect with nature, and relief from oppressive heat, relax, and play. We’ve changed that. With help from our partners at the School District of Philadelphia, The Trust for Public Land transformed the barren, asphalt school playground into a vibrant green space.

Pike County conservationists wanted to add 310 acres in Blooming Grove to the state forest, expanding a seven-mile trail system.

When we saw the open asphalt schoolyard at Bregy Elementary we recognized a place that was packed with possibility. Located just north of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, school staff members have planned for years to transform their schoolyard and even started fundraising projects to meet their goal. Now they’ve teamed up with The Trust for Public Land to take their project to the finish line with lots of help from their own students. Working closely with the 4th grade class through our participatory design curriculum, we’re planning a vibrant new schoolyard for Bregy Elementary.

The students at George W. Nebinger Elementary School in the Bella Vista neighborhood of Philadelphia now have a new schoolyard! This South Philly school is located in one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, in a dense residential area that used to lack adequate green spaces for children to play in.

There is no question that our climate is warming. Extreme heat in American cities now causes more deaths than all other weather events combined. People are calling on cities to plant more trees in their neighborhoods and install splash pads where families can cool off, but all neighborhoods are not treated equally. Low-income communities have seen a disproportionately low share of parks and open space investment putting entire neighborhoods at greater risk of rising temperatures.

The The Trust for Public Land is helping transform this asphalt schoolyard into a vibrant play space that will also mitigate storm runoff.

More than 11,000 Philadelphians live within a 10-minute walk of Lanier Playground, a 4-acre city park that The Trust for Public Land helped rebuild in 2018.

To address the need for green space in Philadelphia's underserved neighborhoods, we've launched the Parks for People-Philadelphia.

The Southwark School in South Philadelphia has recently been named among Philadelphia’s first Community Schools, and we are thrilled to help the school become an anchor institution for neighborhood families.

Student Avery Anthony describes the schoolyard at William Cramp Elementary School in North Philadelphia like this: “Our site is plain ground. All we do is talk and run. It gets boring and there are no games.”