The Power of Collaborative Learning

The 2023 Peer Exchange in Washington, D.C. was a testament to what makes this type of event so special. Attendees come from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, ranging from community engagement and environmental justice to urban planning and landscape architecture. While each attendee brings their own unique skills and expertise, all attendees are united in their goal of working with communities to implement urban conservation projects.

For the 2023 Parks with Purpose Peer Exchange, the Fund worked with Friends of Anacostia Park and Anacostia Parks & Community Collaborative (APACC), who served as the local host for this year’s event. Attendees were greeted with views of the Washington, DC skyline at a rooftop welcome reception where they got acquainted and began laying a foundation of trust that grew during the event. An interesting topic of conversation highlighted how many of our partners work with non-traditional groups in their communities, such as churches, affordable housing organizations, social workers, and prison re-entry programs.

Throughout the presentations, educational sessions, field trips, and facilitated networking activities our diverse group of participants were fully engaged and willing to try pretty much anything… including a spirited version of community “speed dating” masterfully led by Akiima Price, co-founder of Friends of Anacostia Park. Attendees were asked to list the “needs” and “assets” of their communities and their parks. They were then matched with a random individual and asked to explore connections between seemingly disparate needs and assets. The goal of the activity was to identify key points of interest and intersection between their partners projects and programs. For example, one attendee might have “reduce flooding” listed as a community need and would be matched with another attendee that has “housing organizations” listed as a community asset. Together, they would think through innovative ways the asset could help address the need.

Throughout the presentations, educational sessions, field trips, and facilitated networking activities our diverse group of participants were fully engaged and willing to try pretty much anything… including a spirited version of community “speed dating” masterfully led by Akiima Price, co-founder of Friends of Anacostia Park. Attendees were asked to list the “needs” and “assets” of their communities and their parks. They were then matched with a random individual and asked to explore connections between seemingly disparate needs and assets. The goal of the activity was to identify key points of interest and intersection between their partners projects and programs. For example, one attendee might have “reduce flooding” listed as a community need and would be matched with another attendee that has “housing organizations” listed as a community asset. Together, they would think through innovative ways the asset could help address the need.

Attendees chose between two afternoon field trips: a boat tour of the Anacostia River or a bus tour of several community spaces in the Anacostia neighborhood. Both field trips provided opportunities to see more of DC, visit project sites and meet with local community-based organizations.

After the field trips, we re-grouped at Anacostia Park for a sunset dinner. Upon arriving at the park, attendees had an opportunity to experience the multitude of ways that Friends of Anacostia Park activates the park space and authentically engages the community. There were basketball games, roller skating, fishing, arts and crafts, and more. All of this was part of typical weeknight programming in the park. “Seeing all of the energy and people in this beautiful park on a weekday evening encourages my team and me to think about how we might replicate some of this at our park locations back home,” remarked Chris Dreps, Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association.

The event concluded with panel discussion to explore the incredible potential for parks and green spaces to aid communities in healing after trauma. Panelists Brenda Richardson, Akiima Price, and Ralinda Wimbush shared real-life examples of how they have used green spaces to provide communities with a safe place to reflect and process tragedy and how trauma-informed principles can be adapted and applied to park programming and projects. This is a topic that our partners wanted to learn more about, and many remarked that the panel discussion was the highlight of the entire peer exchange.

Going into this event, we knew that this event was critical for sharing best practices and strengthening our growing community of practice. As the program concluded, it was abundantly clear that attendees found immense value in connecting with each other and growing their personal support networks. The event wrapped up with powerful and emotional testimony from the attendees, including this statement that perfectly captures the essence of why we came together.

To learn more about out Parks with Purpose programs, please visit our Urban Conservation program page.

The Parks with Purpose Peer Exchange is made possible thanks to generous support from The JPB Foundation.