Complete 2020 Annual Report (PDF)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2020 REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY Youth wade into Crissy Field Marsh during Project WISE in fall 2019 (See story, page 5). Crissy Field Center moves into new space at DEAR FRIEND the Tunnel Tops in 2021. We’ll improve those trails we missed so much. We’ll welcome back OF THE PARKS, our volunteers and visitors with open arms—or maybe a friendly wave. With our partners, our hat a year to start as only the second focus on making parks accessible for all—so W CEO in the history of the Golden Gate that everyone feels welcome in parks and can National Parks Conservancy. Throughout this enjoy the many health benefits of nature—is Report to the Community, we shine a light on more important now than ever. our major accomplishments of 2019. We had That’s why I’m so grateful for my first year no idea what was just around the corner. at the helm of the Parks Conservancy. I’ve I came into this job believing strongly in gotten to see the park spirit shine bright under the power of national parks to inspire and the toughest conditions. The snapshot of heal. The Bay Area shelter-in-place orders 2019 you’ll get in this report shows us what’s somehow strengthened that conviction. When possible for our long-term future, and I can’t we lose something, we miss it more than ever. wait to get there. It may take some time to And, we learn a powerful lesson in not taking recover, but with your help, our parks will it for granted. The silence of a redwood grove. spring back stronger than ever before. The spark of imagination from a historical fact With heartfelt gratitude, shared by a park ranger. Hopefully you’ve been able to tap into park moments like this in new and creative ways. CHRIS LEHNERTZ Throughout my first months as CEO, starting President & CEO in April 2019, I saw the strong bonds in our community of park support. So it’s no surprise what’s happening now: You and others are stepping up to secure the future of the parks. Thank you for that support in making sure these places stay timeless—as America’s precious treasures. With the resilience of our park community and the inventiveness of our Parks Conservancy staff, I know we’ll come back from this. We’ll reach thousands more local children when the GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY BOARD OF TRUSTEES 16 21 14 9 22 17 25 24 11 13 8 10 5 15 18 23 20 3 4 2 1 12 19 7 6 OFFICERS 6. Lynn Mellen Wendell 10. Martha Ehmann Conte 15. Patsy Ishiyama 21. Jake Schatz BOARD ASSOCIATES Carlota del Portillo, Dean, David Grubb, Chairman Regina Liang Muehlhauser Helen Schwab, Civic Leader (Assistant Secretary) Civic Leader Civic Leader Executive Vice President City College of San Francisco Emeritus, Swinerton, Inc. President, Bank of America 1. Colin Lind (Chair) Frank Almeda, Ph.D. Alan Seelenfreund Civic Leader San Francisco San Francisco & General Counsel, (retired) California (retired) Managing Partner Senior Curator, Department Walter J. Haas, Chairman, Chairman, McKesson San Francisco Electronic Arts Inc. Blum Capital Partners 11. Charmaine Curtis * Sujay Jaswa of Botany, California Academy Phelps Dewey, President, Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund Donald W. Murphy Corporation (retired) San Francisco (retired) Real Estate Developer Founder & Managing of Sciences Chronicle Publishing Founder, The Andes Institute TRUSTEES Sally Hambrecht West Shell III Sausalito Curtis Development Partner, WndrCo LLC 22. Jessica Verrilli Company, Book Division Fritz Arko, President and Civic Leader Jacob E. Perea, Ph.D. Co-Founder, CEO & Chairman 7. Odette Alcazaren-Keeley San Francisco Woodside General Partner at GV and (retired) 2. Randi Fisher (Vice Chair) General Manager, Pier 39 Professor and Dean Emeritus, Conversa Health President & Co-Founder Founding Partner at #ANGELS Charlene Harvey Pisces Foundation 12. Shane Douglas 16. Dan Kingsley (retired) Paula F. Downey San Francisco State University Global Media X; Director San Francisco Civic Leader Rich Silverstein San Francisco Global Product Partnerships- Managing Partner President and CEO, CSAA Maynard Institute Michael R. Barr, Partner, Mark W. Perry, Strategic Co-Chairman & Creative Social Impact SKS Investments * Jennie LeHua Watson Insurance Group S. Dale Hess, Executive Vice 3. Staci Slaughter (Vice Chair) Burlingame Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Advisor and General Partner, Director, Goodby Senior Vice President, Google San Francisco Civic Leader President, San Francisco John C. Atwater Pittman LLP Millard Drexler New Enterprise Associates Silverstein & Partners Communications & Special * Washington, D.C. 17. Martha Kropf San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau Co-Chairman & Chief Chairman, J. Crew (retired) Advisor to the CEO 13. Betsy Eisenhardt Civic Leader 23. Grace Won Leslie Browne (retired) Cathy Simon, Principal, Executive Officer San Francisco Giants Civic Leader San Francisco Civic Leader Partner, SSL Law Firm Gianni Fassio, Owner, Rob Price, Co-Chairman & Perkins+Will Prime Group Kit Hinrichs, Founder, San Francisco San Francisco San Francisco Mark W. Buell, Civic Leader Palio D’Asti (retired) Creative Director, Eleven, Inc. San Francisco 18. Whitney Mortimer Studio Hinrichs Michael Willis, Principal, 4. Gordon Ritter (Treasurer) * Rodney Fong Partner Commercial Robert Fisher, Chairman, John Pritzker Michael Willis Architects 8. Janice Barger Virgil Caselli, Phil Marineau, Partner, Founder and General Partner President IDEO BOARD LIAISONS Board of Directors, Gap, Inc. Founding Partner & Civic Leader Property Ventures LNK Partners Nuria Santamaria Wolfe Emergence Capital Partners Fong Real Estate Company Redwood City 24. Amanda Hoenigman Director, Geolo Capital San Francisco Jessica Galloway Chief Marketing Officer Civic Leader Milton Chen, Ph.D., Senior Amy McCombs, Lee Hills San Francisco San Francisco 19. John Murray Nurse Practitioner Toby Rosenblatt, Former and Co-founder, Encantos 9. Darren Bechtel Liaison to the Parks Fellow and Executive Director Chair of Free Press Studies, 5. Larry Low (Secretary) 14. Luis Herrera CEO, Paypro Corporation San Francisco Free Clinic Chair, Board of Directors, Media Studios Founder & Managing Director Conservancy Leaders Circle Emeritus, The George Lucas Missouri School of Journalism Chief Legal Officer City Librarian (retired) San Francisco Presidio Trust Brick & Mortar Ventures Educational Foundation John Gamble, Managing Sharon Y. Woo, Civic Leader Orrick Herrington & Benicia 25. Julie Parish Nion McEvoy, Chairman and San Francisco 20. Melanie P. Peña Partner, Allen Matkins Leck Alexander H. Schilling, Landscape Designer David Courtney, General CEO, Chronicle Books LLC Rosemary Young, Former Sutcliffe LLP * Linda Howell Civic Leader Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP Chairman, Union Square Liaison to the Parks Partner & Chief Operating Chair, Peninsula Community San Francisco Civic Leader Mill Valley (retired) Robert Morris, Managing Investment Company Conservancy Leaders Circle Officer, Crosslink Capital Foundation San Francisco Director, Goldman Sachs * Not Pictured Emeritus Group, Inc. (retired) CRISSY FIELD CENTER EMPOWERING YOUTH VOICE Here’s how we equip young people to have agency, cultivating curiosity and lifelong park bonds. ant to work at the Crissy Field Center? You’ll have to W face the toughest interviewers of all: high schoolers. As part of the Center’s mission to empower youth from across the Bay Area, those youth have a say in hiring educators. Students are trained in best hiring practices, they interview candidates, and vote for their picks. “They take it so seriously,” says Charity Maybury, Director of the Center. “Like, sometimes more seriously than the staff.” Similar tactics are all over the Center, giving youth a voice to stand tall in their own communities. And with that voice, young people develop tools to process big issues like climate change and social inequities. Take Project WISE (Watersheds Inspiring Student Educa- tion). In fall 2019, students from San Francisco’s Galileo and Mission high schools built scientific skills in parks like Crissy Field Marsh and the Bayview’s Heron’s Head Park. In the spring, they picked in-depth projects examining their world. Among their recent big questions: Does Muni noise pollution negatively impact lower-income neighborhoods? Does the city have inequitable renewable energy distribution? Does my classroom have unsafe carbon dioxide levels? “Some of the best projects are when they choose to address some of those stressors in their lives,” says Francis Taroc, a Senior Specialist who runs Project WISE. When students see the connections between parks and their communities, they form deeper bonds with the parks. Many call the Center “home.” And it all starts with empowerment. Participants shower program leaders with affection at the Crissy Field Center in summer 2019. SEE A VIDEO OF STUDENTS’ CLIMATE CHANGE ART AT PARKSCONSERVANCY.ORG/CRISSYYOUTH MICHELE GEE A CAREER IN PARK SERVICE She left her mark at the Parks Conservancy before moving into a key role with the NPS. This is her story. ddressing a crowd at the Presidio Tunnel Tops “Ground- A making” ceremony in November 2019, a proud Michele Gee talked about her nearby “touchstones.” Angel Island, through which her grandparents immigrated. Crissy Field, which she helped revitalize. The San Francisco National Cemetery, where her great-uncle is buried. And the Crissy Field Center, where she launched a career that led from the Parks Conservancy to running one of the largest Interpretation and Education divisions in the National Park Service (NPS). Long before Michele became a park ranger, she was an adven- turous Girl Scout in the Bay Area. “I was always climbing on trees,” she admitted. After studying Environmental Studies at UC Santa Barbara, she worked with the San Francisco Conservation Corps to run a youth program and supervise AmeriCorps crews to “change Crissy Field from an abandoned military airfield to a beloved parkland.” That introduced her to the Parks Conservancy. In 2000, she started at the burgeoning Crissy Field Center. There she organized the first youth advisory council, worked with communities, established programs and more. She was eventually promoted to Deputy Director, and the programs she helped develop are still around today.