Communications Toolkit Partners 10/2017 Communications Toolkit What: Everyone deserves a quality park within a 10-minute walk of home. The Trust for Public Land is partnering with the National Recreation and Park Association and Urban Land Institute to launch a national campaign to make the 10-minute walk to a park the standard in American cities. We’re excited to announce that more than 130 mayors from cities big and small, from across the political spectrum, support this vision. When: 10.10.17 at 10:10 am What you can do: You can help by thanking mayors and sharing the campaign in your cities. This toolkit is designed to help spread the word. Here’s How: On or after (but not before!) October 10th at 10:10 a.m., please: • Thank participating mayors for making parks a priority • Ask new mayors to publicly endorse the campaign • Share the 10-minute walk vision with your professional and personal networks What’s Included: 1. Media Fact Sheet 2. National Press Release 3. Regional Press Release 4. Sample announcement messaging by channel 5. FAQs Questions after reading this toolkit? Civitas Public Affairs: Patrick Phillippi, 202-748-2793 The Trust for Public Land: Harris Solomon, 646-856-1986 National Recreation and Park Association: Heather Williams, 703-858-4743 Urban Land Institute: Trisha Riggs, 202-624-7086 For more information on the 10-minute walk, go to 10minutewalk.org 2 MEDIA FACT SHEET FOR MORE INFORMATION: STORY EMBARGOED UNTIL Tim Ahern October 10, 2017 10:10 a.m. EDT Director of Media Relations The Trust for Public Land 10 minutes: a short walk to a park, a giant step to transform America’s cities On October 10, 2017, at 10:10 a.m., a broad and bipartisan national coalition of more than 130 mayors, including from the four largest cities, are launching an ambitious initiative to expand access to parks nationwide. The goal is to ensure every American has a quality park within a 10-minute walk (or half-mile) of home. The problem: Research shows one in three Americans—more than 100 million people— don’t have a park within a 10-minute walk of home. The campaign: Everyone deserves a quality park within a 10-minute walk. More than 130 mayors from cities large and small are launching this initiative led by The Trust for Public Land in partnership with National Recreation and Park Association and Urban Land Institute and backed by The U.S. Conference of Mayors. Why parks matter: Parks provide a variety of benefits to residents and cities: • Health: Research shows that people exercise more when they have access to parks. A study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)1 found better access to places to be physically active led to a 26.5 percent increase in the number of people who exercise three or more days a week. Even small amounts of exercise improve a person’s health. Estimates are that 95 percent of U.S. adults, 92 percent of adolescents, and 58 percent of children don’t get the recommended amount of daily physical activity. Nearly 75% of citizens say parks, trails, and open space are an essential component of American health care. • Economic: Parks and other urban natural areas produce benefits with estimated values of up to $6.8 billion annually. In 2013, America’s local and regional public park agencies generated nearly $140 billion in economic activity and supported almost 1 million jobs. • Environmental: Parks and green spaces reduce the cost of capturing and storing rain water, alleviate the “urban heat island effect” and lower city temperatures, and can offset flooding along ocean and river shorelines. • Community: Parks produce important social and community benefits, from making neighborhoods more livable to offering much-needed recreational opportunities for children and families. City residents say local parks are the common factor in developing stronger social ties with their neighbors. 1Increasing Physical Activity: A Report on Recommendations of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services STORY EMBARGOED UNTIL: October 10, 2017 10:10am EDT Available for Comment: • Select mayors • The Trust for Public Land: Will Rogers, President and CEO and Adrian Benepe, Senior Vice President and Director of City Park Development • Urban Land Institute: Patrick Phillips, Global CEO • National Recreation and Park Association: Barbara Tulipane, President and CEO Available Photos: • Mayor events ongoing in cities around the country • City park photography About Us: The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Millions of people live near a Trust for Public Land park, garden, or natural area, and millions more visit these sites every year. The National Recreation and Park Association is the leading non-profit dedicated to ensuring that all Americans have access to quality parks and recreation. Through its network of 60,000 recreation and park professionals and advocates, NRPA encourages the promotion of healthy and active lifestyles, conservation, and equitable access to parks. The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has more than 40,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines. ### Embargoed Until Contacts: The Trust for Public Land: Tim Ahern, 415-800-5177 October 10, 2017 National Recreation and Park Association: Heather Williams, 703-858-4743 Urban Land Institute: Trisha Riggs, 202-624-7086 Nation’s mayors launch groundbreaking 10-minute walk to a park campaign Leaders from 134 cities back The Trust for Public Land, National Recreation and Park Association, and Urban Land Institute’s 10-minute walk to a park campaign At 10:10 a.m. on October 10, 134 of the nation’s most influential mayors joined The Trust for Public Land, National Recreation and Park Association, and Urban Land Institute in launching an historic “10-minute walk” parks advocacy campaign, establishing the ambitious goal that all Americans should live within a 10-minute walk (or half-mile) of a high-quality park or green space. This bipartisan group includes mayors from all across the country and represents cities large and small, including America’s four largest cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston) and diverse communities developing innovative parks solutions, from Oklahoma City to Chattanooga. The U.S. Conference of Mayors, which represents more than 1,000 U.S. mayors, also unanimously passed a resolution at the 85th Annual Meeting urging all mayors to actively pursue the 10-minute walk to a park goal. “I am proud we’re supporting the goal of a 10-minute walk to a quality park for all,” said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. “New Orleans’ recreation department recently received national accreditation—proof that at our parks, and those all across America, people are connecting and building happier and healthier communities.” Studies show that high-quality parks provide a wide range of benefits to urban residents and cities themselves. These include physical and mental health benefits, by providing opportunities to be physically active and to interact with nature; economic benefits by boosting business and helping to revitalize neighborhoods; community-building benefits by providing opportunities for neighbors to interact with each other and work together to improve their surroundings; and environmental benefits by cleaning and cooling the air, improving climate resilience, and providing opportunities for environmental education. Partnering with cities to advance the 10-minute walk vision The campaign marks the start of a multi-year partnership with cities and mayors across the country. Beginning in 2018, the campaign—led by The Trust for Public Land in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association, and Urban Land Institute—will be working with select cities across the country on measurable policies and strategies to advance the 10-minute walk vision. Reaching 100 percent served in cities nationwide will require major advances in park finance and construction; zoning changes to encourage park development; embedding this goal into city and parks master plans; the expansion of “joint use” agreements that open school playgrounds, tracks, and gyms for public use after hours and on weekends; and other innovations. “Everyone deserves to have a park within a 10-minute walk—that is why we are in the midst of mapping park access for every city and town across America through our new platform, ParkServe®,” said Adrian Benepe, senior vice president and director of city park development for The Trust for Public Land. “We have already mapped more than 100,000 parks in close to 7,700 communities across the country, and as our research shows, more than 100 million Americans currently don’t have access to the countless benefits parks provide. These mayors deserve enormous credit for endorsing the 10-minute walk.” “On issues from climate change to infrastructure development, U.S. mayors have shown that cities can lead. Mayors aren’t waiting on Washington; they are acting boldly and independently. Urban leaders have declared that parks are a priority, and mayors have joined together in this historic campaign to ensure that everyone has access to a high-quality park,” said Barbara Tulipane, president and chief executive officer of the National Recreation and Park Association. “Thoughtfully designed parks make a positive difference in the quality of life in communities, serving as a respite, a source of civic pride, and a draw for investment activity,” said Patrick L. Phillips, global chief executive officer for the Urban Land Institute. “We are excited to work with these distinguished mayors and other urban leaders to promote the 10-minute walk campaign and help improve park access in their cities as well as urban areas across the country.” Generous support for this effort has been provided by The JPB Foundation.