Strategic Plan 2025 – 2030

Our Values:

Our Priorities:

Our Mission:

We partner with community to champion thriving and equitable parks and public spaces.

Our Why:

Our vision is that people feel welcomed and invested in our parks and public spaces, leading to healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities.

Seattle’s history of redlining and other discriminatory practices has created a landscape of great inequity that is evident in the increasing challenges facing our region. Our commitment is to prioritize our offerings to communities that continue to be impacted as we work towards thriving and equitable parks and public spaces.

Climate change will impact our future livability in the Seattle region.

Heat and smoke events are increasing year over year, with more days of diminished air quality and extreme heat above 85 degrees than ever previously recorded.
Sea level rise is anticipated at ten inches by 2050 and 28 inches by 2100.
King tides and storm surges will continue to impact at least seven extremely vulnerable areas of the city, primarily communities of color.
Creating open green space that is floodable is a challenge, especially along the Duwamish River.
Climate solutions are needed! Seattle needs to reduce greenhouse gases by 58% by 2030 – they have only declined by 5% since 2008. Seattle has a goal of 30% tree canopy cover by 2037 – in communities of color, tree canopy is only at 20%, while the rest of the city is at 28%.

Residents of South Seattle have a 13-year lower life expectancy than residents of North Seattle.
Residents in these areas have higher rates of asthma, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and much lower rates of health insurance.
South Downtown, CID, South Park, Georgetown, Lake City and the Southern suburbs have either unsafe or long walks to public spaces with limited recreation opportunities, playgrounds, greenspace, natural areas, and water access.

Environmental health is inequitably linked to socioeconomic factors.

Our population is expanding much faster than our park system.

According to the Greater Seattle Civic Health Index:

Greater Seattle residents with college degrees attend public meetings at nine times the rate of those without high school diplomas.
Residents with household incomes greater than $75,000 attend public meetings at three times the rate of residents earning less than $35,000.
Black and Asian Seattleites attend two times the number of public meetings as Latinos, while White Seattleites attend three times that number.

Disparities in Seattle's civic engagement correspond to inequities in education, income, race, and physical health.

We Believe Community is Strongest Together:

We will actively identify and address implicit bias and structural racism within our organization and community.

We will use restorative practices that emphasize the importance of positive relationships as central to community building.

We will acknowledge historical and present harm done, and ask others to do the same.

We will focus, when possible, on restoring and repairing relationships in community.

Our Strategic Priorities:

Our 2030 Objectives:

Mobilizing Community Changemakers

Ensure 100% of SPF Partners receive the tools and resources they need to improve grassroots projects
Strengthen SPF’s South King County Presence
Strengthen grassroots leadership capacity through training, peer learning, professional development, and networking opportunities amongst our fiscal sponsees

Growing Urban Resilience

Advance tree equity and nature-based infrastructure efforts in priority communities so that underserved communities are engaged. 25% of project leaders reflect prioritized communities.
Lead a citywide effort to transform schoolyards and hardscape parks into vibrant, publicly accessible green spaces that advance equity, climate resilience, and community wellbeing.

Fostering Inclusive Communities

Acquire, protect and preserve land to expand public space assets throughout the region, addressing urban heat island effects and tree canopy.
Integrate universal/inclusive design principles as a standard across all SPF supported public space projects.
Advance equitable and community informed public space design and activation

Advocacy and Impact

SPF is recognized as a trusted civic partner and systems-change leader for a green and equitable Seattle and King County
Secure long-term, effective public funding in parks and public spaces that is deployed equitably and addresses our city’s greatest climate challenges.
Seattle and King County lead by example as a global green city/region through equitable and climate-forward parks and public space policies.
Develop rigorous data collection and analysis to support the impact of SPF’s work and the role parks and public spaces play in the health of the region. Share that data as it is available.

Catalyzing Resources and Organizational Sustainability

Catalyzing Resources and Organizational Sustainability:
Raise and deploy $10M to support grassroots public space leaders, organizational capacity, and a community-directed granting program across Seattle and King County.
Raise and deploy $25M in public and private funding to catalyze the launch and growth of at least 50 community-led park and public space projects, prioritizing equity and climate resilience.
Advance equity and belonging across all areas of the organization – staff, board, partners, and supporters.

Why This Work Matters:

The climate is changing, our urban population is growing, and the demand for plentiful and accessible public spaces is increasing. Connections to parks and their many benefits are not equitably distributed, leaving many communities in our region underserved and excluded.