March 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 57

best for all, not just the lucky few
who live near mountains, beaches,
rivers and lakes.
Benefiting Communities
Community leader Raúl Macias
wants NPS to get the work done.
United States Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell joined Macias and
the children of his Anahuak Youth
Sports Association along the L.A.
River in 2014. What came of that
meeting? " Nothing yet, " he sighs.
What would he like to see? " Transit to trails, beaches and mountains.
Youth jobs to start park careers.
Contracts for our families to work
with NPS. "
Many inner-city children live within
an hour of the mountains and beaches,
but have never visited either. Director
Jarvis vows to change that. " One year
ago, President Obama launched Every
Kid in a Park, with the goal of getting
every fourth grader in the nation on
a field trip to a park. We grant them
a free pass to all the National Parks
for the fourth grader and their family
for a year! " Still, that's not enough if
you don't have access to a car, so Every Kid provides transportation grants
to schools that serve low-income students. Superintendent Szymanski says,
" SMMNRA will spend $160,000 to
bring about 14,000 fourth graders and
3,000 children and their families to
their parks - almost all from underserved schools and communities. "
Once people get to the parks, however, they have to feel welcome. NPS
is relying on education programs in
schools and parks, and diversifying
staff through urban youth jobs. NPS
will double educational services in
2016. It doubled youth hiring to 22
people last year, and will continue that
in 2016, according to Szymanski.
Macias worries about drought and

A view of the Satwiwa Native American Indian Natural Area and Ap (Chumash House) at
National Park Service's Santa Monica National Recreation Area.

climate change. He worries about
gentrification. His neighbors fought
epic battles for park lands to revitalize the L.A. River and in the Baldwin Hills in historic African-American L.A. As neighborhoods become
greener, more desirable and more
expensive, current residents will no
longer be able to live or even work
nearby. Rising rents for homes and
small businesses lead to displacement. " It's all part of social, health,
environmental and economic inequality, " Macias says. That's why
Macias and his neighbors advocate
for affordable housing for all, green
jobs paying a living wage and a truly
progressive income tax. Nonprofits
led by people of color, where justice
and health are part of the culture,
must be part of this work.
The NPS studies for the Rim of
the Valley, the $1.4 billion U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers plan to revitalize the L.A. River, the U.S. Forest
Service planning process for the San
Gabriel Mountains National Mon-

ument and the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development's
work on parks and housing - these
public works give people hope for
equitable, healthy communities in
which to live and raise children.
What's next? According to Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA-28),
" Los Angeles is notoriously park-poor.
In expanding the SMMNRA, we will
be taking a significant step in helping
to rectify this deficiency " for all Angelenos. " The next big step is writing legislation that will reflect both the [NPS]
recommendations as well as the wishes of the community. And frankly, the
more input we have from the community, the better the legislation we'll be
able to present to Congress. "
Special thanks to the NPS Core Study
Team for its assistance with this article.

Robert García is the Founding Director and
Counsel of The City Project, a nonprofit
environmental justice and civil rights
organization based in Los Angeles (rgarcia@
cityproject.org).

W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G | M A R C H 2 0 1 6 |

Parks & Recreation

March 2016 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2016 - Parks & Recreation