2024 Joey Pope Award and PGE Parks Champion nominees at PPF’s 2024 Friends & Allies Spring Summit.
The Portland Parks Foundation (PPF) is excited to announce two honorees for the 2024 Joey Pope Award for Parks Leadership!
This annual award is named after Josephine “Joey” Pope, PPF’s founding Chair and a devoted activist, philanthropist, and leader in making Portland’s parks system more accessible to all. The award celebrates emerging leaders, organizations and initiatives advancing accessibility and innovation in Portland’s parks system.
We celebrate and acknowledge the impressive work of all of our nominees:
Bea Yeh Ogden, of Luminous Together
Black Swimming Initiative
Brianna Brawley, of Zenger Farm
Brown Girl Rise
Free Arts NW
Harper's Playground
Jamie Newsome, of ELSO Inc.
Kids N' Tennis, Inc
Knott Street Boxing
Nicole Allen, of Through the Trees Collective
Portland Community Football Club
Realize the Root, of Black and Beyond the Binary
Reclaiming Black Joy Project
Terrain: a land art exhibition
The Kidz Outside
Vanport Placemarking Project
Read more about the nominees
and their work here:
And now to our 2024 honorees…
Brown Girl Rise and Portland Community Football Club!
Brown Girl Rise
Brown Girl Rise is deeply committed to creating inclusive spaces where historically excluded groups, particularly BIPOC youth and femmes, can access nature, engage in recreational activities, and foster cultural connections. BGR’s week-long day camps, Radical Organizing Workshop Series (ROWS), and youth board engagement initiatives provide transformative experiences that blend outdoor education, social justice advocacy, and cultural celebration. Their work centers the experiences and voices of BIPOC youth, in an effort to challenge traditional narratives of who belongs in outdoor spaces and redefine the relationship between marginalized communities and nature.
Through a diverse array of community partnerships and coalitions, BGR expands access, education, and advocacy efforts for their participants. These efforts include outdoor skill-building, deeping connection to land and culture, farming and food justice, learning from Indigenous wisdom and practices, and environmental sustainability. BGR is committed to doing the work together with the community and exemplify collaboration by working in tandem with organizations such as Wild Diversity, Atabey Medicine, and Mudbone Grown Farms to co-facilitate workshops, share resources, and provide programming that integrates environmental activism, cultural heritage, and outdoor recreation.
Portland Community Football Club
Portland Community Football Club (PCFC) provides access to high-quality, affordable club soccer for low income and marginalized youth, ages 6-18, including LGBTQIA+, Black, Brown, Latinx, immigrants, and refugees. Their “whole child” advocacy approach supports overall health, offering wraparound services that focus on emotional, psychological, and social well-being including nutrition, mentorship, academic support, and social service referrals. PCFC is committed to meeting their youth athletes and families where they are, be that on the field or at home.
PCFC embraces a unique Sports Based Youth Development methodology that uses soccer to provide support and opportunities youth need to be healthy, contributing citizens now and as adults. Additionally, they mentor their team coaches so they can better mentor their young athletes, including trauma-informed, anti-oppressive practices. Their wraparound community support programs include diverse family services, a food pantry, and their Liberate Sports Campaign committed to erasing the gap between privilege and play through a focus on gender, race, and economic equity within sports.
What a pair of honorees!
PPF is excited to celebrate these two honorees, who are setting the bar high for inclusive and community-directed programming in parks and recreation spaces. It is particularly exciting to celebrate two organizations who have a strong commitment to empowering BIPOC and femme individuals to grow in their skills, deepen their connection to land and community, and activate Portland’s places of nature and play.
Learn more about the Joey Pope Award for Parks Leadership and past nominees and awardees here.