Past Projects
Our legacy is helping people help parks — through hands-on work, through contibuting funds, through imagining new shared futures. Since 2001, we've contributed over $13 million to the parks and projects and programs. Check out our recent projects, just some of the ways we’ve impacted Portland parks and communities.
Barbara Walker Crossing
Portland’s 30-mile Wildwood Trail once suffered a major flaw: its crossing at Burnside Road. With an average 18,000 vehicles passing daily, hikers were forced to dodge traffic in their pursuit of nature. Opened in 2019, The Barbara Walker Crossing now enhances access to nature by making this crossing safe.
The Portland Parks Foundation spearheaded the effort to build a bridge at this intersection before a serious tragedy occurred. A committee of local citizens led the effort to make this project possible.
Learn more about the project here.
Credit: Ed Carpenter
Back to Square One:
Reimagining O’Bryant Square
Closed in 2018, O’Bryant Square has been reimagined as Darcelle XV Plaza, with the help of community voice and creative partnerships. During March 2023, the Portland Parks Foundation, the Harvard Loeb Fellowship, Portland State University’s (PSU) Center for Public Interest Design (CPID) and Portland Parks & Recreation gathered ideas, hopes, and worries from nearly 1,000 Portlanders on how a new public space at O'Bryant Square could serve Portland's communities.
Read more about the project and its impact here.
PASEO Festival
Conceived in 2021 and shaped by a committee of social justice and arts leaders, Paseo platformed BIPOC producers and curators in one dynamic annual festival. Inspired by the ritual of an evening walk, Paseo last year brought over 4,000 people to the Portland’s downtown parks, from the the North to South Park blocks, Director Park, and Shemanki Square.
Learn more about the project and the many voices the event gathered here.
Parke Diem!
From 2013 to 2016 Portland Parks Foundation gathered 1000+ volunteers annually to build up and beautify 50+ nature spaces, community gardens, and neighborhood parks around Portland.
Cully Park
Led by nonprofit partner Verde, the 'Let Us Build Cully Park!' campaign transformed a former landfill into a new 25 acre park for Portland's most diverse, park-deprived neighborhood. The Cully Park project supports cultural expression, educates youth, restores habitat, provides local green job and business opportunities, and establishes a community-based model for developing green infrastructure. Portland Parks Foundation partnered with Verde to help finish the fundraising campaign.
Native Gathering Garden
Beginning in 2010, a committed core group of Native and non-Native community leaders turned to our Portland Urban Indian community to define a Tribal Garden design feature. Initially sized at 20,000 square feet, the Inter-Tribal Gathering Garden at Cully Park has grown to over 36,000 square feet and now provides the unifying design theme for the entire Park. It is the first feature of its kind at a City of Portland park. The Portland Parks Foundation helped to raise money for the project.
Learn more here.
Peninsula Park Rose Garden
Friends of Peninsula Park Rose Garden preserve, protect and enhance Peninsula Park Rose Garden as a heritage resource for all generations. Founded in 2012, members of the Friends group volunteer their time and energy to enhance and maintain the beauty of this historic garden.
Learn more about the Friends of Peninsula Park Rose Garden here.
Become part of our legacy by funding our work.
Check out our current projects, and consider making a donation to sustain the work of Portland Parks Foundation.