About Us
"The mission of the Omaha Parks Foundation is to improve, promote, preserve, protect, and support Omaha Parks and Recreation system. We engage in initiatives that make our parks system more accessible, inclusive, and beneficial to ALL Omahans."
Our Vision
We do what we do to INSPIRE
The people of Omaha to recognize that the parks system plays a significant role in creating and maintaining the quality of life in our community.
Parks provide access to outdoor recreation opportunities; support healthy lifestyles; and sustain clean water, land, and natural habitat, which in turn attract businesses and visitors, ---- while increasing prosperity for a healthy economy.
Parks and trails connect neighborhoods, offer connection to the natural environment, and connect the community to each other through communal spaces, special events, cultural festivities, recreation and fun.
Omaha residents recognize the importance of the park system in their lives and to their neighborhoods. They take responsibility for our community assets with investments of time, individual and corporate contributions, and tax dollars.
Omaha residents benefit from a healthy park system and recreation opportunities available to all, regardless of where they live, their age, religion, gender, income, ethnicity, or special needs.
The Omaha Parks Foundation enlists the help of individuals, corporate donors, and other charitable foundations in our efforts to conserve and enhance our city’s parks and green spaces. Through our work, the Omaha Parks Foundation helps facilitate donations to community centers and several local projects, create awareness of issues that our parks, trails, and green spaces face, and help fulfill items from the city’s “wish list” of needs they are unable to fund.
Mission History
The City of Omaha Parks Department has created a dynamic parks and recreation system over the past 150 years. As the city has grown, so has the continued need for parks, trails, and playgrounds. Recognizing that the parks system is vital to improving the lives of all Omaha residents, enhancing economic development, and encouraging healthy lifestyles, the Omaha Parks Foundation was created in 2010.
In a time of high demand for government resources, the Omaha Parks Foundation is an independent 501(c)3 fulfilling the need for a private-public collaboration to improve Omaha's Parks. Although we work closely with the Omaha Parks & Recreation Department on many projects, we are a private-fiduciary partner to multiple government and non-profit institutions. A non-political volunteer Board of Directors governs the Foundation.