By Hannah E. Jones, Park Pride’s Marketing & Communications Manager
“What I’ve gained from the Park Stewardship Academy program is nearly immeasurable, and to be a steward of something is a true honor. My mind has been blown by this program,” said Marianna Lee with the Friends of Mountain Way Common.
On Saturday, nine park leaders in training graduated from Park Pride’s Park Stewardship Academy (PSA)! PSA is a three-month educational and skill-building program that equips emerging park leaders to better steward their park, led by Director of Education Eli Dickerson. Now in its third year, 33 community members have graduated from PSA. The goal is to continue to grow a network of long-term champions who are prepared to care and advocate for their neighborhood greenspaces.
The graduates are Friends of the Park group members from around the city, including Deionte Benson, Gresham Park; Saratan Farrer, Herbert Greene Nature Preserve & Wilson Mill Park; Bill Gould, Ormewood Forest; Olivia Hollis, Perkerson Park; Marianna Lee, Mountain Way Common; Rodney Mullins, Maddox Park; Michael Paul, Olmsted Linear Parks; Quanda Spencer, Outdoor Activity Center; James Tyler, Lionel Hampton Nature Preserve.
The curriculum, crafted with care by Park Pride, helps community leaders fill their park toolkit by learning skills like how to tell your park story, communicating with elected officials, community asset mapping, how to be an effective leader, the roles of public art and beautification, hosting events, ways to engage neighbors and more.
Bill Gould, with the Friends of Ormewood Forest Nature Preserve, applied for PSA because “passion and desire are, in and of themselves, not enough to protect and sustain our public park spaces.”
He continued: “PSA offered an opportunity to meaningfully consider, in a hands-on way, the nuances and complexities of navigating the forces of community, the private sector, and government in hopes of better orchestrating the success of our park vision.”
Bill has been involved with Ormewood Forest since he moved to the East Atlanta neighborhood 15 years ago. A development was proposed for the area, which, if approved, would have cleared the forest and altered the headwater stream. A group of neighbors spearheaded the “Save Ormewood Forest” effort and, with the help of the East Atlanta Canopy Krewe, advocated to preserve the land and stream features. They eventually came to a compromise — a small subdivision plan and, in 2023, the City of Atlanta purchased three acres of forest (including the entire stream buffer zone), now officially the Ormewood Forest Nature Preserve.
For Bill, Ormewood Forest represents an important message: “Even small wild places and watershed features are essential to protect, and individual and community grassroots efforts can be instrumental and essential in saving them.”
Marianna Lee, a North Buckhead resident of 35 years, has worn many hats for Mountain Way Common over the last 15 years — serving as a grant writer, event planner, weed puller, dog park monitor and more!
For Marianna, parks are important pillars of our communities because “friendships are built in parks. Memories are built in parks. Fun is had in parks.”
Learning to tell that story — about the power of parks — was one of Marianna’s favorite sessions, because “we have a responsibility to our parks to find their past and to accurately preserve it.”
Storytelling is a piece that fits into the larger puzzle, pairing with community asset mapping that helps determine what goes into a park’s story and learning how to use this story to engage neighbors and elected officials to further the neighborhood’s goals.
In addition to the skills and knowledge gained, the PSA grads have also built a strong community where they can continue to lean on, support, and celebrate each other as they continue their park journeys.
“As a group, we were quickly able to share with honesty and therefore build trust and respect,” Marianna said. “I consider each of my cohorts a friend and look forward to many years ahead as we support one another in our efforts to make greenspaces in Atlanta, DeKalb and Brookhaven places that we are proud to visit and prouder still to leave for others who follow us.”
The strength and breadth of Atlanta’s greenspace community was also the biggest takeaway for James Tyler with the Friends of Lionel Hampton Nature Preserve.
“There are many people like me who want to do things for parks, and they’re looking for ways to make it happen,” James said. “We can be a network where we share experiences of successes, failures and suggestions about how to organize around securing resources for our parks. It makes the whole city project of providing for parks one in which many people are involved, rather than my isolated self. I’m glad to have a lot of comrades doing the same thing.”
Lionel Hampton is a 100+ acre nature preserve in Southwest Atlanta that is largely mature forest, features three ecological zones, and is home to a wide variety of wildlife. The wildness of the space is James’ favorite part. Despite being so large, the nature preserve is relatively unknown and James hopes to change that.
“When people say ‘park,’ I want them to think of Lionel Hampton, and I want them to think of it as a place worthy of support,” James said.
He added: “I’m happy that I took the training. I had some doubts about whether I would be able to consistently show up, but I [asked myself], ‘Is there an alternative to gather the information that you want to advocate for this park?’ And I realized that there wasn’t. That redoubled my effort to show up, be there, and garner as much information as I could.”
Our 2025 grads are ready for what’s next. Marianna will continue her leadership efforts in North Buckhead’s parks, now chairing the Neighborhood Parks Engagement Committee for the neighborhood civic association. Bill’s top priority is continuing to grow the Friends group, so neighbors strengthen their connection to the nature preserve and its future. James aims to work toward securing amenities for Lionel Hampton, including lighting, a covered gathering space, and signage.
We’re so excited to watch our grads soar and make their greenspaces shine even brighter!
Our previous PSA grads have already hit the ground running with a variety of events and ways to bring more people to their parks, like the Melton Park Meetups (social neighborhood events that also include ecological education and native habitat restoration), a pet wellness event at Adair Park (providing care for over 150 pets, including free spay/neuter, microchipping and pet medication giveaways) and seasonal events at June Elois Mundy Park (a Fall Harvest Festival with hayrides and a tailgate party).
Oftentimes, we think about park projects as physical improvements, but that’s only one piece of the pie. It’s also important to activate these spaces, bringing more people to the park and making it warm and inviting. Click here for snapshots of these parks as they come alive!
Ultimately, Park Pride is proud to help facilitate this ever-growing network of park advocates who are passionate about improving their parks for the betterment of their neighborhoods. Applications will open for the next PSA class in May 2026.
“I’m thankful for the gift of time that our current class and past classes have given to Park Pride,” Eli said. “You help us to be a better, more community-focused park and greenspace organization.”
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