The Importance of Vision

Michael Halicki, Executive Director of Park Pride

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18

By Michael Halicki, Park Pride’s Executive Director

People often think of nonprofits as mission driven organizations. While mission is vital to defining what an organization does, it is the vision that defines what you aim to achieve. In these uncertain times, it is vision, not mission, that helps us see our way past the uncertainty and toward a better future. Park Pride’s mission is to “engage communities to activate the power of parks.” Our vision is for “a nationally recognized network of locally inspired parks, greenspaces, and trails that engages individuals, strengthens communities and transforms Atlanta.”  

Park Pride’s vision for a healthy network of parks, greenspaces, and trails, adopted by Park Pride’s Board of Directors two years ago, led us to engage a broader constituency of green advocates to take on the challenges we identified in our urban environment. Over the past year, Park Pride has worked with a growing coalition of environmental partners to pursue our individual visions with a united front. These partners include: Park Pride, Trees Atlanta, the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, The Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy in Georgia, Piedmont Park Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, Georgia Conservancy, West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and the Greening Youth Foundation.

As a group, this partnership met with mayoral candidates and worked together to host two mayoral forums at two different points during the election. The work that began through this coalition effort does not end with an election cycle; it will carry on. It is my most sincere hope that as we look to the coming year, we will continue to work together through the local administrative transition and support Mayor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms, new and returning members of Atlanta City Council, allies, stakeholders, and other friends to advance our collective vision for an Atlanta with great parks and trails, a healthy tree canopy, and a clean watershed.  

I am confident that, guided by our vision and through the strength of partnership, we will see a way through the challenges we face in 2018. More than just for our environmental nonprofit coalition however, this is my wish for all of Atlanta.

Happy New Year!