SPARK is honored to be the recipient of a record $5 million donation from Houston Endowment and Kinder Foundation, to be used to increase park equity in the Houston-Harris County area. Each foundation will contribute $2.5 million dollars over the next three years to construct 30 SPARK parks in “park desert” areas of the county.

The City of Houston has also pledged an additional $450,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funding toward the project.

Twenty-five new parks and five re-SPARKS of existing parks will be included in the initiative. Schools will be selected from park desert sites identified through a park evaluation conducted by The Trust for Public Land. A park desert is defined to be more than one-half mile or a ten-minute walk from an existing park.

The first nine sites include:

• Ashford Elementary – Houston ISD
• Harvey Brown Elementary – Channelview ISD
• Audrey Bush Elementary – Alief ISD
• The Lawson Academy – Charter School
• Milne Elementary – Houston ISD
• Wedgewood Elementary – Clear Creek ISD
• Petersen Elementary – Houston ISD
• Winborn Elementary – Katy ISD
• Woodview Elementary – Spring Branch ISD

For more information, see:

News Release – September 21, 2016

Map of Park Locations – Phase 1

News Conference (video) – September 21, 2016, recorded by HTV

Houston Chronicle article – September 22, 2016

Houston Chronicle online – September 22, 2016

Houston Style magazine