About Us

CPF (City Parks Foundation) is the only nonprofit organization to create programs in parks throughout all five boroughs of New York City. We enrich and connect New Yorkers through free and accessible arts, sports, education and community-building initiatives.

Our History

1989

Aug

City Parks Foundation is incorporated as a 501(c) 3 nonprofit.
1990

Jun

Arts programming begins with free concerts in neighborhood parks. Sports programming begins with free tennis lessons in neighborhood parks.
1991

Growing Gardens, what will later evolve into Learning Gardens was born of a unique partnership with the Department of Education. From that school model, the program transitioned to park sites.
1992

Education programming expands with its field based environmental program for public school students, Seeds to Trees.
1994

CPF takes over SummerStage from the Central Park Conservancy.
1995

Partnerships for Parks, a joint program of NYC Parks Department and CPF launches to support a culture of collaboration among people and government.
1996

Catalyst for Neighborhood Parks launches as a multi-year initiative of Partnerships for Parks to program, physically improve, and foster local stewardship over a four-year period with the goal of revitalizing parks in historically underserved communities throughout the city.
1998

May

The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre reopens after $1.5 million restoration project.
1999

Jun

Free golf instruction begins in neighborhood parks for children ages 5-17.
2000

May

Readings in the Park, CPF's children's art and literacy program launches in neighborhood parks.
2000

Partnerships for Parks receives the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award and is called upon to share best practices with counterparts from locations as widespread as Anchorage, Philadelphia, Berlin, and Tokyo.
2001

Jul

Free Track & Field instruction begins in neighborhood parks for children ages 5 – 17.
2002

Green Girls education program begins, encouraging girls to excel in the sciences with hands-on activities and trips to parks and natural areas, wildlife refuges, and cultural institutions.
2003

Jun

Readings in the Park is rebranded as CityParks Kids, a full scale summer festival presenting not only readings but performing arts programs on weekday mornings all summer long.
2003

Aug

CPF takes over production of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival from the original producers who could no longer sustain the free, two-day festival.
2004

Feb

Youth Made Media, CPF's multimedia/technology after school program offering video production training, media literacy, new media, academic support and life skills training launches in Red Hook Brooklyn under the name Hook Productions.
2006

Jun

Free Dance and Theater programs launch in neighborhood parks.
2006

May

The Coastal Classroom program opens in Long Island City, Queens, offering workshops in parks along the waterfront, focused on coastal ecology, aquatic habitats, water quality, and urban waterfront restoration and preservation.
2006

Nov

Construction on the $8 million CityParks Junior Golf Center begins in Dyker Beach Brooklyn.
2008

Jun

Mayor Bloomberg helps open the $8 million CityParks Junior Golf Center, a free state-of-the-art facility open only to juniors. The facility has a six-hole golf course, practice putting and chipping greens, a sand trap, covered driving range and Clubhouse Learning Center.
2009

Apr

The newest round of Catalyst, Reclaiming Our Waterfront Parks, is announced as Soundview Park in the Bronx, East River Park in Manhattan, Calvert Vaux and Kaiser Parks in Brooklyn, and the stewardship of the NYC Water Trail.
2010

Jun

CPF's concerts, dance and theater programs are brought under the SummerStage brand in celebration of the 25th year of SummerStage.

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