Spending time in green spaces like local parks can improve people’s mental and physical health — especially kids who live in urban neighborhoods.
Local parks also strengthen communities and make neighborhoods nicer places to live, work, and play. They’ve even been shown to help people live happier, healthier, and longer lives.
In Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, a non-profit founded in 1996*, and UPMC Children’s Hospital collaborate on a program named Parks Rx. With help from a long list of regional partners, Parks Rx invites children and adults in every neighborhood to explore and enjoy their local parks.
Not sure which park is yours? Log on to pittsburghparks.org and click on Explore Your Parks. There you’ll find a parks map, park overviews, park activity sheets, ways to experience parks, and an opportunity to show your love for your favorite local park.
The site also includes information about regional parks, including Emerald View, Frick, Highland, Riverview, Schenley and the gardens the Parks Conservancy plants and maintains throughout the city.
A garden special to many Pittsburghers is the From Slavery to Freedom Garden at the Frick Environmental Center. With support from the Heinz History Center, this garden showcases plants found in woodlands and fields that enslaved people used for food and medicine along their journey to freedom, as well as vegetables raised in their home gardens.
*To date, the Parks Conservancy has raised $150 million and completed 24 major park improvement projects. The Parks Conservancy works with thousands of volunteers, hosts hundreds of events, and provides programming for more than 7,500 children annually. For example, through its partnership with Children’s Community Health, Children’s Hilltop Health Hub provides Parks Rx resources to patients, while the Hilltop Family Care Connection and Hello Baby offer programming for families with young children.
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