Five Mile Creek. Photography by Trust for Public Land.
Trust for Public Land (TPL), a nonprofit organization that creates parks and creates public land across the country, has received $5.7 million to help fund the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt across Oak Cliff and southwest Dallas.
The Five Mile Creek Master Plan calls for over the addition of 23 miles of trails connecting Oak Cliff with Dallas’ over 160 miles of existing trails. This plan adds on to TPL’s projects that opened or improved South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park, Judge Charles R. Rose Community Park and Woody Branch Park.
“Parks have the power to improve health, benefit the environment, build equity, and bring the community together, but only about half of the nearly 200,000 residents living in the Five Mile Creek watershed have access to park or trail within a 10-minute walk of home,” said Robert Kent, Texas State Director for Trust for Public Land. “The entire greenbelt network will benefit not only the residents of southwest Dallas and Oak Cliff but make the natural beauty of the area accessible to all of Dallas’s 1.3 million residents.”
In addition to creating new trails, the plan will add 124 acres of land protected for public use, create three new parks, and connect over 186,000 people to the outdoors as part of TPL’s goal to ensure that every person in Dallas has a park or green space within a 10-minute walk of their home.
Perspective of a typical trail. Photography by Trust for Public Land.
“Dallas is at its best when we work together to make our neighborhoods more vibrant. That is why I am grateful that the Boone Family Foundation and Lyda Hill Philanthropies have generously agreed to help us fund the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt,” said Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson. “This is a high-priority infrastructure project that will help us continue to capitalize on the momentum in our city. The trail can improve the environment and the health, quality of life, and mobility of residents in the historically underserved and overlooked communities like the ones where I grew up. And today, we got two significant steps closer to achieving this major win for southern Dallas.”
The new funds come from the Boone Family Foundation, which dedicated $2.65 million, and Lyda Hill Philanthropies, which dedicated $2.5 million.
“I’m so excited to support the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt, which will benefit so many children and families in southern Dallas,” said Lyda Hill, founder of Lyda Hill Philanthropies. “As a lifelong supporter and user of parks and trails, I know how important these assets are to building creative minds, healthy bodies, and thriving communities. It’s not size of the check that matters, but the joy I see watching children and adults come together in community in these spaces.”
Of the 186,297 residents surrounding the Five Mile Creek watershed, 54 percent have access to a park or trail within a 10-minute walk of home. The funding to accelerate the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt will directly improve health, education, the environment and the promotion of development in the area, according to TPL.
