Okay,

everyone, I'm gonna call our next work session to order.

Uh today is again Friday, uh October 2nd.

We are noticed from one to two p.m.

today.

Uh the topic today is uh a work session with the Anchorage Park Foundation, and as well as some preliminary discussion about the uh capital improvement program uh for parks and rec.

Um, and I'll just note uh very briefly before we get into that.

Um earlier today the uh but mayor's budget was uh recently introduced.

And so just to clarify, the document we are looking at is not from that particular budget.

Uh it is an excerpt from our 120-day memo.

Uh, but and so we will be digging into what is actually in the proposed budget, but I think the the goal for today's conversation in that space is to really look back at um, you know, the really the first draft, which is what we're starting from from last year and having a more general conversation about some of the big ongoing uh projects and um initiatives and how those fit into you know what we might be seeing or what what um us and others will be advocating for.

So uh so with that we'll start with introductions, um starting with Mr.

Handling.

Donald Handelin.

Karen Baldwin Day,

Anna Brawley, Yaro Silvers, and on the phone we have Vice Travelant.

I'm here.

And

member Scout.

Okay, great.

And uh I'll notice any other members um that walk in the room.

We're also joined by uh clerk staff, member of the public, and our presenters for today.

So with that, I will turn it over to um Miss Nordland.

Thank

you.

Hello, I'm Beth Nordland.

I'm executive director of the Anchorage Park Foundation, and I would like to introduce you to Michelle Lebau, our deputy director and in coming executive director.

So news flash.

I'm retiring.

My last day of work is March the 31st.

It was a really good reason to decide.

Hey, let's go talk to the assembly.

Um, we need to make sure that everyone is up to speed on what the Anchorage Park Foundation does and how this nonprofit partner is here to help with many of the things that you work on.

So um yeah.

And it's been it's been since 2019, since the Anchorage Park Foundation gave a presentation to the assembly.

So we we want to work on that because we work together and there's a lot of things we can do together.

Um we put together this handout, the one that says building community on the top.

Um it's it's something we did just for you to talk about our accomplishments um in 2026 and all the years of our community impact accomplishments.

Um we put our goals down for 2027, and we have a list of asks that we want to ask the assembly for.

You know us through many of the programs that we work on, Youth Employment and Parks, the Trails Initiative, Inclusive Play, but we put together these first bullets that I want to go over with you because everything we do is kind of overlaps.

Many of the programs serve each other.

And so to think of our programs just in silos doesn't work after 22 years of working together on things.

So I just wanted to start out with the ethos of the things that we do in these bullets so that you can have a real idea of what we could be doing and are doing with your neighborhoods that you serve.

First, we engage people in meaningful ways through advocacy, project design, volunteering.

There's

a

whole, you know, many, many different kinds of advocacy we do, and we can do that with you.

So that is meaningful to people individually and directly.

We also inspire non-traditional partnerships and convene coalitions, small coalitions of strategizers and partners, or large statewide coalitions of people that care about trails.

So we're working all the time on convening and working on partnerships.

And the dollars can be local, state, federal, private foundations, individuals, you name it, those kinds of dollars can be found at the Anchorage Park Foundation and combined to work on programs and projects in your district.

We provide match for federal and state grants.

That's one of the things we don't talk about a lot, but the government is quite happy that we're here for that in many different instances.

We do that every year, and we try to do it all year.

We try to connect voters with the idea that if you're voting for park bonds, we are improving a park in your district at all times.

So that's kind of an evergreen campaign that we work on promoting the park bonds.

And then we serve as a fiscal sponsor to projects that might be on Muni Land.

I listed some in this bullet Town Square Park Challenge grant is out right now.

We're raising money for that.

We help, we were the fiscal sponsor for downtown pedestrian wayfinding and for our friends at the Hilltop Bike Park, which is the summer use of the of the ski resort, right?