Since rejoining the Project for Public Spaces team as CEO in July, I have been reminded again and again of the impact that placemaking can have in our communities.

Consider, for example, the small town of Wharton, Texas. When Hurricane Harvey hit last year, the Colorado River flooded the homes of over 60% of the town’s 9,000 residents. Last month, PPS began working with local partners and youth activists in Wharton to ensure that their new flood prevention infrastructure serves double duty as a community gathering place, which will improve social resilience and quality of life, as well as physical resilience. 
 

With your support, this is the kind of impactful work that PPS will continue to do in 2019, bringing placemaking to more people and places, while working to address the great challenges of our day—from climate change to public health to social isolation.
 

Here is a glimpse of what your generosity will help us achieve in 2019:

• Expand access to our services, particularly in communities without the means to hire a private placemaking firm or attend a training;
   
• Invent, test, and share new strategies to address pressing social, environmental, and economic challenges through placemaking;
   
• Create new online resources, like case studies, toolkits, and webinars, to support the work of placemakers around the world.

Thank you for joining us in our transformative efforts to ensure that every community has the right and the ability to shape their own public spaces.  


Sincerely,



Phil Myrick
CEO, Project for Public Spaces


P.S. I hope to see you at our first major event of 2019, the 10th International Public Markets Conference in London, UK!