Park Pride is thrilled to welcome Tiffany Madison to its team as the Project Manager on the Grantmaking & Implementation team! She most recently served as Grants & Program Manager with The Corps Network, where she scoped and supported more than 50 conservation, preservation, and infrastructure improvement projects on public lands. Tiffany loves fishing and traveling to National Parks, and has visited all 50 states. She describes herself as a real country girl who loves the outdoors.
Continue reading to get to know Tiffany in her own words!
What does the “power of parks” mean to you?
The ability to connect people with nature may seem super simple, but think about it — It’s the laughter of children at a birthday party under a pavilion, the sounds of bike chains turning down a trail, or shoes hitting the pavement on a morning run. These everyday moments become core memories we carry with us.
Why are parks an important part of the community?
Parks become so much more than a greenspace; they become staples and landmarks within a community. They become places where folks gather, celebrate, create memories, and simply enjoy being together. It has become a free access point for communities.
What are you most excited about regarding your new role?
What I’m most excited about is the opportunity to work on parks right in my own backyard and see projects come to life from start to finish. As a country girl who has traveled to all 50 states working on national projects, I’ve had the opportunity to see and contribute to projects in communities across the country. Now, I get to bring that experience home and invest it in my own community.
How do you hope to empower communities to engage and make a difference in their neighborhood parks?
I hope to empower communities by first building trust and creating genuine connections. Before we can ask people to engage in their neighborhood parks, I think we have to understand why we visit parks in the first place and what they mean to us. Parks have this invisible string that connects us to our neighbors, our memories, and to the generations that come after us. I want to help communities recognize that their voice matters and that they have a role in shaping the parks they want to see.
What’s your favorite park memory?
I actually have so many, but the one that lives rent-free in my head is the day after Christmas when I was growing up in Florida. My mom took my siblings and me to Showalter Park, and we brought our new roller skates to the tennis court. The court needed a lot of work and probably weren’t what anyone would consider perfect, but that didn’t matter to us at the time. We were just excited to be outside, skating, laughing, and enjoying time together.
Favorite Atlanta park (and why)?
Bess Walker Park. Two reasons, it’s in my community and it has a lake which I love because I love fishing. Even if nothing bites it was still worth getting out and casting my reel.
Send Tiffany a message at tiffany@parkpride.org to help welcome her to the team!