Partnerships v2

Social Impact Partnerships

With the support of like-minded corporate and foundation partners, Project for Public Spaces manages grant, technical assistance, and leadership programs to transform public spaces.

Corporations

We bring together employees, customers, and local residents to transform neglected public spaces into gathering places that truly serve the community.

Foundations

Society’s greatest challenges are addressed in public space. We have a long history of working with foundations to meet their objectives in addressing community wellbeing, economic development, and social resilience.

Since 1975, Project for Public Spaces has brought some of the most successful public places in the world to life with the help of dedicated partners.

More than 50 organizations have partnered with Project for Public Spaces to give back to their communities, to engage their employees and grantees, and to create the welcoming, lively, and meaningful public spaces that everyone deserves.

[High-level stats on broader partnership work [# of grantees, number of funders/partnerships, #of public spaces we’ve transformed, locations (to get to the number of people we’ve served)]

Make a Difference

Your donation helps support our work to transform public spaces into inclusive, accessible, and economically thriving hubs. This includes our Community Placemaking Grants, which enable nonprofits and government agencies to transform underperforming public spaces in partnership with community members.

In 2024 we facilitated 38 public space improvement projects across North America, from well-known downtown public squares to suburban parks to rural libraries.
In 2024, we provided $240,000 in implementation funding, as well as over 1,000 hours of free technical assistance to organizations that care for public spaces across the U.S.

Credit: Erin Sintos, courtesy of Midtown Alliance

Ways to Partner with Project for Public Spaces

[High-level stats on broader partnership work [# of grantees, number of funders/partnerships, #of public spaces we’ve transformed, locations (to get to the number of people we’ve served)]

Featured Partnership

Southwest Airlines Heart of the Community

Overview
From 2014 to 2019, Project for Public Spaces partnered with Southwest Airlines to develop the Heart of the Community grant program. This initiative offered financial, technical assistance, and peer learning opportunities to 19 local partners around North America who sought to bring new life to their public spaces and to strengthen their communities for a more resilient future.

Sample Project

Campus Martius Park, Detroit, MI

Once a lifeless traffic island, Campus Martius Park has become a world-famous example of a unique urban park. Through the Southwest Airlines Heart of the Community grant program, Project for Public Spaces collaborated with the Downtown Detroit Partnership, the City of Detroit, and the Detroit 300 Conservancy to help bring a taste of northern Michigan beaches to the middle of downtown Detroit.

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Report

Places in the Making

In 2013, a team of MIT researchers from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning led by planner and architect Susan Silberberg examined ten case studies of placemaking projects around the country, including several Heart of the Community projects. Their findings report, Places in the Making, reveal how the collective process of making cultivates community capacity and leadership that lasts far beyond any one public space improvement.

“Placemaking puts power back in the hands of the people,” writes Silberberg observes in the report's introduction. “The most successful placemaking initiatives transcend the ‘place’ to forefront the ‘making,’ and the benefits for community can be substantial and long-lasting.”

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