The National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces (NFPGS) is the umbrella organisation that aims to amplify the voices of Friends Groups across the UK.
The coronavirus public health crisis – what we can all do
Community groups to keep serving our communities – a statement from the National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces, 16.3.2020
Many people are thinking about what we can all do during this public health crisis to help each other and our communities. ‘What’ and ‘how’ need further discussion everywhere. Existing community groups are vowing to try to do what they can, and many new hyper-local mutual aid and solidarity groups seem to be springing up everywhere, which is to be welcomed.
For all of us, in every street, block of flats and neighbourhood, these are some of the things we can do to help the situation:
- spread good practice based on public health guidelines, regarding hygiene, distancing and advice/health helplines, etc.
- encourage people to support each other if vulnerable, or in self-isolation
- try to ensure everyone has access to basic food needs etc.
- try to ensure people can look after their kids OK if schools etc close
- try to ensure people who lose wages etc don’t face destitution or any threat of eviction from their homes etc.
- support the hard-working and over-stretched emergency workers (eg health staff)
- keep general morale up
This is going to be a massive challenge for everyone. Please look after yourselves and each other.
In solidarity,
Dave Morris (Chair, National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces)
The Federation works with the dynamic and inspirational grassroots movement of over 6,000 local Friends of Parks groups, supporting volunteers who act on behalf of the communities who use and care about our vital public green spaces of all kinds. We exist to represent their activities, issues and concerns and strengthen their passionate and knowledgeable voices.
You can find more information about setting up and running a Friends group at parkscommunity.org.uk.
Please subscribe to the Federation’s Newsletter to get news about key green space issues and about the Friends Groups movement.
Who we are
The Federation was constituted in 2010 by and for the Friends Groups movement. We aim to share learning, develop good practice, and strengthen grassroots organisation, coordination and co-operation throughout the UK. Most importantly, we raise the issues impacting on our open spaces, including seeking the effective protection and improvement of all the UK’s 27,000 public parks and green spaces. We successfully campaigned for a national inquiry into how to end the current underfunding crisis, and played a significant role in it.
We want to see an active Friends Group for every public green space, and an active and independent Forum run by such groups in every area throughout the UK.
The Federation is a democratic, accountable, ‘bottom up’, grassroots organisation of the movement’s area forums and networks (currently numbering over 60 such Forums actively networking and coordinating over 3,000 of the local groups). We are uniquely placed to be able to support and build up this grassroots movement.
We provide support for friends groups working together to make a difference to their local area, city, region and nationally. Such groups and their coordination forums are dependent on unpaid and over-stretched volunteer commitment at every level, including our own Federation officers and representatives (who are also active in their local Friends Groups and Area Forums).
We are developing a partnership approach to working with other ‘community-facing’ national greenspace organisations, most notably with Keep Britain Tidy (through their Love Parks campaign team) with whom we have an agreed Memorandum of Understanding. We have supported the creation and development of The Parks Alliance as a campaigning body.
We call on all those who value the UK’s green spaces to work together to speak out and defend them, to call for the effective action urgently needed at Government level – make parks a statutory service backed by adequate public funding and effective protection. We call on everyone to support and help build the Friends Groups movement in every locality and area throughout the UK.
Join us
You can subscribe to our newsletter here.
