Parks Stewardship Forum

TOGETHER Bay Area, a regional coalition of public agencies, nonprofits, and Indigenous tribes working for climate resilience and social equity in the San Francisco Bay Area, increased the region’s capacity to adapt to the COVID-19 crisis in the spring of 2020.  This had a direct impact on the public’s ability to go outdoors—and will change how we respond to crises in the future. We convened forums for information sharing, coordinated a public education campaign, and advocated for funding and policies, all of which positioned our members to more effectively and efficiently respond to the crisis. As this article will describe, we were able to increase coordination, increase innovation, and support policy change.