Friends to the Front Summit

​If you’ve ever picked up park litter and wondered why you also have to pick up the slack, this summit is for you.

​Friends to the Front: Advancing Houston’s Parks and Public Spaces is the first summit for Houston’s grassroots friends groups, nonprofits, and community-based organizations working to make our public spaces better. Calling all trail stewards, conservancies, civic clubs, super neighborhoods, environmental justice advocates, and residents whose “someone should do something” has become a second unpaid career.

​Come learn how to navigate City Hall, build partnerships, raise funds, tell your story, and turn neighborhood persistence into citywide influence. Meet people tackling the same challenges, swap hard-earned lessons, and help shape a shared parks advocacy agenda. Funders, public agency staff, students, and researchers: pull up a chair. Stronger parks need you at the table, too.

​October 16–17, 2026 | Emancipation Park Cultural Center
Hosted by Friends of Columbia Tap. Free to attend, with food provided.

​Bring your big ideas, your stubborn optimism, and that park problem you’re tired of explaining. You’ll be among friends.