Homestead National Monument, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The National Park Foundation (NPF) is the official nonprofit partner of the National Parks Service, it works to protect and preserve national parks for the next generation of outdoor enthusiasts. Although the foundation was chartered by Congress in 1967, its mission is rooted in a centuries-long American tradition of private citizens establishing and protecting the natural world. Today, the NPF is the only nation-wide charitable nonprofit that directly supports the National Park Service.
One of the many programs that NPF funds is ParkVentures, an initiative that works to expand outdoor recreation opportunities in national parks for historically excluded communities. Since its launch in 2021, ParkVentures has provided over $1.2 million for projects that help people access national parks and participate in recreational activities.
In November 2022, NPF gifted a ParkVentures grant to Nebraska’s Homestead National Historical Park to produce bilingual videos. The purpose of the videos is to highlight the role of Latino immigrants in the implementation of the Homestead Act of 1862 and to make them accessible by making them bilingual.
What Is the Homestead Act?
The Homestead Act was a revolutionary piece of legislation that offered any U.S. citizen 160 acres of federal land for a small filing fee and a promise to cultivate the area. Signed into law by former President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, the Act remained in effect until 1976 in all states but Alaska.
Throughout its nearly 115 years in effect, almost four million people took advantage of the Homestead Act, including a significant number of Latino Homesteaders whose stories remain untold today. The ParkVentures grant works to collect and share these unwritten stories, and has partnered with El Centro de Las Americas, a local nonprofit based in Lincoln, Nebraska, to produce bilingual materials. By offering content in both English and Spanish, the National Parks Service is helping connect larger audiences with the rich history of their culture.
Robert F. Smith’s Efforts to Support the National Park Foundation
Robert F. Smith is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners (Vista), a leading global asset manager. Similar to the ParkVentures program, Smith is dedicated to not only expanding outdoor access for marginalized Americans, but also preserving the history and culture of communities of color. Smith is an active supporter of the National Park Foundation, and many of his philanthropic efforts are dedicated to enhancing national parks and historic sites.
In 2021, Fund II Foundation, a charitable organization that Smith is the founding director and President of, made a donation to NPF to support the opening of a newly-updated Pullman National Monument in Chicago, Illinois. Designated in 2015, the Pullman National Monument is the first National Park Service unit in Chicago and highlights the legacy of the local labor and civil rights movements in Chicago. “Fund II Foundation is honored to contribute to the preservation and elevation of the African-American experience at Pullman National Monument,” said Smith. “The story of Pullman Porters and the community they built in Chicago and shared on the rails is the story of progress. Pullman Porters helped shape our American history, giving rise to the labor movement and it is important to honor them now and share their stories with current and future generations.”
Fund II Foundation also made a donation to NPF in 2021 to help purchase homes where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived and raised his family in Atlanta, Georgia. Thanks to this donation, both homes were preserved by the National Parks Service as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park.
Learn more about Smith’s contributions to the National Park Service.
