ANNAPOLIS, Md., Dec. 11, 2017 —The TKF Foundation, which supports and advocates for the creation of meaningful urban greenspaces, has appointed Erin Robertson as its new Executive Director. Robertson will take over for Mary Wyatt, who is retiring after more than two decades with the Foundation.
“We’re thrilled to have Erin taking on the executive director position just as we enter a new phase for TKF,” said TKF’s co-founder, Tom Stoner. “In this new role, she will be placing a spotlight on the way urban greenspaces, what we call Sacred Places, can foster stronger, healthier cities.”
Robertson most recently served as TKF’s director of enrichment grants; prior to this, she was with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s development department. She also previously spent time working with the Maryland State Legislature.
At present, the Foundation is in the process of winding down its Nature Sacred Awards Program, which saw the organization grant more than $5 million to six research teams throughout the US to study the effects of greenspaces on communities experiencing various kinds of stress and trauma. It is now shifting its focus to a core network of Sacred Places. Of the 130-plus spaces TKF has supported over the last 25 years, TKF now looks to support and network its 50 most thriving in the Baltimore/Washington region in an effort to increase city cohesion and wellbeing.
“I’m looking forward to working closely with each of the Sacred Places, supporting the ways they engage their communities, and helping them to learn from one another as they grow,” said Robertson. “These spaces have a vital role to play in their communities—and bonded together, can have a real impact on a city’s health and prosperity.”
Over the course of the past 20 years, the foundation has awarded more than $20 million in funding for OSSPs and research projects to further society’s understanding of the power of nature to foster individual and community health.
