NoMa Parks Foundation Welcomes New Parks Director

Washington, D.C., April 3, 2015 – Stacie West has joined the team at the NoMa BID to oversee NoMa Parks Foundation initiatives. As Director of Parks Projects, Stacie will engage the neighborhood and lead the Foundation’s efforts to acquire sites, design parks, and build a network of public spaces for this rapidly growing neighborhood.

“Stacie’s passion is creating great parks and beautiful spaces,” said Robin-Eve Jasper, President of the NoMa BID. “Her experience with public agencies, community engagement, and shepherding large projects to completion makes her a great fit for the NoMa Parks Foundation efforts.”

Stacie was formerly a community planner and a Capital City Fellow with the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation, where she led development of the comprehensive Play DC Parks and Recreation Master Plan and orchestrated an improvement initiative to renovate all city-owned playgrounds. She managed over a dozen capital projects and was involved in all aspects of the projects, including design charrettes and construction management. She also previously worked for the District Department of the Environment creating a public outreach strategy for the 20-year Sustainable DC plan. At the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, she focused on community impacts related to cycling, pedestrian and transportation projects. Stacie has a Masters of Community Planning from the University of Maryland, College Park. 

With the recent investment of $50 million from the District government, NoMa is moving ahead with the development of parks and community open spaces. To learn more about NoMa’s proposed parks, click here to view the NoMa Public Realm Design Plan, the framework for parks and public space improvements in NoMa. The plan was created after months of thoughtful analysis and with input from a cross-section of community stakeholders. Private developers have partnered with the District and the NoMa Parks Foundation by providing space and foregoing construction in certain areas to make sure that NoMa parks projects are successful. More information about this public-private partnership and descriptions of specific parks projects can be found at nomaparks.org. You can stay up to date on NoMa Parks projects by visiting nomaparks.org, signing up for the NoMa Parks Foundation newsletter, or contacting Stacie West at swest@nomaparks.org or 202-810-0091.

About The NoMa Parks Foundation

The NoMa Parks Foundation was formed in 2012 to establish welcoming, sustainable, beautiful spaces where people can play, refresh and connect in NoMa, now and in the future.

The rapid transformation of NoMa into a true mixed-use, urban neighborhood has highlighted the importance of creating great parks and public spaces. More than 36,000 people live within 4/5 of a mile of First and M Streets, NE, and the population is projected to double in the next 10 years. However, the publicly accessible parks, playgrounds, and plazas in the area are few and far between. Parks are urgently needed to serve the residents, office workers, and visitors to NoMa. Undeveloped land is becoming scarcer each year as development occurs on the remaining empty lots. The creation of refreshing, inviting parks and public spaces – before it is too late – will improve the lives of people in NoMa today and for generations to come. More about the NoMa Parks Foundation and current parks efforts can be found at nomaparks.org.  You can sign up for the NoMa Parks Foundation newsletter as well. Follow us on Twitter @NoMaParksDC and like us on Facebook. 

About NoMa
NoMa is a vibrant, growing neighborhood nestled among Union Station, the U.S. Capitol, Shaw, and the H Street, NE corridor in Washington, D.C. Already, NoMa contains more than 17.6 million SF of office, hotel, retail and residential space. Each day, more than 92,000 people are out and about in the commercial core of NoMa. More than 38 percent of NoMa’s office space is home to private sector tenants, including a concentration of media, think tanks, and associations such as NPR, Google, Mathematica, and the American Medical Association. Through a public-private partnership with the District government and a capital investment of $50 million, NoMa will soon have great new parks and public spaces as well. NoMa is home to 3,386 terrific new apartments, and 44,000 people work here each day. NoMa is the most connected neighborhood in Washington, D.C. With unparalleled transportation access on Amtrak, VRE, MARC, two Red Line Metro stops, and vehicular access to Interstate 395, visitors, workers and residents can easily travel throughout the region as well as get to New York or anywhere on the East Coast. NoMa has a WalkScore of 92 and offers stellar biking facilities, including the 8-mile Metropolitan Branch Trail. The NoMa BID organizes more than 50 free award-winning community events
 each year, connecting more than 20,000 friends and neighbors. For more information about NoMa, visit www.nomabid.org and sign up for our bimonthly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @NoMaBID and like us on Facebook.

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For immediate release
News media contact:
Rachel Davis
202-997-3846
rdavis@nomabid.org