About Pocketparks
Pocketparks is a non-profit organization that reimagines and redevelops unused plots of land to provide communities with active and beautiful recreational areas. Through community engagement, each park is designed to meet the specific needs of the neighborhood in which it is located. Every park incorporates three things: activity, artwork, and opportunity. Pocketparks are small, but make a big impact. By focusing on small outdoor parks, we can quickly provide positive impact without extensive resources. Pocketparks not only offers beautiful recreational areas, but works to increase safety, boost community pride, and contribute to economic development. Pocketparks is a platform that reactivates outdoor areas to build up the ecosystem of communities and weave vibrant spaces into our urban fabric.
Established in St. Louis in 2021, Pocketparks is working to activate local communities and plans to grow into a network of parks that sprawl across the city and eventually expand to other cities and states. As a non-profit organization, Pocketparks relies on donations to support its efforts.
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“To me, this isn’t as much of a parks project as it is about activating the streets for a more vibrant, dense, urban fabric. Using a human-centric approach, we can elevate the urban experience to one that is safe, beautiful, active, and diverse. We are creating a platform using parks to reactivate the streets and build up the ecosystem of our city.”
- Samantha Lee Smugala, President & Founder
Our Process
Our process starts with identifying opportunities and engaging the community. All projects are community driven to assure we are creating positive change. We translate feedback into a relevant park design. After construction, we launch the new pocket park as a fully activated space, and continue to maintain the park for the foreseeable future.
Find Opportunities
Engage
Community
Design & Construction
Launch & Activation
Continued Maintenance
Our Sponsors
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The Board
Samantha Lee Smugala
President & Founder
Samantha has a diverse background in marketing, design, and strategy. Her career has led her to work for both small and large firms, with projects ranging from logo design to go-to-market strategies. Samantha has worked across industries in education, healthcare, hospitality, entertainment, and manufacturing.
Samantha’s mission with Pocketparks is to activate and beautify city streets by reimagining and redeveloping underutilized plots into beautiful recreational areas for the community.
Sarah Arnoksy Ko
Vice President
Sarah Arnosky Ko is a vice president at Greater St. Louis, Inc., an economic development organization committed to driving economic growth and creating opportunities for all in the St. Louis region. In her role, Sarah leads implementation of key initiatives that promote, activate and enhance the built environment. In her spare time, Sarah can be found playing roller derby, working on house projects, and trying new St. Louis restaurants.
Katie Holtgrave
Treasurer
Katie is financial analyst at Fleshman Hillard. Her focus is business valuations, data analysis, forensic support in fraud, and forensic engagements. As an involved community member, Katie also serves as the President of the St. Louis Startup Ambassadors and the Treasurer of Epworth Children and Family Services. Katie's personal interests have lead her to be an active community member and patron to local restaurants, sporting events, concerts, and more. While committed to bettering St. Louis, Katie also enjoys international travel and exploring new countries, cities, and cultures.
Maxine Clark
Director
Maxine Clark is the Founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop®, a teddy-bear themed retail-entertainment experience. In 2013, Maxine stepped down from her CEB (Chief Executive Bear) position to start her next act-- to help unleash the potential of women and minority entrepreneurs and to use her entrepreneurial skills to create platforms and places that give access to more St. Louis families. Her latest venture is the Delmar DivINe™—the transformation of a neighborhood eyesore, the historic St. Luke’s Hospital, into a multi-use real estate development opened in late 2021.
Maxine is a Founding Managing Director of Prosper Women’s Capital, the Board of Advisors of Lewis and Clark Ventures and an advisor to the TxO Fund. Maxine is a member of the Build-A-Bear Workshop Board of Directors and a recent past member of Footlocker, Inc. Board of Directors. Maxine is also an Emeritus member of the Washington University Board of Trustees and a board member of, Barnes Jewish Hospital, Goldfarb School of Nursing, New America, and PBS national Nine PBS boards. In 2017 Maxine was named to the Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame and in 2015 was named Women of the Year by the Greater Missouri Leadership Foundation.
Amanda Auer
Director
Amanda Auer is the Senior Vice President of Development at Green Street Real Estate Ventures. After 16 years of experience, Amanda has a deep technical and legal understanding of the real estate development process and plays a vital role on the most financially complex projects. Amanda is a licensed attorney and received a Corporate Counsel Award from the St. Louis Business Journal in 2018 and was featured in Vanguard Law Magazine in 2016. Amanda holds a Juris Doctorate from St. Louis University School of Law (2007) and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Missouri, Columbia (2003). Amanda is a member of the Urban Land Institute and serves as a board member and participates on the tax credit working group for the Missouri Growth Association.
The Team
Adam Walker
Construction Manager
Paul Parham
Product Manager
Morgan Groth
Design / Social Media
Lexii Gregory
Community Engagement / Events
Aaron Church
Design / Park Lead
Sara Feagans
Newsletters / Events
Donor Roll
Rawan Abusaid
Joy Adkins
Alternative Life Guide LLC
Vanessa Asaro
Amanda Auer
Colleen Autry
Jackie Becker
Jenny Birgé
Beth Blackmon
Dennis Brown
Catherine Boyd
Crawford Taylor Foundation
Trisha Boyle
Teresa Brackman
Camille Brooks
Dennis Brown
Aaron Bunse
Deborah Bunse
Christopher Campbell
Mary Cheragotti
Beth Chmelir
Aaron Church
Maxine Clark
Kat Cocivera
Thomas & Sally Cohn
Campbell Cook
Brad Curl
Darlene Davison
Elizabeth Desrosiers
The Ellenwood Fund
Bob and Deborah Dolgin
Amanda Doll
Chris Donnell
Joshua Dull
Angela Durb
Jenna Endres
Tim Elwell
Sarah Farris
Sara Feagans
Florae Beauty
Susan Florent
Zach Foppe
Nick Freed
Rebecca Gale
Crystal Gammon
David Gengler
Helena Gould
Myrna Guerrero
Bryan Hadley
Nicole Haukap
Peggy and Randy Haukap
Allie Hayes
Katie Heaney
Faye Hender
Danielle Hohmeier
Katie Holtgrave
Kenneth Hom
Mitchell Hunt
Audra Hubbell
Alaina Ingram
Kelsey Jordan
Andrew Kane
Tague Kapovich
Shannon Keller
Roxann Kirkwood
Gregory Knott
Sarah Arnosky Ko
Kirsten Kohm
Jacqueline Krueger
William LaBonte
James Ladd
Wiilliam Lakin
Philip Layfield
Rebecca Lester
Beth Lickteig
Tim Lorson
Tyler Mackie
Lorrie Macy
Sarah Marino
Brian Matthews
Terrance McCarthy
Amelia McCown
Connie McDavid
Jason McGaughey
Allison McGrath
Terese Messman
Virgina Michalik
Kimberly Millstone
Carl Mitchell
Linden Mueller
Fatimah Muhammad
Jennifer MulhollandLaura
Ryan Munge
Laura Obrien
Eric O'Donnell
James Page
Paul Parham
Gail Polk
Lisa Reed
Nancy Ridenour
Rachel Roman
Mike Roberts
Jessica Rowe
Christy Schlafly
Schlafly Foundation
Adam Schwarz
Sean Scott
Seneca CRE, LLC
Patty Shea
Ellen Sherman
David Smith
Larry & Tonnie Smith
Karen Smugala
Samantha Lee Smugala
Danielle Spink
Mary Stewart
Deborah Stoller
Stonetree Fabrications
Joy Straney
Kaylin Stravalli
Paul Stupperich
Sunset Overlook
studioDVLP
TAO + LEE Associates, Inc
Troy Taylor
Lesli Thellman
Paul Tice
Suzanne Tiller
Victor Thomas
Diane Trowbridge
Jennifer Vaeth
Kathy Van Voorhees
Bonnie W Wade
Pete Wagner
Adam Wayne
Donna and Brian Ward
Lexie Ward
Matthew West
Audrey Western
Erin Wittland
Shirley Wolverson
Ann Young