Pocketparks Founder, Samantha Lee Smugala, was recently a guest of St. Louis Public Radio Show "St. Louis on the Air "with Sarah Fenske.
Pocketparks aims to beautify St. Louis, one vacant lot at a time
Samantha Lee Smugala’s first attempt at leading a nonprofit has been a successful one. Earlier this year, she launched Pocketparks, a project devoted to beautifying empty lots across the region.
Since then, she’s collaborated with many organizations around town that want to amplify her efforts, including the Cortex Innovation Community, Seeds St. Louis and the Regional Arts Commission. Most recently, the Downtown St. Louis Community Improvement District granted Pocketparks $10,000 to further develop the DUC Park located at 923 Locust St. (named after the pocket park’s sponsor, Downtown Urgent Care).
Lee Smugala joined Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air to talk about how the parks help address the city’s vacancy problems. She also discussed upcoming plans to get the pocket parks ready for the holiday season and future expansion efforts.
Read more and listen to the full interview here.