On September 19th, Marine Park Alliance (MPA) announced a major change from an all-volunteer-run grassroots organization to a professional nonprofit by welcoming their incoming Executive Director Scott Middleton, who will provide much-needed leadership to Brooklyn’s largest park.
“We are thrilled to welcome Scott to the organization,” said Maria Carro-D’Alessandro, MPA founder and chair. “Hiring Scott is the next step in executing the strategic planning process we kicked off in 2023.”
MPA assists NYC Parks with a mission to provide cultural, environmental and volunteer programming in Marine Park for the health and well-being of all New Yorkers. Visit https://www.marineparkalliance.org/
According to the announcement, Middleton was a city planner with a focus on urban environmental issues. He worked as a project planner at Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) where he coordinated programs, partnerships and stewardship resource plans for multiple park sites across Brooklyn and Queens. He holds a Master of City Planning and an Environmental Planning Certificate from MIT, as well as a B.A. from Brown University.
The Canarsie Courier asked Middleton to answer a few questions to introduce himself and help acquaint him to the community.
1) Will you be bringing any ideas from your experience as a project planner at JBRPC for multiple park sites across Brooklyn and Queens to MPA or do you anticipate that it will be very different now that you are focusing on one organization?
I am proud of my time as a planner at JBRPC and grateful that I had the chance to work at a range of beautiful city, state and federal park sites all around Jamaica Bay. One of the great joys of that job was meeting park users from a diverse range of neighborhoods, from Far Rockaway to Canarsie to Howard Beach and beyond. As the new Executive Director of MPA, I am looking forward to focusing on a single park, where I hope I’ll be able to have a more concentrated impact. That said, at roughly 800 acres, Marine Park also offers an extraordinary diversity of visitors, activities and environments. I am eager to get to know them all!
2) Your hiring was a part of a strategic planning process that began in 2023. Can you share the next steps and what you would like to see in the coming year?
Our Strategic Plan synthesized research findings into a five-year plan for the organization. One important step in this plan was to hire an Executive Director (me!) in order to expand MPA’s impact and begin attracting greater resources, recognition and visitation to Brooklyn’s largest city park. To that end, my goal in the coming year is to help MPA evolve from a volunteer-led, grassroots group into a more sustainable nonprofit organization with greater capacity for outreach, advocacy, fundraising and programming. Personally, I would also like MPA to “dip its toes” into some water-based programming in Gerritsen Creek – something that people did ask for in the park user survey we conducted as part of our strategic plan.
3) Can you tell us about some of your ideas to expand MPA’s advocacy and stewardship goals?
Advocacy and stewardship are closely related. I believe that when we invite people to come and care for Marine Park through planting, weeding or painting, we are also creating park advocates who will help us push for the visitation, recognition and financial support that the park deserves. By increasing the number of people who care about Marine Park, we will be able to push community leaders and elected officials to provide additional institutional resources for this critical park.
4) What role will the Parks Department play in supporting your work?
From mowing the ball fields to feeding the animals inside the Salt Marsh Nature Center, NYC Parks is responsible for the critical (if often overlooked) day-to-day operations and maintenance of the park. NYC Parks is also managing several high-profile capital projects simultaneously, including the Oval Path reconstruction and the Gerritsen Woods ecological restoration, both of which are currently underway. Our role at Marine Park Alliance is to bridge the gap in the NYC Parks’ capacity to advocate, program and care for the park’s many recreational areas, natural landscapes and open spaces. My goal is to coordinate this work with NYC Parks as closely as possible and to facilitate the agency’s community engagement. For that reason, our relationship with NYC Parks is at the core of everything we do.
5) How will you transition MPA from an all-volunteer-run organization to a professionalized nonprofit?
Our strategic plan lays out steps for making this transition over a period of five years. Some of these steps include expanding our board of directors, determining our office space needs and hiring new staff. In the near-term, my goal is to develop annual action plans, increase our visible presence at the park, build management capacity and standardize our operations overall.
6) Will you have an assistant and/or someone to help you with your projects besides the MPA volunteers? Do you plan to hire interns or recruit from the community?
I may be the only full-time employee, but Marine Park Alliance is a big team. Between our board members, consultants and regular volunteers, there are a lot of hands working on MPA projects. We also recently took on a special college intern. Marine Park native Amanda James is volunteering with us this semester and using her work with MPA to fulfill college requirements at Long Island University. She has been a great help and is active in research, design, programming and more. We have also created a high school internship program for our most dedicated volunteers. They are helping us manage our volunteer events, and I look forward to seeing these young people mature into the next generation of park stewards.
7) Where can people find you if they need to see you?
That’s an easy one! If folks don’t find me hanging around the Carmine Carro Community Center or the Salt Marsh Nature Center, they can always send me an email at scottmiddleton@marineparkalliance.org
