The Los Angeles Parks Foundation’s 12th Annual Rose Award event, held October 26, 2023, at the Exposition Rose Garden, raised nearly $90,000 to support LA City Parks and had nearly 200 attendees.
President and Co-Founder of the Angel City Football Club (ACFC) Julie Uhrman, was honored for her pioneering work in Los Angeles sports and technology communities. ACFC is one of the world’s only majority-female-founded and run professional sports teams. Uhrman founded ACFC with Academy Award-winning actress and activist Natalie Portman, and technology venture capitalist Kara Nortman.
More than 200 guests attended the festivities. Past Honorees Include:
Jaime Lee (2022), Diana Nyad (2021), Gillian Zucker (2020), Judith Kieffer (2019), Lauren Bon (2018), Andrea Van de Kamp (2017), Mia Hamm (2016), Adele Yellin (2015), Brenda Levin (2014), Roz Wyman (2013), Betty White (2012), and Jane Harman (2011).
The Rose Award is an annual luncheon and ceremony honoring a woman who has made extraordinary contributions to the quality of life in Los Angeles. All funds raised through the event go to support the Los Angeles Parks Foundation, whose mission is to preserve and enhance public recreation and parks for the diverse people of Los Angeles.
The foundation also announced the appointment of Joseph Halper to the board.
A Korean War veteran, Haper has a forty-year professional career in the field of recreation and parks that encompasses heading up the largest public urban recreation and park systems in the country, New York (NY) City and Los Angeles (LA) County.
Most recently, Halper has served as a member of the LA City Board of Recreation Parks Commissioners. He has received many honors such as being a member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and receiving a Swedish knighthood.
“As a member of the LA City Recreation and Parks Board of Commissioners, I became aware of the paucity of financial resources available for recreation and parks to finance the maintenance and program services,” said Halper. “These resources are necessary to meet the current basic needs of the recently expanded facilities as well as the service aspirations of this department. Recognizing its link to both the mental and physical health of the LA population, I found the LA Park Foundation as the primary trusted vehicle to generate private resources to augment the growing funding gaps facing this service.”
Halper added that he will continue to focus on equity, to address the disparity of recreation and park services to over one-third of the Los Angeles population that currently do not have a park within one-half mile walking distance, affecting mostly low-income communities of color. Halper pledged his support to the Parks Foundation’s efforts to create Community School Parks in partnership with the Recreation and Parks Department. By making LAUSD school grounds more park-like, schools can serve the dual purpose of providing education for students and more open space for public recreation.
