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 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization, Pocketparks relies on donations to support its efforts.
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Our Mailing Address is:
St. Louis MO 63158
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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
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 Manager at ComStock Advisors. Her focus is business valuations, data analysis, and financial modeling. As an involved community member, Katie also serves on the Friends Board of Operation Food Search. Katie's personal interests have led her to be an active community member and small business owner. While committed to bettering St. Louis, Katie also enjoys international travel and exploring new countries, cities, and cultures.
The Advisory Board
Maxine Clark
Advisory Board Member
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.
The Team
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Abby Devereux
Development Coordinator
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
Aaron Church
Brooke Gengler
Carl Nelson
Carol Matthews
Cash App
Center for Community Progress
Colleen Autry
Dalton Webb
Deborah Dolgin
Doug Eller
Dustin Schaefer
Dutchtown CID
Ella Jones
Emily Braun
Fatimah Muhammad
Gabriel Steinbach
Gateway Disc Sports
Greater St. Louis Inc.
IMC Outdoor Living
Jessica Spitzer
Jodi Redler
John Sweet
Joy Dabney
Katherine Schmeltz
Kelli McCrary
Kyle Loafman
Ladue Garden Club
Lesli Thellman
Lexie Ward
Madison Feltz
Matthew West
Maxine Clark
Mike Roberts
Nancy Ridenour
Patty Shea
Paul Parham
Peter Wagner
Purina
Rachel Roman
Rachel Witt
Ruth Siteman
Ryan Youck
Samantha Smugala
Santiago Navarro
Sarah Vaughan
Shannon Keller
Square
Stephanie Gabathuler
Stonetree Fabrications
Tammy Anderson
Tom and Sally Cohn
Trivers Associates
Walter Bonner
Wells Fargo