About Us

Friends of Brentwood Park (FOBP) is the official liaison group with the City of Austin for projects that community members would like to undertake in Brentwood Park. FOBP was formed as a result of participation in the City of Austin Green Neighbor Challenge program in 2009 in which the Crestview Neighborhood achieved Green Neighborhood status. Founders Emily Wilson and Hedrich Michaelsen signed an Adopt-A-Park agreement with Austin Parks and Recreation and spearheaded the group’s first park workday in December 2009 and neighbors from both the Crestview and Brentwood neighborhoods and beyond came out on that chilly morning to spread mulch. The rest is history…

General Leadersip Team

FOBP does not have a formal membership structure. We meet as needed and all of us wear many hats. We welcome additional volunteers to the General Leadership Team. The General Leadership Team includes members who organize the twice-yearly workdays and have led or participated in projects such as: tree plantings, trail installation, pavilion installation, backstop replacement and new water fountain, new benches, new flowerbeds, Shelton Memorial, purple martin houses, and the park master plan. We especially need volunteers who would like to 'learn through doing' by helping lead park workdays, assisting with current projects, or starting new projects. If you become an active volunteer in leading projects, you are automatically a member of the General Leadership Team.

Current Members of the General Leadership Team:

• Hedrich Michaelsen

• Emily Wilson

• Kat Correa

• Denman (Glober) Netherland

• Diane Larson

• Denise Dailey

• Neal Hagood

• Marie Taylor

• Elaine Dill

Past Leaders:

• Dave Shulder

Subcommittees

Because community-led projects are required by PARD to work through an official "Friends of" group, FOBP welcomes any group who would like to undertake work in the park to form a subcommittee under our umbrella. Although individuals among the General Leadership Team may volunteer to join subcommittees or provide information about negotiating city processes, FOBP as an organization has no official vote or role in any subcommittee's work. Every single project undertaken by any part of FOBP or its subcommittees has to go through a neighborhood input process and then a PARD approval process. Historically, PARD has not been interested in supporting any project that does not attain near-unanimous neighborhood support.

The only active subcommittee at this time is the Playground Improvement Project group. They can be reached through their website at https://www.brentwoodplaygroundproject.com/. The only past subcommittee was Friends of Brentwood Dogs, which stopped work on a dog park proposal in 2015. If you are interested in forming a subcommittee or have questions about working with the city, please feel free to reach out to the General Leadership Team at friendsofbrentwoodpark@gmail.com

Playground Project Leaders:

• • Nancy Mohn Barnard

  • Kristine Poland

  • Bradley Linscomb

  • Candace Pruett

  • Rachel Copperman

  • Melissa Considine