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As Nature Sacred’s first five-year strategic plan comes to a close, we’re taking this moment to reflect on what we’ve accomplished—and where we’re heading next.
Launched at the start of our journey as a private operating foundation just before March 2020, this first strategic plan emerged at a pivotal moment for Nature Sacred and the world at large. Adopted weeks before a global pandemic that underscored the urgent need for nearby nature for everyone and grounded in nearly 25 years of experience supporting community-led efforts to design and steward local greenspaces.
This plan was framed around three strategic goals: Model, Scale, and Mindset. These pillars provided steady guidance as Nature Sacred navigated a rapidly changing world, highlighting the vital importance of intentionally designed nearby greenspaces—Sacred Places—and resources to support the dedicated individuals who care for them and engage their communities—Firesouls. At the same time, the growing body of science linking human health to access to nature created a clear need for a bridge between knowledge and action, empowering communities to advocate for these spaces.
Over the next three blog posts, we’ll unpack each of these pillars—Model, Scale, and Mindset—to celebrate the progress we’ve made, spotlight the people and partnerships at the heart of this work, and look forward to what’s next. While this plan may be coming to a close, our journey—and the need for healing spaces in every community—is far from over. As we prepare to launch into the next phase of Nature Sacred, we’ve worked hard to develop, document and implement our community engagement, design processes and long-term support model — and we’re eager to share what we’ve learned and where we’re headed!
Scale
In this issue we will explore Scale, which in this plan calls for us to broaden Nature Sacred’s reach through strategic initiatives and partnerships. Strategies around this effort include:
Launch the Community Healing Initiative for underserved communities.
Launch the Nature for Wellness Initiative focused on health care and education institutions.
Explore a Corporate Multiplier to engage businesses in advancing community well-being through nature.
Launch the Community Healing Initiative
A key goal for Scale has been the launch of the Community Healing Initiative, a transformative effort to bring Sacred Places to communities where access to healing greenspace and nature is most critical. The initiative represents a central pillar of our commitment to equity and community-centered design, demonstrating that greenspaces can be powerful catalysts for community healing, resilience, and growth.
The Community Healing Initiative was intentionally created to reach communities that have often been excluded from important conversations about their neighborhoods and from equitable access to high-quality greenspaces. Often, funding for capital construction is more readily available than resources to support a carefully curated, high-quality design process. This imbalance can mean that community input is not sought or is overlooked, and that the long-term management and sustainability of the space may be compromised. Through the Community Healing Initiative, we provide all Nature Sacred design services at no cost, ensuring that every Sacred Place reflects the community’s vision and is built to thrive over time.
The design process itself has been carefully crafted to encourage broad participation and make community members feel welcome in sharing their vision with our team. Because each community is unique, so too is each design process. Design events are tailored to feel natural and engaging for the community—they might take the form of block parties, seasonal or cultural festivals, or other locally meaningful activities—all thoughtfully planned to encourage participation and foster connection.
More than 80 of the 100 Sacred Places opened or in development under this strategic plan are supported through the Community Healing Initiative—projects that extend far beyond gardens to include urban farming, job training, mental health programs, and local leadership development. Every Sacred Place is guided by a Design Advisor and integrated into the Nature Sacred Firesoul Network, ensuring ongoing support, programming, and opportunities for growth—building spaces that thrive and nurture communities for the long term.
“The Sacred Places across The Hub’s campus, created and enhanced through our partnership with Nature Sacred, have become essential spaces of healing, dignity, and belonging for the people we serve...What unites all of these Sacred Places is the truth that healing is not just clinical, it is spiritual, emotional, and communal. Nature Sacred has helped us design spaces where people can recover a sense of self-worth and hope through moments of pause, beauty, and connection.”
— Su Hartline, Community Relations Manager and Firesoul, The Hospitality Hub, Memphis, TN
Community Healing Initiative: Sacred Place spotlights
The Day Plaza at the Hospitality Hub | Memphis, TN
The Hospitality Hub works to end homelessness in Memphis by connecting individuals with the resources they need to achieve stable housing and better health outcomes. Designed as part of their new complex, the Day Plaza is a welcoming nature space where those experiencing homelessness can linger comfortably. Gentle mounds vary ground elevations that translate into a visually appealing and comfortably enclosed space; a small pathway winding through trees leads to a Nature Sacred bench. A promenade links the plaza to food trucks that offer free meals to clients. On-site wash and water refill stations provide for visitors’ practical needs. Other design elements include an amphitheater, flexible and prolific seating, hammocks, and play features.
Strength to Love II Urban Farm | Baltimore, MD
As one of four Sacred Places in partnership with Intersection of Change (IOC), the Strength to Love II Farm is dedicated to enriching the economic, social, and spiritual lives of community members affected by poverty. This Sacred Place expands the farm’s capacity to provide hands-on agricultural training and meaningful job opportunities for IOC workforce development participants and individuals returning from incarceration.
Beyond workforce development, the farm actively addresses food apartheid in the surrounding neighborhoods, transforming vacant land into a thriving, organic farm that supplies fresh produce for local consumption. Serving as a visible symbol of community transformation, the farm demonstrates how intentional stewardship can cultivate both growth and hope.
Launch the Nature for Wellness Initiative
The Nature for Wellness Initiative was launched to support Sacred Places in educational and health care environments—spaces where the restorative power of nature can support learning, healing, and mental health. By bringing thoughtfully designed greenspaces to these institutions we can help improve outcomes for students, staff, patients, and families alike.
Nature for Wellness – Education
In recent years, mental health challenges among students have surged, affecting learning, focus, and overall well-being. Education leaders are increasingly turning to nature, guided by a growing body of scientific evidence showing its ability to reduce stress, lower anxiety and depression, and improve attention and creativity. The Nature for Wellness – Education initiative provides design services for K–12 schools through higher education campuses, helping create Sacred Places that offer restorative greenspaces for students, faculty, and staff. Infusing a thoughtfully designed greenspace on campus allows the impact of nature to be fully realized, providing opportunities for reflection, connection, and rejuvenation. We also know from long-established Sacred Places, such as the University of Maryland College Park’s Garden of Reflection and Remembrance, the journal within a Sacred Place can also combat isolation and forge critical bonds within a campus community.
Sacred Place spotlight: A Space for Grace at Jacksonville State University
Opened in 2025, this Sacred Place is part of The Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama’s network of 20 Sacred Places in Northeast Alabama, serving nine counties and elevating the region’s national presence in the movement of nature-based community healing. As one of our Nature for Wellness Education Initiatives, the garden was inspired by research showing the mental and physical benefits of spending time outdoors, including reduced stress, improved memory and attention, mood regulation, and a greater sense of overall well-being.
Visitors to the garden can reconnect with nature, step away from screens, and enjoy landmarks that symbolize beauty, restoration, and recovery. The space also serves as a living tribute to the resilience of the JSU community following the devastating 2018 tornado and the global pandemic. Miss Jacksonville State 2024, Grace-Anne Lundy, played a key role in bringing this Sacred Place to life, raising much of the funding and supporting the community-driven design while highlighting the importance of mental health and well-being.
Nature for Wellness – Health Care
Stress and burnout among health care providers have reached unprecedented levels, impacting staff well-being, patient care, and overall hospital performance. In response, health care leaders are increasingly turning to nature, supported by a growing body of research demonstrating its ability to reduce stress, ease burnout, and improve patient care and recovery time. The Nature for Wellness – Health Care initiative offers design services for hospitals and health care campuses, creating Sacred Places—restorative greenspaces for staff, patients, and families. Thoughtfully integrated into health care settings, these spaces maximize the healing power of nature, offering moments for reflection, respite, and connection. The design process itself encourages health care providers and staff to engage with these spaces, fostering meaningful interaction and strengthening the sense of community across hospital campuses.
Sacred Place spotlight: The Garden of Hope and Healing at the April Sampson Cancer Center
Bryan Health, a Nebraska-governed nonprofit health system, is dedicated to caring for patients, educating the next generation of health care providers, and promoting community wellness through fitness and health programs. As part of the larger design efforts of the visionary April Sampson Cancer Center in Lincoln, Nature Sacred collaborated with the Bryan Health team, local residents, and other nonprofits to create a design thoughtfully centered on the unique needs of this community.
The resulting healing garden offers staff, patients, families, and visitors a natural sanctuary and place of respite, serving as a central campus resource for stress reduction. Strategically located within view of the building and just a short walk from the center, the site is seamlessly integrated into daily routines. Nestled beside a stormwater pond, fountain, and a grove of pine trees, the garden’s natural beauty was enhanced with community-driven features: a gathering space, interactive pond access, accessible pathways of varied widths and materials to gently challenge rehabilitating patients, and a contemplative labyrinth—transforming the space into a restorative environment for connection, reflection, and healing.
As part of our Nature for Wellness – Health Care initiative, we also published a groundbreaking report demonstrating that health care provider burnout is not just a staffing problem but a costly systems issue. The research shows how often-overlooked greenspaces can meaningfully support healing, connection, and financial savings. By placing the first dollar value on the impact of hospital gardens in reducing burnout and related costs, the report gives health leaders a clear, practical framework for advocating nature as both a wellness tool and a cost-saving strategy.
Explore a Corporate Multiplier
As we grow, we’re exploring the most effective ways to expand this movement and integrate it into everyday life. Normalizing nature as a meaningful intervention starts with engaging the institutions that shape our communities. Through thoughtful partnerships with the corporate sector, we’re defining how companies can help co-create Sacred Places—not just by funding them, but by sharing values, collaborating in design, and investing long-term in community well-being.
We’ve already seen meaningful momentum on the ground, and while conversations with national corporate partners are evolving, some of the most exciting traction has come from local developers and community development corporations. These partnerships are already yielding new Sacred Places—beautifully integrated into housing developments, revitalization efforts, and public-private projects. Catalyzing these spaces begins to introduce concepts of nature-supported well-being into normality, helping to reframe the way that people think about community and corporate development.
Sacred Place spotlight: Parity Homes (coming soon)
Parity Homes is an equitable development company in West Baltimore that rehabilitates abandoned properties by the block to create affordable homeownership. Born in response to gentrification and displacement, the organization builds community power by forming social collectives that express interest in a block, then pre-selling the homes before renovation. This approach strengthens wealth-building, financial readiness, and neighborhood cohesion.
Their planned Sacred Place will sit on a lot where four houses were recently demolished, adjacent to the long-abandoned “Highway to Nowhere,” a project that once threatened to divide segregated communities and displaced 900 West Baltimore families. The new space will honor that history while signaling renewed vibrancy in the neighborhood. Community input has already inspired ideas such as benches, shade trees, natural play areas, a pollinator garden, outdoor movies, and possible traffic-calming features.
A new report from Nature Sacred demonstrates that integrating nature into workspaces—through plants, natural views, and accessible green areas—can significantly enhance employee well-being, performance, and organizational outcomes. It offers practical strategies, from adding indoor plants to creating green roofs and contemplative spaces, showing how evidence-based nature integration can transform workplace design to boost productivity, foster a stronger organizational culture, and support employee retention.
Stay tuned for the next blog in this series where we’ll explore the expanding reach of this work and our third and final pillar: Mindset.
