Ayanna Williams is a tested leader focused on park-based environmental resilienceinitiatives. She currently serves as the Director of Community and Environmental Resilience at NRPA focusing on connecting park and recreation agencies withresources to build and maintain climate ready park and amplify park-based solutions toaddress historic environmental injustices. She is mobilizing public and private financialsupport, facilitating environmental resilience centered conversations, and sharingstories of impact with caring respect for all. For more than a decade she served as theDirector of Community Building with Park Pride an Atlanta based community drivennonprofit. Throughout her career she has cultivated a broad perspective and deepunderstanding of environmental resilience, building and maintaining relationships, whileengaging in work that depends on diverse local partnerships and the support of national institutions.
Ayanna possesses a unique combination of hands-on experience,knowledge fueled passion, and commitment to community.Ayanna has also worked with The Nature Conservancy in Georgia, the United Way ofCentral Indiana, the University of Michigan’s Ginsberg Center for Service Learning andCivic Engagement, and Hands On Atlanta AmeriCorps. She holds a Master of SocialWork from the University of Michigan with a concentration in community organizing and social systems. Ayanna grew up in Michigan’s Manistee National Forest where shedeveloped an appreciation for green spaces, gardening, and community.
