Hayden Brooks has made a tremendous positive impact on Austin’s natural and recreational spaces. Serving on nearly a dozen advisory boards with a shared goal of expanding access to public greenspaces, his leadership, and volunteerism have been an inspiration to many in the Austin community. He is passionate about finding common ground across sectors that support sustainable development, and equitable access to nature and fosters a love of the environment for the next generation of leaders. He also knows this is work that is hard and will take a long time, but if we do it every day it will make a big impact.

With an academic background in urban planning and architecture, Hayden is a firm believer in the transformative power of design to unite communities and unlock new opportunities for young people. Over the years, Hayden has been an integral part of some of Austin’s most impactful environmental boards, including Austin Parks & Recreation, Austin Parks Foundation, Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center, the Texas Children in Nature Network, and Waterloo Greenway Conservancy. Hayden was also instrumental in the creation and adoption of the Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights (COBOR). Unanimously passed by the Austin City Council in 2017, COBOR garnered the support of more than 1,000 community members and key partners such as the Austin Independent School District. The Bill of Rights illustrates what equitable access to nature should look like in Austin and establishes high aspirations for connecting children to nature. When asked what he is most proud of in regards to all his work he talks about the work he and Margaret Russel did to bring the Cities Connecting Children to Nature Network initiative to Austin - an effort that is still bearing amazing fruit to this day through the work of Melody Alcazar, Yasmine Anderson, and their team. This work continues through this work now on the Children & Nature Network board and their efforts to bring Nature Everywhere to 100 communities by the end of 2025.

When asked how our partners at TCiNN can help to continue his legacy Hayden brought up the work you all are already doing in the regional collaboratives, supporting each other's work and filling the gaps that exist in how we engage children and families in the outdoors.