The Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP), a Houston-based nonprofit organization that creates and stewards public parks, trails, and spaces in the area, has announced a $100 million gift from the Kinder Foundation in support of the Buffalo Bayou East Master Plan.

The largest single gift in Houston parks history will support a public-private partnership and leverage an additional $210 million in public and private investments to integrate new bayou parks, trails, housing, cultural destinations, and infrastructure improvements into Houston’s Greater East End and Fifth Ward neighborhoods. To that end, the gift enables BBP to deliver key park, green space, and trail project components of the 10-year master plan and help provide for the long-term care of the projects. The plan envisions parks and destinations that reflect the cultural and industrial legacies of Buffalo Bayou East, while simultaneously ensuring that these spaces welcome long-time residents, and connect neighborhoods to the waterfront.

Combined with approximately $37 million already raised by BBP, the gift has helped secure public funds from the City of Houston ($83.5 million) and Harris County ($24 million), as well as $14 million in federal housing tax credits. BBP aims to raise an additional $46 million in private funds by 2031.

“There is a rich history and a valued culture along Buffalo Bayou east of downtown, and Buffalo Bayou Partnership is to be commended on the decades spent in the community laying the groundwork for this plan,” said Kinder Foundation chair Rich Kinder. “The 10-year plan is in good hands under the direction of Buffalo Bayou Partnership.”

(Photo credit: Asakura Robinson)