Open Air Care Connections
September 8, 2026
Following a successful pilot program in 2024, Prospect Park Alliance and the NYC Health Department (Health Department) have brought back Open Air Care Connections to the park, through support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
Open Air Care Connections reduce the stigma around mental health through community health outreach, with an Alliance outreach team engaging community members in compassionate conversations about their mental well-being, and connecting them with services where needed.
The program was developed in response to rising levels of anxiety and depression faced by New Yorkers coming out of the COVID pandemic. A survey conducted by the Health Department at that time found that nearly 25% of all New Yorkers identified experiencing anxiety, and nearly 18% experiencing depression. Nearly 50% of those who expressed needing mental health support felt that they did not know where to go to get services or how to access them.
Prospect Park proved to be an ideal setting for the pilot program: of the course of 23 dates, the program engaged more than 250 community members in conversation, with a significant number of those conversations lasting 30 minutes to an hour. The team provided more than 800 referrals to social services, not only to address emotional support but to address issues that can be a source of mental distress, such as housing, food-security and employment services.
The re-launch of the program is led by the Health Department with the Alliance’s first health and wellness coordinator, Hafsa Imtiaz, a public health graduate student at Pace University, and intern Kayla Weir, an undergraduate student at Pace, with an additional intern starting this fall. The team is out in the park at key locations 2-3 times a week, engaging park visitors in conversation and educating them about the resources available in the community. For those who are open to conversation, the team uses a brief survey to guide the conversation and better understand individual needs, from emotional to social (housing, food and job security).
“The park is a really good place to do this outreach because you find people of all walks of life… it’s a very approachable place to have a conversation,” said Alliance Health & Wellness Intern Kayla Weir. “I remember one conversation with somebody who was apprehensive about talking to us at first, but we told them we have all these resources and they agreed to take the full survey. We were able to connect them with support and also resources. So that was very impactful, seeing how a simple conversation in the park could help someone.”
In addition to the Open Air Care Connections, the Alliance is engaging the community around the overall benefits of the park to health and wellness at community fairs and other events around the borough. Time spent in nature is proven to reduce stress, relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression, and boost cognition, attention and sleep quality.