The City of Burien’s Green Burien Partnership is working to shift the narrative around green spaces, with a specific focus on Hilltop Park, the only park located in the northeast corner of the city. Our approach? Engage the community in short-term and long-term decisions and actions to improve natural spaces.
Learn all about the green job training opportunities at Hilltop Park below.
Collaborative effort begins transformation
The first phase of the collaborative effort to transform this area began with Partner in Employment. The nonprofit organization provides work skills training programs to immigrant and refugee populations in King County.
With funding from the Port of Seattle, Partner in Employment supported a group of youth interns taking part in a work skill training program at the park. The Partner in Employment youth interns hosted a kickoff event for the Hilltop Park Activation and Reimagination Project on June 5, 2021. During their 10-week internship, the group removed ivy and engaged community members in what they’d like to see in their local park.
EarthCorps, a nonprofit whose mission is to strengthen the community and restore the health of our environment, began working in the park later that same summer. With funding from the Port of Seattle’s South King County Airport Community Ecology Fund, they brought in youth interns to brush cut 60,000 square feet of blackberry plant.
Following the brush cutting, Partner in Employment visited Hilltop Park with a new group of summer interns in July 2021 to take out more of the ivy and blackberry plants. These plants were removed because they stop the plants that have been in this area for millennia from thriving. Partner in Employment also prepared the site for EarthCorps to return for the next phase of work.
Turning a job into a career
City of Burien staff and landscape architects from Berger Partnership joined Partner in Employment one morning for a roundtable discussion with the youth. Topics covered included the type of planning it takes to implement a new park, how to turn their work as an intern into a career to support themselves and their families, and other career options that might be fun to consider.
Imagining a new future for the park
The Hilltop Park Activation and Reimagination Project goals are not just focused on improving the park, but also about inviting more people into the space to help imagine what the park could be in the future. The City invited sophomores and juniors taking classes through the Puget Sound Skills Center to share their thoughts and ideas. Staff walked the site with the youth and asked them to think about where the park is located and what kind of added features make sense. Their ideas were inspiring! Some of the suggestions included improved signage, paved nature trails for all abilities, and seating areas that feature a variety of edible plants.
Afterschool program gets youth outside
Hilltop Park Afterschool Program pays students from Glacier Middle School and local high schools to learn about plants, environmental restoration, park planning, nature art, and more! Students worked with the City of Burien Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department, King Conservation District, Partner in Employment, and EarthCorps staff to weed around the young plants planted the previous year, clear space for more plants to be planted later that year, and plant indigenous plants ready to go into the ground. Students said their favorite parts of the program were digging out giant blackberry roots, planting indigenous plants, and creating art from colorful leaves and other natural materials found at the park.
Outdoor Innovators in action
In the fall of 2023, another internship joined the collaboration at Hilltop Park. Outdoor Innovators, an afterschool program for Innovation Heights Academy students, began learning and working at Hilltop Park. This six-week-paid internship, led by DirtCorps and the Environmental Science Center, introduces students to the field of ecological restoration, environmental justice, green career pathways, and more through hands-on learning. Seventeen students participated in the fall 2023 and spring 2024 cohorts of Outdoor Innovators at Hilltop Park. Each program cycle culminated with a community celebration event led by the youth. Read more about the Earth Day celebration event led by the students on the Hilltop Park Community Events and Work page.
EarthCorps and Partner in Employment team up
In October 2024, the EarthCorps AmeriCorps crew and Partner in Employment Youth Restoration Training Crews worked at Hilltop Park to prepare the site for Green Burien Day. Crews removed two truck-loads of tires and garbage from the site, dug out persistent blackberry roots from 30,000 square feet of the restoration site, and flagged and staged the 310 plants to be planted at Hilltop Park for Green Burien Day. Both crews worked together and learned from each other during their week at the park.
Five cohorts of EarthCorps crews, and six cohorts of Partner in Employment crews have now contributed to building a forest at Hilltop Park since 2021. That’s on-the-ground job training experience for almost 100 young adults!
EarthCorps AmeriCorps members discussing plant identification with Partner in Employment Youth Restoration Training Crew next to hundreds of plants in pots.
Outdoor Innovators are back at Hilltop Park
On November 23, 2024 the Fall cohort of the Outdoor Innovators Internship wrapped up. This is a six-week after-school program coordinated by DirtCorps and Environmental Science with Innovation Heights Academy students at Hilltop Park. Ten paid student interns participated in a six-week program on Wednesdays at Hilltop Park to learn about environmental restoration, green careers, environmental justice, and more.
The Fall cohort of the Outdoor Innovators internship culminated with a celebration event at Hilltop Park on November 23. Led by the student interns, participants planted 30 trees and shrubs and removed 1,000 square feet of bindweed, blackberry, and ivy from the restoration site at Hilltop Park. Participants learned about plants at the park from the Outdoor Innovator Interns and celebrated all their great learning and work this session.
Interested in joining a training crew, internship, or afterschool program at Hilltop Park?
Contact us at parksinfo@burienwa.gov or (206) 988-3700.
Hilltop Park Activation and Reimagination Project
Read more about the Hilltop Park Activation and Reimagination
Project story.
Updated October 17, 2024
