Sharon Danks

Sharon Danks, MLA-MCP, is an author, researcher, and social entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience advocating for and building partnerships to grow the green schoolyard field in the United States and abroad. As an environmental city planner, she has dedicated her career to changing the norm for school ground design, use, and management so that all children will have daily access to nature right outside their classroom door.
Sharon is the CEO and Founder of Green Schoolyards America, a national nonprofit organization based in Berkeley, California that collaborates with school districts, public agencies, and other partners to develop large-scale living schoolyard initiatives that transform asphalt-covered grounds into park-like spaces that nurture children and improve their well-being, learning, and play while contributing to the ecological health and climate resilience of our cities. She is also the author of Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation