Dec 23 2025 - Jan 02 2026
Keep Texas Beautiful Conference
Who:
Attendees include KTB affiliate staff and volunteers, rural recycling communities, city and county government staff, corporate partners, and anyone interested in learning more about making a positive impact in their community!
What:
The Keep Texas Beautiful Conference is the primary statewide educational event for community leaders to network, gain knowledge on environmental issues, recycling, and litter prevention, and recognize community excellence in creating healthy and sustainable places to call home.
The KTB Conference supports connections to others working in the field and high-quality professional development for KTB community partners (staff and volunteers) government staff, elected officials, and industry leaders.
The KTB Conference:
- Celebrates and honors the achievements of community leaders of all ages, along with civic groups, businesses, and government entities
- Offers a variety of educational sessions that present adaptable, innovative strategies for community beautification, waste reduction, and litter prevention, empowering participants to enhance their surroundings
- Provides exceptional networking opportunities and dynamic presentations from experts and passionate advocates for community improvement and environmental sustainability
When:
Save the Date! May 12-14, 2026
Registration Opens January 21st
Where:
Online for all Texans
2026 Keynote Session
Designing the Texas Outdoors: Parks that Work for Communities
Every Texan carries a story about the outdoors—whether it’s a childhood park, a stretch of creek behind a neighborhood, or the trees that shade a city block in summer. These places shape us quietly, becoming part of our memories, our health, and our sense of home. And yet, more than 9 million Texans live without a park close enough to reach on foot. Their stories are still waiting to be written.
For Molly Morgan, landscape architect and Texas State Director of the Trust for Public Land, this gap is both a challenge and an invitation. Her work asks a simple but transformative question: What changes when every person in a community has access to a nearby greenspace?
Over the past decade, Molly has helped create more than 20 parks across Dallas, many in neighborhoods that had been overlooked for generations. Through these projects, she has seen how a thoughtfully designed greenspace can calm a street, cool a hot block, spark a gathering place, or become the first safe outdoor space a child discovers. She believes that parks are not amenities—they are everyday infrastructure that shape health, safety, and connection.
In this keynote, Molly will take us inside the process of designing parks with communities, not just for them. She will share stories from projects like the Judge Charles R. Rose Community Park, where nature-based design, neighborhood leadership, and long-range vision converged to bring more than 4,000 residents within a 10-minute walk of a park for the first time. She will also preview the upcoming Woody Branch Park project, offering a glimpse into how public space evolves when local priorities, environmental solutions, and cultural identity align.
Her message is simple: when we expand access to the outdoors, we expand what’s possible for Texans—no matter their zip code.
About Molly Morgan
Molly Morgan is the Texas State Director and Associate Vice President at the Trust for Public Land. A trained landscape architect, she leads award-winning greenspace projects rooted in deep community partnership and environmental design. Her work across Dallas has been recognized for advancing public health, safety, and economic opportunity while strengthening the connection between people and place. She continues to champion innovative park design throughout Texas, ensuring that every community has access to a welcoming and meaningful outdoor space.
Helping Texas Bloom - Thank you to Our Conference Sponsors
Presenting Sponsor
