The first Groundwork Trust was founded in 1982 in England in response to a growing number of abandoned industrial sites and was developed to improve the physical environment of the “urban fringe.” The Groundwork UK network has become a highly successful partnership of public, private, and voluntary sector interests in a coordinated effort to reclaim abandoned, run-down sites as open spaces with an emphasis on recreation, beautification, economic development, and access to the countryside. Modeled after Groundwork UK, Groundwork Bridgeport was founded in 1998 as a local, community based non-profit organization dedicated to serving Bridgeport. As one of the first trusts established in the United States in what is now a nationwide network, it was started as a collaborative effort between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Park Service (NPS), and the City of Bridgeport, all of whom provided the organization's initial funding.