On a beautiful fall day in Van Cortlandt Park, such perfect scenery doesn't happen by accident.

A lot of work from the city Parks Department and the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance are behind upkeep in the park. The newly formed alliance came via a merger of two nonprofits which shared the same goal -- advocating for preserving this public space.

Some of their plans are underway to encourage investment in the park, but in order to grow, they've needed some help. That's where the Central Park Conservancy, a nonprofit responsible for managing the most-visited urban park in the country, comes in.

The Van Cordtlandt Park Alliance applied for the Central Park Conservancy's program called Partnership Labs, which invites organizations to apply for a one-year partnership to help them achieve a goal.

The VCPA applied, and were one of eight organizations selected.

"Their reach, their know-how, we don't have to reinvent the wheel, they are a very well established conservancy and we want to model ourselves after them," says Julie Micou Cerf, interim executive director for the VCPA.

"Over the course of that year, we're going to help them to achieve a particular goal, and so for the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance, we're helping them to come up with a board development plan so that they can build a strong foundation over the coming years for growing their organization," says Salmaan Khan, program manager for the Central Park Conservancy.