Prospect Park Alliance is the nonprofit conservancy that cares for Prospect Park in Brooklyn, working in partnership with the New York City Parks Department. It was established in April 1987, modeled on the Central Park Conservancy's efforts to restore Central Park in the 1980s, at a time when Prospect Park had suffered decades of decline. The Alliance's first major project was a roughly $550,000 restoration of the park's carousel, completed in 1989, followed by a $4.5 million restoration of the park's ravine beginning in 1996 and numerous subsequent capital projects. Today the organization manages the park's woodlands and natural areas, restores its historic buildings and landscapes, and provides free and low-cost education, recreation, and volunteer programs for the surrounding Brooklyn communities.