When does a “good” park become a “great” park? When it’s welcoming to all members of the community, with amenities that invite children, adults, and seniors to come and stay a while. A great park serves the people who live there, and because each community’s needs are different, great parks come in many shapes and sizes, too! For over 30 years, Park Pride has worked side-by-side with communities, empowering residents to identify their needs and take an active role in shaping parks that enhance their quality of life.
One way we do this is through the Park Visioning program, where our team of landscape architects collaborate with local communities to create a comprehensive park plan that will help guide future investments. This process focuses on residents’ needs, building upon community input to develop a shared vision for a park.
We are able to provide this service at no cost to the community thanks to the support of donors like you.
Park Visioning in Action
Before 2020, the South River Gardens neighborhood in South Atlanta didn’t have a park to call their own. That bothered local neighborhood advocate, Shirley Nichols. “I think it’s important that every community has a park,” she said. “It’s that key place that draws people in the neighborhood together.”
After years of working with the City of Atlanta to identify a location for a neighborhood park, land was finally purchased. While Ms. Nichols and her neighbors were thrilled about the prospect of this new park, they wanted to make sure that it would meet the needs of the entire community. So, they reached out to Park Pride for help.
Through neighborhood meetings, surveys, and engagement activities, Park Pride’s professional park designers worked closely with neighborhood residents and the community association to identify their priorities. Our team synthesized the feedback to produce a conceptual master plan for this new park.
Equipped with this master plan, residents can now turn to transforming this vision into a reality. With the newly formed the Friends of South River Gardens, a Friends of the Park group, they can fully utilize all of Park Pride’s services including:
- the Volunteer Program,
- the Fiscal Sponsor Program,
- and Park Pride’s Grantmaking Programs.
With the community engaged, the vision set, and Park Pride at their side, this vacant lot in South River Gardens will soon become a thriving community park!
Your Gift Supports Park Pride’s Work
This project is just one example of Park Pride’s Visioning program, which has completed 46 comprehensive park plans – very likely including one for a park near you!
This is the kind of work you are making possible when you support Park Pride, and I hope that you’ll help us continue this work by making a gift today.