Park advocacy continues with $400,000 grant

What’s happening: The Conscious Connect CDC, park of the cohort that was awarded a grant from People, Parks, and Power (P3) in 2023, announced recently they were awarded a $400,000 grant from the Prevention Institute to begin Phase 2 of their work addressing park inequity. This second phase will be focused on ensuring the city’s zoning code incorporates urban farming to help address the food desert and enable mixed-use zoning to spark community developments. Additionally, they say they also want to continue to advance efforts to redevelop the southside.  

This work is a continuation of the efforts completed in Phase 1, which included extensive outreach and awareness activities, as well as an examination of the impact of public policies on park equity, which highlights disparities in southside neighborhoods in park and greenspace accessibility, environmental health, public health, safety, and programming. Work in Phase 1 also included improving four southside pocket parks or gardens owned and operated by organizations in the coalition. 

What they’re saying: “This level of funding over several years is a true reflection that national leaders recognize how strong the Unified Collective is here — and that a group of small, but mighty southside organizations have established one of the most vibrant grassroot ecosystems of pocket parks, greenspaces, and community gardens in the country.” -Karlos L. Marshall, co-founder and co-executive director of The Conscious Connect CDC.

Why it matters: Both the grants from Phase 1 and 2 serve to address inequities in access to parks and green spaces. As Hub reported in 2023, access to parks and green spaces can be part of a climate resiliency strategy, lower gun violence, and improve the mental health of nearby residents. 

The grants help The Conscious Connect achieve their goals. According to their website, their organizational goals are to “reimagine and redevelop underutilized spaces for the purpose of education, culture, health, and peace — so that zip codes do not define the success of children, youth, and families.” Funding, like these grants, allows them to tackle these projects at a faster pace.