Community-School-Parks
Program: Meeting
the Needs of All Our Communities People
for Parks has developed a plan with community, environmental and parents' groups,
to green school playgrounds and open them for public use outside school hours.
The plan has four components: greening, recreation enrichment, educational support
and gang diversion. Children in Los Angeles County have much less access to parks
and playgrounds than other major metropolitan areas. Existing parks are inequitably
distributed, so the park deficits are greatest in predominately Latino, African
American and Asian neighborhoods. Children, especially in communities with the
greatest needs, deserve recreational opportunities within walking distance. The
need for local parks will also increase as new construction reduces the number
of schools on year-round schedules and hundreds of thousands of additional students
are out of school during the summer. The L.A. Unified School District has nearly
400 older elementary schools. Many LAUSD schools are in low-income communities,
without nearby parks, but essentially none are open on weekends or school vacations.
Most have asphalt playgrounds, portions of which could be replaced with grass
and trees to yield learning and play benefits during school hours, and provide
cool green oases for families in park-deprived neighborhoods.
The benefits of opening and greening elementary schools year round include:
• Increase local parkland accessible to the community by walking. •
Broaden parent and community participation in local school programs. •
Support families who need to have their children in supervised after-school and
vacation programs because of the parents' long workdays. •
Beautify school property by adding trees and grass to playground areas, making
everyone feel more pride about the school. A green school is a neighborhood asset. •
Improve the quality of the educational and recreational experience for students. •
Enhance the health and well being of children and adults by providing accessible
recreation, exercise and leisure opportunities. •
Extended after-school and weekend supervision supports creative violence prevention
and gang diversion programs. •
Increase the "life chances" of at-risk children by encouraging youth agencies
to offer services in after-school, weekend and vacation programs. •
Make the school a vital community asset seven days a week. •
Absorb pollution, diminish the urban heat island effect, reduce storm water run-off,
decrease beach pollution and expand native wildlife habitat.
There will be new funding opportunities for greening LAUSD school campuses in
the City of Los Angeles, including the Million Trees Los Angeles Program, Trees
for a Green Los Angeles, Proposition 84 and other housing and community development
bonds that voters recently approved. . People
for Parks is discussing the development of a new Master Joint Use Agreement with
Councilmember Tom LaBonge, LAUSD, the L.A. City and County Departments of Parks
and Recreation, and the mayors of Los Angeles and other cities served by LAUSD.
At issue are an equitable cost-sharing formula, maintenance and liability arrangements,
a simplified Joint Use Application/Request Form, and facilitation of community
partnerships for greening and opening school playgrounds.
Now both L.A. City Council and LAUSD Board have endorsed the plan and set up a
working group to plan a pilot program for up to 15 schools in diverse
neighborhoods across L.A. Unified School District. People for Parks invites all
parties to help find private, philanthropic
and state bond money to green and open schools, especially in the most park-deficient
neighborhoods. Each site could customize the program to meet their needs. Greening
could include vegetable and flower gardens, multi-use grass fields, urban forests,
picnic tables, and shade trees. Recreation enrichment could include creative play,
dance, arts, and sports. Academic help may include tutoring, homework assistance
and computer time. Innovative programs can involve at-risk kids, diverting them
from gang involvement.
Click here for a partial list of partner
organizations.
People
for Parks is a 501(c)3 organization that has worked since 1989 to preserve, enhance
and expand parks and open space throughout L.A. County; promote recreation experiences
which meet the human, social and recreation needs of diverse cultures, neighborhoods
and families; improve safety and security in parks; and increase community involvement.
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