Front and Schiller Park
Starting in 2020, Ashely DeJesus Santiago, a young mother of three, started organizing the themed clean up at the Front and Schiller Park. DeJesus lives across from the Front and Schiller Park, a pocket park located on the northwest side of Reading. Neighbors have been concerned with the safety of the park because it is…
Read MoreLeap Year Lights Festival
Riverfront Park is located on the Nashua River in downtown Fitchburg. Throughout the 1900s, paper manufacturers dumped dyes and other industrial byproducts into the river, and the river was named one of the 10 most polluted in the nation in 1960.[1] Residents fought for new and improved water treatment plants and today the river is…
Read MoreSalsa on the Riverfront
The program was made possible through leadership development training led by NewVue Communities, a regional nonprofit dedicated to resident leadership. NewVue Communities hosts a Leadership Cohort through their community organizing department. Cohort participants receive technical assistance and develop skills needed to write and receive grants along with seed funding to support their own programs. Through…
Read MoreProphets, Poets, and Parks
City resident Lourdes Monzon organizes these gatherings, called Prophets, Poets, and Parks. She intentionally rotates the events around the city, picking abandoned and underutilized areas of parks. Her purpose is to create safe spaces that highlight the importance of words, narratives, and poetry. The first event in the series focused on reading poems by Audrey…
Read MoreGary Public Murals and Statues
At its peak, Gary had a population of more than 200,000 people but over the years its population has declined to 80,000 people. Steel mills and oil refineries along the lakefront were once large employers but as the industry declined, so have job opportunities. As has happened with other rust belt communities, when those employers…
Read MoreDesign Dash
West Oakland has long been a center of systemic exclusion. Once a thriving African American community, it is now a struggling area due to historic redlining, an intrusive highway system, pollution from the Port of Oakland, and dilapidated infrastructure. Just north of downtown, the area finds itself sandwiched between gentrification hotspots as a result of…
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