She's one of nearly two dozen residents we recruited as Community Advisors to initiate community-led transformation of Flushing Meadows Corona Park (FMCP) in Queens. The group is spending four months at our Community Design School to improve wayfinding and circulation in the Park, and its connectivity to the surrounding communities. Read more about these sessions.

Name: Jean Silva

Occupation: Executive Director of the Flushing Meadows Corona Park (FMCP) Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving, restoring, and maintaining the natural, historic, and cultural integrity of FMCP in order to ensure the park's continued educational, environment, and recreational benefits for users. We would like to bring the park back to the former glory it enjoyed during the two World's Fairs held in the past.

Neighborhood: Forest Hills, Community Board 6

Neighborhood Involvement: Flushing Meadows Corona Park Conservancy

Languages Spoken: English

I visit FMCP: Frequently and regularly organize volunteer efforts around Meadow and Willow Lakes.

Jean is focusing on how to improve access to the Park. Together with the members of her Team Access, she's exploring ways to:

• Make it easier for people to get to the park from surrounding neighborhoods;
• Increase the visibility of park entrances/exits;
• Communicate the best entry points for people coming to the Park in different ways, like by foot, public transportation, car or bike, or using it in different ways like a soccer player or parents coming with their children.

At a community forum on March 1st, she introduced her preliminary design concepts, alongside the other Advisors, for feedback from the wider community. At the second forum on April 12, they will present their final concepts. It will also mark the opening of the exhibition at the Queens Museum that features all of these community-driven design proposals, on view until May 3, 2015.

Jean, like the rest of the Community Advisors, is eager to present her ideas to the NYC Parks Department, participate in further planning and design of FMCP, and motivate neighbors to do so too.

Read about our other Community Advisors.