Center for Justice Innovation
Residents had a lot of thoughts while voting on initial ideas for how to improve their green spaces at Castle Hill Houses in the Bronx last month. “Build a greenhouse so we can have fresh vegetables,” suggested one youth voter. “A roller skating rink would help the young adults to know who their neighbors are,” suggested an older community member.
With a $3 million grant, Green Space Connections is working with NYCHA residents to design, build and activate spaces that have a direct, positive impact on the health, well‐being, resiliency, safety, and overall quality of life of the neighborhood. Research shows a clear link to proximity to green space and overall community health. These four developments were selected because of their overlapping health, climate vulnerability and crime data indicators. Different design issues such as lack of access to safe and usable open space, insufficient lighting, low tree density, all directly influence residents quality of life. These open spaces will be redesigned by and for residents who know their communities' needs best.
Resident Association President Jeannette Salcedo and her team organized multiple events with seniors and youth to gather ideas, from a Valentine’s Day rose giveaway to an inflatable art gallery, and a Black History Month celebration. The Center for Justice Innovation has been supporting outreach to ask residents how they would like to spend their share of $500,000 to improve their outdoor spaces.
“It has been an amazing experience being able to offer this kind of project to our community,” said Salcedo. “Many times our communities get left out of important conversations, but with this project we gave everyone a say and that makes me proud. Everyone should feel like they have a voice in decision making for their community. I'm looking forward to the end result. It's going to be phenomenal.”
When all the votes were tallied, the team beat their original goal of getting at least 15% of the population at Castle Hill Houses to participate with a whopping 827 ideas from kids as young as 5 years old to adults older than 70. Castle Hill Houses has a lot of open space, a garden and multiple playgrounds, but most of the outdoor areas haven’t seen an upgrade in many years. Top project ideas included upgrades to playgrounds, the BBQ area, and a new dog park where folks can safely exercise and play with their pets.
A few miles away at Patterson Houses, outreach has ramped up as Resident Association President, Patricia “Ms.Pat” Simpson and the CJI team have started to collect ideas and form their own stakeholder group. Approximately 100 ideas were submitted at a “Spring Fling” event last week, where residents had exciting conversations about composting or renovating a nearby basketball court, affectionately called “Patterson Square Garden”.
Over the next few months, both community groups will begin meeting with designers to start detailing out plans for their open spaces before sharing back with the larger development. Construction of the winning green space interventions will take place next year followed by a year of programming and activations led by residents and the Center for Justice Innovation. Creating these strong resident networks through the Green Space Connections project will empower communities to continue to advocate for public housing improvements, beyond these initial sites well into the future.
Keep an eye out for more updates from Roosevelt Houses and Marlboro Houses in Brooklyn as they begin outreach next month.
Green Space Connections is funded by the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. This three year program is being led by the Fund for Public Housing in collaboration with NYCHA’s Asset & Capital Management Division, managed by The Design Trust for Public Space and implemented by Center for Justice Innovation. Learn more.