Take Back Your Park

There are many diverse challenges to turning your park into a greenspace worthy of being the center of your community. Years of budget cuts at the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs have taken their toll on park infrastructure and staff morale. People who use your park too often abuse your park, leaving trash and graffiti that spoil the enjoyment of others. The lack of a police presence or regular park users can create a void filled by vandalism and other criminal activity that poses a serious threat to public safety. Combined, these factors may create a downward spiral that turns what should be an asset to your community into a public eyesore – or worse.

There is one sure-fire way to end the downward spiral, and that is for people like you to get involved, get organized and take back your park. When people like you call the Mayor and the City Council to demand more attention for your park, your park will get more attention. When people like you return to the park in numbers, you create an atmosphere where vandalism, littering and petty criminal activity are not welcome. When people like you get involved and start organizing picnics, softball games and days in the park, you create the positive energy that inspires others to return to the park, get involved and make their community a better place.

In short, people like you can turn the downward spiral into an upward spiral – and Park Pride wants to help.

We understand that you have the energy and the desire to make things happen. We know that there are people in every community who love their park – no matter the condition – and are willing to fight for it. We see the tremendous untapped resource that you present in the struggle to make your park – and all our city’s parks – the emerald jewels that they should be. And we want to help you make your park vision a reality.

To this end, Park Pride has developed a number of fact sheets to provide you the guidance you need to organize, get involved and make a difference. These fact sheets provide information about how to organize and structure a park group, build support for your group, plan park events, fundraise, publicize your efforts and much more. We offer these fact sheets, our programs, and the staff of Park Pride as resources to help you take back your park. Working together, we will ensure that all of Atlanta’s parks reach their full potential – beautiful places where families picnic, children play and communities gather.

As part of this effort, Park Pride will host seminars where we will come to your community and walk you through a step-by-step process for getting organized, getting involved and taking back your park. If you are interested in having a seminar in your community, or simply learning more about what you can do to make a difference in your park, please contact Ayanna Williams at 404-817-7963 ayanna@parkpride.org.

To learn more about how to take back your park visit the Community Seminars page.