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For the latest New City Parks information, visit newcityparks.org.

If you live in a low-income neighborhood, where is the park you can easily walk to for exercise, for play, for contact with nature and your community; for, in short, greater health and happiness? Where is the haven in a time of crisis such as a pandemic? Urban greenspace is infrastructure that mitigates health disparities and environmental ills.

But three out of 4 children--most in low-income neighborhoods—can’t walk to a safe park. And in low-income neighborhoods of color, a recent TPL study concluded the parks are half the size of those in more affluent neighborhoods and five times more crowded. Much research including this new study shows green spaces mitigate racial disparities in the health impact of COVID-19.

It’s customary for small, urban parks in underserved neighborhoods to get short budgetary shrift. When cuts are needed, the maintenance and rehabilitation of community parks are often the first budget items to go. And so residents in low-income areas are left with dilapidated and decaying lots once intended for play and pleasure.

New City Parks’ mission is to address that need head on, and our commitment to do so has been magnified by the pandemic. At no cost to the cities, our landscape designers, project managers, and public finance experts translate the community visions into buildable designs and help the city prioritize and raise the necessary public dollars.

Parks are places to play, to commune, to escape into nature, to build mind and muscle. Our need for nature is part of our DNA and green space should be part of every urban neighborhood.”

Rose Harvey

Former Senior Fellow for Parks and Open Space

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New City Parks partners with mayors and communities to:

Provide expertise, staff and initial funding to secure action from mayors and local agencies so that parks in underserved communities become a priority
Work with neighborhood groups to prioritize sites for revitalization
Translate the community vision into buildable designs and budgets
Through community partners engage stakeholders for design, programming and maintenance
Secure city dollars and help leverage additional public and private funding

New City Parks has been an amazing resource for the City of Poughkeepsie. Over the last year, in the worst of times with the pandemic, their expertise and singular focus have catalyzed action and financing to make these parks a reality.”

Mayor Rob Rolison
City of Poughkeepsie, NY

Places to walk, places to play

“Parks have become New Yorkers’ last refuge in this terrible time of pandemic, lockdown, and looming recession. They are virtually the only places left where people of all ages can walk.” RPA Senior Fellow and NCP leader Rose Harvey penned an op-ed in City & State NY urging the state to keep parks open during the COVID-19 crisis.

Under the leadership of Rose Harvey, former Commissioner of NY State Parks and previously National Director of Urban Programs for the Trust for Public Land, NCP works with municipalities to prioritize the funding and revitalization of parks and green spaces in low-income neighborhoods.

What We're Building

Our initial cities are Poughkeepsie and Buffalo in New York, and Jersey City and Passaic in New Jersey, and we have made substantial progress despite the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on local and regional budgets.

Poughkeepsie, NY

Before our involvement, a great deal of community work had been done to spur the restoration of two Northside parks abandoned to drug dealing. Led by the Mayor and with our partners Scenic Hudson (also a funder), Parknership, Northside Collaborative, Nubian Directions, MASS Design, and adjacent churches, we are completing construction drawings and breaking ground on Pershing Avenue Park and Malcolm X Park for completion of both by Spring and Fall of 2022 respectively. In Pershing, Scenic Hudson, our primary partner, has constructed a community farm through community design-build as a central part of our shared work. NCP, in partnership with the City of Poughkeepsie, is also completing the design of new public pool houses and facilities in Spratt and Pulaski parks, to break ground in 2022.

New City Parks in Poughkeepsie

Pershing Rendering 200513 Scenic Hudson copy

Passaic, NJ

In Passaic, NJ, the iconic 100 Steps that divide two parts of the city have long been closed off because of their disrepair. With NCP’s involvement, Passaic will see the full makeover of the steps as well as Griffin-Latona Park, a small pocket park at the top of the stairs. Led by the Mayor and in partnership with the Ulysses S. Grant School, the restored park will include a mural designed with the children from the school (98% of whose 400 students qualify for free meals), as well as an adult fitness area and picnic area. Read more about the effort here.

New City Parks in Passaic

Jersey City, NJ

In Jersey City, NCP has worked in partnership with the public schools and the City to begin a green schoolyards program with one initial model at PS 30, a STEM elementary school whose 600 students all qualify for meals at no or reduced cost. When NCP arrived, P.S. 30’s schoolyard was surrounded by an 8-foot chain link fence and a sea of asphalt inside and outside the fence, without a single tree and only 7 dilapidated trailers that once were classrooms.The first accomplishment was the removal by the City of the rotting, unused trailers. The school’s principal, students, community and partner City Green have been working hard on the design of a sensory garden, an outdoor classroom, a mural, and opportunities for varied play.

New City Parks in Jersey City

Buffalo, NY

In Buffalo, NY, with partners Trust for Public Land and the City of Buffalo we have completed a master plan for the city-wide park system. Two to three possible pilot sites for revitalization have been identified, all in diverse, low-income communities. We are now actively raising public and private funding for the build-out of Sears Paderewski Park, which is the farthest along in planning. In fall 2021, NCP and our civic and community partners will engage the broader community in a participatory design workshop to translate community vision into the final design plan and we hope to break ground on the park in the summer of 2022. NCP will continue to work with the city on future priorities, such as Lang Weber Park and Roosevelt Park or parks similar in need and nature. New City Park’s Landscape Architect, MNLA, has created concept designs for the three parks and we will be working closely with the City of Buffalo and engaged communities to fully restore these neighborhood spaces and ensure their stewardship and programming.

New City Parks in Buffalo

What's Next

By the early summer of 2022, our first four cities and their communities will be able to announce a re-envisioning of the neighborhood parks in low-income communities, with the near completion of four pilot projects and two more in construction as momentum for many more.

Our measures of success will be the number of resilient, safe and well-frequented parks within easy access, the number of residents served, and the ongoing and sustainable programming and marketing of the parks for local residents.

And the ultimate measure will be the extent to which our pilots produce what should exist in all cities: flourishing parks within an easy walk in low-income communities.

Visit newcityparks.org

We are grateful for the support of the following foundations and individuals: JPB Foundation, Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, Dyson Foundation, Green Mountain Energy Sun Club, Holloman Price Foundation, Jennifer Speers, Laurance S. Rockefeller Fund, The National League of Cities, Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, and the William C. Bullitt Foundation.

We are also grateful for the legal assistance and support of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher L.L.P.