A $50,000 federal grant, neighborhood support and design collaboration with children is the right formula for a long-awaited new playground at a northeast Grand Rapids pocket park. Transferring ownership, and liability, from the public schools to the City of Grand Rapids got the financial ball rolling.
According to excerpts from the story:
After three years of stalled efforts to upgrade the playground on Sweet Street at College Avenue NE, the Creston Neighborhood Association finally can swing into action. The Grand Rapids school board this week approved transferring ownership of the half-acre park to the city. That paved the way for a $50,000 grant from Washington, D.C-based nonprofit Kaboom! to upgrade to the park. Kaboom! links communities with corporate foundations and individual donors to build playgrounds. "They've taken a couple of things out, including the sandbox. But it's the same park it was when I was a kid," said Julie Neitling, a 33-year-old who grew up in the neighborhood and still lives there. Her 5-year-old daughter, Abigail Haan, loves the park. Neitling worked with the association to land the grant and get the project done.
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