Causes: Community & Neighborhood Development, Economic Development, Environment, Job Training, Land Resources Conservation, Parks & Playgrounds
Mission: Our mission is to transform little-used city parks into safe, vibrant, and magical places for children to play, and to use the transformation of parks as a vehicle to transform thecommunity.
Results: In one of the Bay Area’s toughest inner-city neighborhoods, Richmond’s Iron Triangle, we are transforming two little-used city parks (Elm Playlot and Harbour-8 Park) into safe and vibrant places for children to play. We have a team of 10 local residents – who plan, design, build (and now manage!) these two parks themselves. We aim to use the transformation of Elm Playlot and Harbour-8 Park as a vehicle to improve the health of 5,000 of at-risk children living in Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood. In 2015 Pogo Park was named a model for the state of California. According to California State Parks manager Viktor Patino, “The Pogo Park model really stands out for how it empowers and involves residents in all three phases of a project: design, construction and park programming. Many times projects fail because there’s lack of ownership by the community. Toody not only involved residents in the design of the park, but she was able to employ them to build it, as well as to supervise and run the park today. ” Patino says that during his 16 years of traveling to parks, “this form of community involvement and local stimulus is rare. ” California thinks other cities can benefit from learning how the Pogo Park team was able to be successful and is funding a $150,000 research study on the multiple impacts of Elm Playlot on community well being.
Target demographics: 5,000 at-risk children and their families living in Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood.
Direct beneficiaries per year: Upwards of 15,000 at-risk children and families visited our parks in Richmond's Iron Triangle.
Geographic areas served: The one square mile Iron Triangle in Richmond is one of the toughest inner-city neighborhoods in the country. A largely Latino and Black population—this is a densely populated neighborhood blighted by gun violence, 50% unemployment, and the environmental effects of bordering one of the largest oil refineries.
Programs: Pogo Park offers free play activities to children in the Iron Triangle, six days a week on a drop in basis. We staff our two Pogo Parks with a core team of community residents. These are people we have empowered (many of whom were unemployed and marginalized) to be full participants in the process of designing, building, and then transforming city parks in their communities into vibrant hubs of community life. We hire and train our team to become "playworkers" who learn how to use enriched play as a vehicle to develop a child's linguistic, social, cognitive, physical and creative skills.
Mission: Our mission is to transform little-used city parks into safe, vibrant, and magical places for children to play, and to use the transformation of parks as a vehicle to transform thecommunity.
Results: In one of the Bay Area’s toughest inner-city neighborhoods, Richmond’s Iron Triangle, we are transforming two little-used city parks (Elm Playlot and Harbour-8 Park) into safe and vibrant places for children to play. We have a team of 10 local residents – who plan, design, build (and now manage!) these two parks themselves. We aim to use the transformation of Elm Playlot and Harbour-8 Park as a vehicle to improve the health of 5,000 of at-risk children living in Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood. In 2015 Pogo Park was named a model for the state of California. According to California State Parks manager Viktor Patino, “The Pogo Park model really stands out for how it empowers and involves residents in all three phases of a project: design, construction and park programming. Many times projects fail because there’s lack of ownership by the community. Toody not only involved residents in the design of the park, but she was able to employ them to build it, as well as to supervise and run the park today. ” Patino says that during his 16 years of traveling to parks, “this form of community involvement and local stimulus is rare. ” California thinks other cities can benefit from learning how the Pogo Park team was able to be successful and is funding a $150,000 research study on the multiple impacts of Elm Playlot on community well being.
Target demographics: 5,000 at-risk children and their families living in Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood.
Direct beneficiaries per year: Upwards of 15,000 at-risk children and families visited our parks in Richmond's Iron Triangle.
Geographic areas served: The one square mile Iron Triangle in Richmond is one of the toughest inner-city neighborhoods in the country. A largely Latino and Black population—this is a densely populated neighborhood blighted by gun violence, 50% unemployment, and the environmental effects of bordering one of the largest oil refineries.
Programs: Pogo Park offers free play activities to children in the Iron Triangle, six days a week on a drop in basis. We staff our two Pogo Parks with a core team of community residents. These are people we have empowered (many of whom were unemployed and marginalized) to be full participants in the process of designing, building, and then transforming city parks in their communities into vibrant hubs of community life. We hire and train our team to become "playworkers" who learn how to use enriched play as a vehicle to develop a child's linguistic, social, cognitive, physical and creative skills.
contact@pogopark.org
2604 Roosevelt Avenue, Richmond, CA 94804
510-215-5500
Economic Development
Richmond
