'Enjoy nature': Neighbors in University Park, Ellet win grants to help community parks

Editor's note: This story has been clarified and updated with information about a winning bid that was inadvertantly omitted.

Beth Vild, founder of Wild Woman Designs & Consulting, has spent almost three years with her team of landscapers moving earth and planting fruits and vegetables in Boss Park.

Cultivating the land has provided her with a sense of satisfaction, a sense of purpose. She understands how developing this land is important to the local University Park community.

"This used to be eight different vacant lots the city owned that was overgrown and an eyesore," Vild said.

Now thanks to the Akron Parks Challenge, Boss Park is in line for even more improvements to help revitalize the neighborhood.

Neighborhood Network, a program of Habitat for Humanity of Summit County, has won a 2022 Parks Challenge grant for its plan to make improvements include shade, seating, walkways, signage and places to play — maybe disc golf. 

The nonprofit group has been working for years to improve the park, bringing community partners together to submit a plan that won one of this year's grants after repeatedly applying.

Wild Woman Designs has been instrumental as a private contractor for Neighborhood Network on a separate park component; eventually, the shared vision is for a revamped park space for the benefit of all.

"This is a neighborhood that has pretty devastating mental health disparities in comparison to the rest of the city," Vild said. "The main theme for [Wild Woman's]  project is establishing a mental health oasis where people can just sit and enjoy nature."  

"We are very focused on trying to create a positive mental health experience through beauty and food."

Proposals submitted for Boss Park in Akron's Ward 3 and Hyre/Lions Park in Ward 6 each were awarded $100,000 grants this week from the Akron Parks Collaborative in partnership with the city as the winners of the 2022 Parks Challenge.

The Akron Parks Collaborative is a nonprofit group focused on the creation and sustainability of public spaces within the city's parks."  

"I'm excited that Boss Park is one of the winners, and I just want to point out how residents have applied for the past three years and never gave up, taking feedback from the Akron Parks Collaborative and persevering," said Akron City Council President Margo Sommerville, who represents Ward 3.

"Boss Park has a real unique opportunity... being nestled around the University of Akron and Leggett CLC allows for the university students to engage the elementary students and teach them about nature," Sommerville said. "These winnings will go a long way to bringing these communities together, as well as the continued development of the park and the surrounding area."

Competition fuels community interest

The grant program invites residents to team up with their neighbors to pitch their vision for how to improve parks in their communities. This year's winners were narrowed down from a field of 50 to 60 applications (some were duplicates) in a process that included walkthroughs for finalists.

Bridget Ambrisco, executive director of the Akron Parks Collaborative, recalled how she and then-Akron Deputy Mayor James Hardy hatched the idea for program. Hardy saw the need for improvements to public parks after years of neglect and the potential boost of infusing money into the rebuilding of some of these spaces.

Hardy mentioned this possibility to Ambrisco, who emphasized the necessity of community involvement in revitalizing these ignored parks. She said the community engagement component led to an outpouring of public response.

"There is a kind of extreme enthusiasm for being asked about how [the public] can give input or take ownership of their parks....they feel ownership for the parks but they have no control," Ambrisco said.

"This empowerment that the challenge gives to make decisions about the future of their parks makes them continue to want to stay involved and steward their parks."

Akron neighborhoods:National Night Out returns, event meant to build community-police bonds

For trail enthusiasts:Summit, Portage counties trek closer to connecting popular paths via Freedom Trail

Sprucing up an Ellet trail

Hyre and Lions Parks are separated by an area of Hyre Park known as Hyre Woods, a unique feature for this second winner of the Akron Parks Challenge.

The Veterans Memorial Nature Trail snake its way through Hyre Woods and connects not only Hyre and Lions parks, but also the nearby Hyre Community Learning Center and Ellet Community Center.

This trail features dense woods with towering trees that serve as a canopy enveloping those lingering below. Following the trail to the end leads to Lions Park, a small oasis tucked in the middle of the city's Ellet neighborhood.

Dianne Schall, Ellet Community Center supervisor and a 26-year-resident of the neighborhood, envisions a portion of the funds paying for enhancement of the trail and the surrounding woods.

"With children spending so much time out here, as well as the neighbors who exercise and walk their dogs here, we want to try to clear some of the weeds from the trail and add more guardrails to make it safer for our community," Schall said.

"The funds from the Akron Park Challenge will not only help us achieve our goals of making the woods safer for the people who come here, but we hope it spotlights Lions Park — a space not particularly well known or advertised."

Ward 6 Council Member Brad McKitrick noted the importance of Hyre Woods and expressed excitement for the grant — especially for how it will boost educators' use of the park areas.

"Teachers utilize the park for many reasons. Some will have their students write poetry in the woods," McKitrick said.

Kary Bailey, an Ellet resident and repeat applicant to the Akron Parks Challenge, hopes the funds from the challenge allow the parks to "feel like an open and welcome space for residents."

"The gates at Lions Park have been shut and locked for years, and I am excited for these funds to revitalize the area and attract more people to this near-forgotten secret at the end of Hyre Woods," Bailey said.

Program has allocated nearly $1 million to park projects 

The Akron Parks Challenge, which began in 2018 with grands for Cadillac Park, Reservoir Park, and Chestnut Ridge Park, has given almost $1 million to nine parks. 

Other winners include Elizabeth and Ohio & Erie Canal Parks (2019) and Kerr and Jewett Parks (2021).

The next step after awarding the grants is for the Akron Parks Collaborative and the city to engage the communities of the two winning parks and survey residents about which improvements to undertake.

Kate DeAngelis, who serves on the board for the Akron Parks Collaborative, sees the value of the program, noting how it's "really encouraging to see the high quality of applications that come in each year, proving how valuable these parks are as gathering spaces and how important they are to the surrounding community."

"This challenge has brought people together in a way that hasn't been seen since before the pandemic started," DeAngelis said. "This challenge isn't necessarily focused on just the building of new physical features for the parks, but the bringing together of communities and people who ordinarily would not have gotten a chance to interact with each other."

Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@gannett.com

How to get involved

To learn more and/or become involved with the Akron Parks Collaborative, visit akronparks.org.