Unity Park, in partnership with Bon Secours Community Works

Housing developer Unity Properties began engaging residents around the lot in 2017, and four major needs came back: a safe place for resting and playing, relief from the heat, a venue for community celebration, and room for active and imaginative play. Firesoul Shakira Franklin's insight was the hinge — that opening fire hydrants in the summer heat is a quintessential urban American tradition, and that those days are long gone for residents here. That became the splash park. The community wrote its own goal statement: a safe place for children to play in a variety of ways, where caregivers feel comfortable and welcomed, centered on a water feature, free for all, beautiful, relaxing, and usable for all types of community events. Two further ideas rose to the top in the design workshops. That there is "a child in everyone" who deserves to play, which meant people had to feel invited onto the amenities regardless of age or ability, with the chance to enter gradually and literally dip a toe in. And that "it takes a village to raise a child," which meant the park had to be comfortable for the full spectrum of neighbors.