A Day In The Park

As part of the transformation of the National Design District, a wonderful little park on the corner of 22nd and Yandes Streets is coming to life.

The recreational yard has come from the efforts of not just the beneficiary, The Project School, but also the students at Park Tudor School, which is about 50 blocks to the north.

Andy Gammill of the Indianapolis Star wrote about the efforts today:

The idea sounded simple: Help an elementary school in the inner city build a playground.

Park Tudor School students knew that was the project they wanted to do, but it didn’t turn out to be so simple. The land at the charter school they aimed to help turned out to be a brownfield with toxic soil.

So instead of spending a few days installing playground equipment and planting grass, students ended up consulting environmental experts, lobbying the city and working through legal complications.

Matthew Brooks of Urban Times has also written of the efforts underway around The Project School, which has received funding for an edible school yard as well as a bicycle-focused Safe Routes to School grant. The photo above of students with Mayor Greg Ballard and TPS principal Tarrey Banks appeared in Urban Times in November.

The school has come a long, long way since Banks was introduced to Development Concepts President Mike Higbee, who helped shepherd the school through tough challenges during the onset of the recession.

Schools Building Communities is working with Development Concepts, now managed by Will Pritchard, and others to bring the first public high school to the Martindale-Brightwood community in more than a century.