Peoplestown resident and unofficial mayor Columbus Ward remembers playing softball in a vacant lot as a kid. He also remembers when it became an official park, and the effort he joined in to keep the park from being demolished.
For years, Ward and his community have pushed to give Four Corners Park more resources. Now their work pays off — thanks to a $9.4 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund.
The money will go to Park Pride, Atlanta’s nonprofit dedicated to neighborhood parks. With almost 10 million dollars, the nonprofit will work with Peoplestown to make over the long-neglected Four Corners Park.
It is the largest project in Park Pride’s history.
“We’re excited about the fact that this project is really a reflection of our values, and focusing on communities that oftentimes have been neglected and overlooked,” Park Pride CEO Michael Halicki said.
But it didn’t come out of the blue. The Bezos Fund chose Four Corners Park because of the work already happening there. Two years ago, Park Pride funded early “visioning stages” for park improvements.
It is part of a $100 million campaign for the Bezos Earth Fund called the Greening America’s Cities initiative, which invests in community-designed parks and greenspace projects across eight cities in the United States. The fund is under the direction of noted billionaire Jeff Bezos.
For those two years, Park Pride worked with Peoplestown residents to create a vision for the park. Halicki called it an exercise to “engage in the art of the possible,” even though it would be a decades-long project with some ambitious goals.
They landed on a well-tended, expanded version of the park. Halicki describes infrastructure improvements for flooding, improved lighting and accessibility. They planned to improve the community garden and expand the small skating area, and potentially even redo the basketball court.
It caught the eye of the Bezos Earth Fund, which was looking for projects with strong community engagement and a nonprofit with a good track record. Four Corners Park ticked both boxes.
It’s a cash influx that will change the game for Park Pride and Four Corners Park. Since 2021, the nonprofit has given out roughly $10 million in grant funds for underserved parks and communities – this single project has the same price tag.
Now, instead of taking an expected 20 years to complete, the Four Corners Park revitalization will be done in about three years.
For residents like Ward, it’s the best news they have heard in years. He said the neighborhood is full of engaged residents who have worked hard to improve their beloved park. They “believe in not giving up, and they believe in trying to make things happen.”
It is already the space for gatherings, union meetings, hangouts and play. The money will just help match the grassroots investment already going on. The community will continue to work with Park Pride for the next few years, now in an even greater capacity. Halicki said Park Pride will hire a dedicated project manager to move Four Corners Park from the visioning stage to a “full build out.”
“We can work with every segment of the community to come and be a part of it, for the legacy resident in particular, but also for the newcomer who doesn’t know this part of the story,” Ward said. “Now they get to be a part of the process of what we’re trying to do.”
It’s a reminder to park organizers like Halicki, though, that the rise in Atlanta’s park profile must focus on underserved communities. Currently, 60% of the nonprofit’s funds are dedicated to neglected communities. Even as Atlanta reaches new heights with an 18th place ranking in the National Park score, he asks an essential question:
“It’s great, but for who?” Halicki posed. “Parks for All is more than a tagline.”
City leadership agrees. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said the project is about more than a citywide ranking for general access. Ward echoes the mayor, pointing to an imbalance between Old Fourth Ward Park and Rodney Cook Park or Four Corners Park.
“This is about investing in a Peoplestown community shaped by a history of redlining, displacement and infrastructure decisions that cut neighborhoods off from opportunity,” Dickens said.
