Park Pride is flexing its green thumb — both in park stewardship and the funding behind those parks.
The nonprofit announced today that it awarded over $3 million in grants to 23 park projects across the city, with over 60 percent of that funding to parks in historically underinvested communities.
This comes as Park Pride enters its fourth year for its “Parks For All” campaign, which has been championing what it calls “park equity,” or the idea that every Atlanta has access to a great park that reflects the desires of its immediate community.
“Our grantmaking program is about more than just capital improvements to parks,” said Kayla Altland, director of grantmaking for Park Pride, in a press release. It’s a partnership that involves friends groups, parks departments, elected officials, funders, as well as Park Pride board and staff, to create great parks for all to enjoy.”
Funding for these latest park investments comes from both private and public sources, according to Park Pride, highlighting the united front that makes these grants possible.
“Through this public-private alliance, DPR’s goal to invest in equitable park improvements and create new parks within the city’s greenspace infrastructure is being achieved in every quadrant of the city, one park at a time,” Justin Cutler, City of Atlanta Department of Parks & Recreation Commissioner.
Four Corners Park, a five-acre park in Peoplestown that features a youth center, a playground, a pavilion, two basketball courts, greenspace and a community garden, is a 2025 grant recipient and will see improvements in the form of a new playground, pavilion and walking path that was outlined in its vision plan, created in tandem with Park Pride, the Friends of Four Corners Park and Peoplestown neighbors.
Columbus Ward, a more than 60-year Peoplestown resident and community advocate for low-income neighborhoods in Atlanta, said he was happy to see improvements coming to Four Corners Park, which sits only about a quarter-mile away from the Southside Beltline Trail.
“We reached out to Park Pride because we knew that we had a park that had not had any type of real improvement for 30 years,” Ward said, which caused him and the Friends of Four Corners Park to coalesce around it and call for upgrades. “We put in for a small grant with them to do the vision plan for the park… and thank God we were one of the groups that was picked.”
The vision plan was completed in 2023.
With Four Corners Park’s proximity to the Beltline, Ward said, it was long overdue for this park to get the attention it deserves. Now, thanks to the new grant from Park Pride this year, the park will focus on implementing some of those proposed improvements from the plan.
“We wanted to look at this from an inter-generational standpoint; we wanted to make sure we had young folks and older folks and all aged people to be a part of that [vision plan] study,” Ward said, adding that they had multiple neighborhood surveys and meetings and received assistance from Park Pride on conducting and drafting the plan. “It was very community engaged.”
Other grant funds for other parks will go to upgrades such as new bleachers, shading, walking paths, benches, gardens, playgrounds and just about anything else a park could need. A full list of the 2025 grants and their projects can be found here.
As a self-described legacy resident, Ward has seen the difference a good public park can make in communities, and echoed the mission statement of Park Pride.
“There should be great parks and great places that have great amenities… and it’s also so important that people have a place of fellowship, where they can come together to meet or have a reunion or picnic,” Ward said. “It’s important that you have a community gathering spot… even people who grew up in the neighborhood that don’t live there anymore, they still come back and be a part of what’s going on in Four Corners Park and interact with the people there because they know that might see some familiar faces who they knew or grew up.”
Park Pride is hosting its annual Parks & Greenspace Conference in late March at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where it will celebrate its theme Connecting on Common Ground.
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