February 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 18

Community Center
Green Stormwater Infrastructure
Empowering communities to be drivers of this planning
By Jenny Cox

transform public spaces into places that
connect people and contribute to a resilient, healthy and inclusive community, "
says Todd Spinks Southwest Airlines'
advisor, Sustainability & Citizenship.
" Our partnership with NRPA provides
an opportunity to do just that by empowering local organizations, inspiring youth
and engaging each other in ways that enhance green stormwater infrastructure. "
Each of these communities created an
engagement plan unique to the needs of
its residents, which enabled them to work
together to create green infrastructure
solutions that bring maximum benefit to
their communities. While these projects
all experienced challenges, each community partner gained appreciation for
the value residents added to the project
and the overall accomplishments made
through inclusion of the residents.

ore frequent and extreme weather events combined with aging gray
stormwater infrastructure are affecting the environmental and community health of neighborhoods across the country. Heavy rains often
result in sewer overflows, severe flooding and unusable public spaces,
especially in low-income and underserved communities.
NRPA's Great Urban Parks Campaign, which promotes and advances
green infrastructure stormwater management projects in parks, places issues of
environmental injustice at the forefront
of these projects. Parks can reduce localized flooding, and infiltrate and clean
water. They also can offer vulnerable
communities increased access to green
space for recreation, and opportunities
for education and employment. However, without meaningful and early community engagement, these green stormwater infrastructure projects are at risk

of not being fully embraced or understood by residents or accurately serving
the diverse needs of the community.
Thanks to the support of Southwest
Airlines, GreenRoots in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the city of Covington, Kentucky, and the Alliance for the Great
Lakes in Gary, Indiana, executed innovative community engagement strategies related to the planning, design and
implementation of green stormwater
infrastructure installations in their parks
over the past year. " Southwest Airlines is
committed to bringing people together to

Tracie VanAuken

Two youth enjoy an afternoon of
kayaking on the Chelsea Creek in Chelsea,
Massachusetts.

Parks & Recreation

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Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea, Massachusetts, in the north
suburbs of Boston, is a low-income community that has been severely impacted
by environmental injustice issues, most
notably because of the overabundance
of heavy industries located on Chelsea's
waterfront. GreenRoots, a community-based organization, is working to restore water quality and reduce the flood
risk to the surrounding communities of
Mill Creek through the installation of
multi-benefit green infrastructure. A recent project at the Mill Creek Natural
Playground focused on restoring the water's edge into a more open and accessible
site that supports the growth of appropriate flora and promotes active recreation.
In addition to adding stormwater tree
trenches, bioswales and rain gardens to

February 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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