Enhancing a Green Gathering Place in East Los Angeles

Jan 03, 2011

MONICA CARLOS: Here at LONI I work as a program manager, working on community-based projects where we engage local stakeholders to determine what types of physical improvements they would like best to improve their neighborhoods. Our motto here is rebuilding neighborhoods one block at a time.

GARRETT GIN: The Boyle Heights Community has a lot of needs, but one of them is the need for open space-a safe space for kids to play, a place for the community to really congregate.

MONICA CARLOS: In most neighborhoods of Los Angeles, the space is so dense and so the addition of parks is pretty much impossible. But that makes it even more important that resources are put into improving existing parks. Especially in Boyle Heights, we feel that the expansion of existing green space is critical.

GARRETT GIN: Bank of America partnered with Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative and the Los Angeles Dodgers, to create what we call the Dodger Dream Field. It’s a place where little league teams now play, where families and communities congregate and come together, and it’s really an important component to making Boyle Heights a vibrant place to live.

MONICA CARLOS: Green space and open space is absolutely important. Specifically in Boyle Heights, there’s higher levels of obesity and diabetes and so we felt that definitely incorporating elements that would encourage physical activity were critical.

GARRETT GIN: Having a partnership between the city, between a non-profit like the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, and Bank of America-really, they’re like three legs to a stool. You need all of them to work together, to collaborate, to help meet a community’s needs.

MONICA CARLOS: To make the partnership complete, and to really be able to turn a community around we feel that the public-private partnership is absolutely pivotal. If it were not for the grant that we received from Bank of America, we wouldn’t currently have an ongoing project in Boyle Heights. Our model empowers community stakeholders and allows them to change their neighborhoods in a way that they see best. Ultimately, that can only make Boyle Heights a better place for people to live.

The mission of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative (LANI) is to improve neighborhoods one block at a time. They do so by enhancing streetscapes, designing monuments and building green spaces in underserved communities. Their work is undertaken in partnership with neighborhood residents who bring vision and enthusiasm to the project.

Several years ago, LANI received a grant from Bank of America to develop Evergreen Park, a well-used space in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles. They invited business owners, council members, school and church leaders and families to suggest improvements to the recreational area. The end result was a project plan, which the committee used to raise nearly $1 million for the development of the park.

“I think one of the most important factors is that the community involvement builds hope,” said Monica Carlos, program manager at LANI. “People need to realize that their community is important and, when you see any level of investment, that tells them that it is.”

Today, Evergreen Park features an auditorium, lighted basketball courts, a children’s play area, a community center and an indoor gym. There’s also a jogging path that weaves around the cemetery that’s part of the park. The rubberized, five-kilometer route provides residents of all ages with an accessible venue for physical activity. That’s important to the sustainability of Boyle Heights, which reports high rates of obesity and diabetes.

The bank also partnered with the L.A. Dodgers to designate Evergreen Park a Dodger Dream Field. This means that additional resources were provided to make baseball a core activity in the park and in the community. The designation was of great significance to long-time residents of Boyle Heights, who grew up idolizing the diverse players at nearby Dodger Stadium.

“No one entity can solve all of a community’s problems,” said Garrett Gin, senior vice president of global corporate social responsibility for Bank of America. “So having a partnership between the city, a nonprofit like LANI and the bank—they’re like three legs to a stool. You need all of them to work together to help meet a community’s needs.”

Enhancing a Green Gathering Place in East Los Angeles

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