Gathering Ideas to Re-envision Parks
Keep informed on the Parks re-envisioning community engagement process.
URI facilitated a community input process starting on Oct 27, 2023, and ending on January 15, 2024. The project included an online survey, focus groups with targeted park users (Park Friends, sports, nonprofits, and more), and two open community forums to inform our City’s leadership on what New Haven residents would like to see. URI also researched what other cities are doing to learn from examples of successful park projects. Thank you to the 354 community survey respondents, 40+ focus group participants, the 40+ Nov 28 Community Forum participants, and the 50+ people who attended the Final Community Forum on January 10, 2024! See slide deck from the November event.
Ways you can still get involved:
1) Stay informed on the outcomes of the listening phase of gathering community input via snapshots provided here. See the results of the Community Survey.
2) Stay informed on the outcomes of the co-creation phase of gathering community input via the snapshot provided here.
3) Read the Re-envisioning New Haven Parks Report. and the Appendices:
A) Listening and Co-creation Phase Process Snapshots
B) Case Studies
C) New Haven Park index with acreage by neighborhood
E) January 10 Community Forum Summary
4) As a reminder, the report’s recommendations are strictly recommendations. The Mayor and city leadership team will make decisions of how they will move forward. At the Final Community Forum, Mayor Elicker announced that he would present a plan to the Alders during the Budget approval process this winter. The budget is due March 1. We encourage you to continue to stay informed and involved through that process to advocate for desired change.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION on parks from the 2021 ParkScore Project.