New Communities Program Improves Park Space in Logan Square

The Logan Square community has the second least amount of park space in Chicago. This lack of open space has not gone unnoticed. When LSNA, through its participation in the Local Initiative Support Corporation’s (LISC) New Communities Program, facilitated a community planning process two years ago, residents identified more park space as a high priority.

Several of the projects identified in the resulting Holistic Plan are underway or completed. The most recent example was on September 28 with the McAuliffe School Playground Ribbon-cutting and Dedication. For 15 years, McAuliffe children had no place to play. Last fall, school principal David Pino dreamt of a playground and asked LSNA and Active Living Logan Square to help. Together we submitted a request letter to the Chicago Public Schools and were delighted to learn that McAuliffe was selected for a playground build this year. Then we identified a need to make the space more inviting and put together a proposal to LISC for landscaping, which transformed the adjacent space into an outdoor learning lab for the preschool and kindergarten classes, with some shade trees and places to sit.

Another key project supported by LISC was the expansion of Haas Park. LISC provided the first money into the project by providing a forgivable loan to the Trust for Public Land, which bought the Worldwide Distributors Building. This step gave time for the Haas Park Advisory Council, with help from LSNA and others, to get a commitment from the Chicago Park District to buy the building and expand the park. The partnership with the Trust for Public Land continued when LISC provided funding to help cover the cost of acquiring land for a play lot and access point at Albany and Bloomingdale, part of the future “Bloomingdale Trail” – an elevated park and greenway in the works that will span 2.7 miles and 4 communities.

Other projects that have been completed through support from the New Communities Program are the playground at St. Sylvester School and the Paseo Prairie Garden, which has been a collaborative volunteer effort spearheaded by Logan Square Walks and archi-treasures.

The new McAuliffe School playground with landscaping funded by the New Communities Program.