Trust for Public Land is delivering on its Community Schoolyards program in Atlanta with the opening of four new park spaces available to the public this week. The initiative is part of a national effort designed by Trust for Public Land to expand community access to schoolyards during non-school hours to increase the percentage of people who live within a 10-minute walk of a park. In Atlanta, the program is in partnership with Atlanta Public Schools, Urban Land Institute Atlanta and Park Pride with support from the philanthropic community. 

“The program helps reimagine schoolyards as vibrant community parks designed to meet the needs of students and nearby neighbors,” said George Dusenbury, Georgia state director for Trust for Public Land. “We know that parks are essential to the health and well-being of communities, and this is one way we have committed to making them available and welcoming to everyone.”

Schoolyard Openings This Week

Monday, March 18, 2024

Harper-Archer Elementary - 3399 Collier Dr NW in Atlanta

➢    Opening Ceremony: 9 to 10:30 a.m.

➢    Key philanthropic partners include: Police Athletic League, LaunchPad Foundation, Goddard Foundation, and Artist -  Aysha Pennerman 

Developed in partnership with the Goddard Foundation, the Harper-Archer Elementary School playground features murals on two large exterior walls of the school building echoing artwork inside the school and depicting trailblazing role models. The playground also incorporates a rain garden for natural stormwater management, a gathering area with shade feature, benches positioned along each side of the track and located under mature trees to provide a place to rest under the shade, landscaping to clear out underbrush, fine grading and sod to level out the football field, along with a new entrance with a sidewalk and sign inviting the community to enjoy the new playground.

Centennial Academy - 531 Luckie Street NW, Atlanta

➢    Opening Ceremony - 1 to 2:30 p.m.

➢    Key philanthropic partners include: YMCA, Liz Blake. Egbert Perry and Integral and Artist – Muhammad Yungai

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The Centennial Academy playground is an excellent location to serve the school and the community - including the neighboring YMCA. It features an outdoor community library with reading garden, which offers free books for all ages to borrow and share, a pollinator garden that incorporates existing trees and site topography, a rain garden and channels to collect runoff and provide educational opportunities for scholars, outdoor musical instruments, cafe tables and chairs, and sculptural custom benches - each providing unique seating arrangements to benefit different groups and subjects.

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Price Elementary School - 1670 Benjamin Weldon Bickers Dr SE, Atlanta, GA

➢    Opening Ceremony: 9 to 10:30 a.m.
➢    Key philanthropic partners include: Purpose Built Schools,  Delta Air Lines

A Purpose Built School, Price Elementary School has received tremendous support from teachers and staff, as well as 100 volunteers from Delta Air Lines, and Trust for Public Land volunteers on-site who participated in build days that included updating the school mural, performing demolition work, building fencing, removing invasive plants, and additional activities that ensure a thriving garden and high-quality park space for the community.

Scott Elementary School - 1752 Hollywood Rd NW, Atlanta, GA

➢    Opening Ceremony: 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

➢    Key philanthropic partners include: Village Tutorial, Cherokee Garden Club, Macy’s, Cox, Delta Air Lines

Scott teachers and staff, along with 100 volunteers from Delta Air Lines, and Trust for Public Land volunteers on-site at Scott Elementary School participated in build days that included building a colorful new playground; protecting a bird habitat and shade trees from invasive plants with experts from Georgia Audubon - a new Atlanta Community Schoolyards collaboration; upgrading the school’s community garden, greenhouse and Museum of Trees with compost, seating and pollinator-friendly plants; and beautifying the school’s outdoor areas with mulched pathways, bird houses and fresh paint.

In Atlanta, 23 percent of residents do not live within a 10-minute walk of a park. Over the past three years, The Trust for Public Land has worked with 10 APS schools to design the schoolyards so that they can be used as parks during non-school hours. Reimagining community schoolyards is one proven strategy designed to help cities reach that 10-minute walk goal. The Trust for Public Land has worked in dozens of cities to transform hundreds of schoolyards and make them available to the general public during non-school hours.