Kensington: Friends of Hagert Street Playground Make a Difference

Kaylee Derkotch was enjoying the nice weather and swinging on the Hagert Street Playground.

Julius Rivera, one of the leaders of the Friends of Hagert Street Playground, has been passionate about cleaning up the park and making it a safe and enjoyable space for children to play since he moved to Kensington.

When Rivera moved to Kensington about 12 years ago, he noticed the park was a spot for people to sell drugs and start fights. He said the children neglected the park because it wasn’t safe and the park had become degraded. Soon, the events happening on the playground spilled over into the neighborhood, putting households and neighbors in danger.

“Instead of making a bunch of calls to the city or trying to look for someone else to try and address the problem, we decided to begin organizing and doing what we could to try and address the problem ourselves,” Rivera said.

The climbing pole of the Hagert Street Playground is seen from a child's perspective.
The climbing pole of the Hagert Street Playground is seen from a child’s perspective.

Rivera was able to team up with neighbors, the East Kensington Neighbors Association, the New Kensington Community Development Corporation and others to make the space more positive and pleasant. There have also been volunteer groups who have come out to paint and clean up trash.

One project Rivera hopes to keep up is getting the children involved in maintaining the park. Some of the local basketball players complained there weren’t any lines on the court, so Rivera organized a day for the children who play basketball to come out and paint the lines on the court.

A group of teenage boys played a game of basketball at the Hagert Street Playground.
A group of teenage boys played a game of basketball at the Hagert Street Playground.

“It helped them to have a sense of ownership over the space and really owning that this is our playground, this is our basketball court,” Rivera said.

In the future, Rivera hopes to add more green amenities to the playground, such as trees and flowerbeds. He hopes this will teach the children in the neighborhood how to treat and care for plants.

In addition cleaning up the space, Rivera holds events at the playground for the children. He planned a summer program which will begin in July and go through August. Three times a week, Monday, Thursday and Friday, there will be free playtime, story time and then drumming time which will incorporate the stories they read.

At each event, a donation jar is left out and Rivera has encouraged visitors to leave a donation in order to help with the new renovation project he and the Community Design Collaborative have drawn up. The new plan has incorporated the needs for the playground and now funds are the only thing needed for the reconstruction project to begin.

[vimeo 97004277]

Text, video and images by Anna Ryan.

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