On Dec. 3 from 6 to 8 p.m., “Is the Grass Greener? Access to the City’s Green Spaces,” the third installment of The Valentine’s 2019-20 Controversy/History conversation series, will take a look at Richmond's history of segregating public parks, the importance of green spaces for our city's health and what should be done to improve access in the future.
Speakers include Jeremy Hoffman, chief scientist at the Science Museum of Virginia; Duron L. Chavis, manager of community engagement at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden; and Chris Frelke, director of the City of Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities.
(From left) Blue Sky Fund participants Shyhiem and Mikeyia canoe at Henrico's Deep Bottom Park.
The James River Park System sees more than 1.3 million visitors each year, making it one of the top destinations in the commonwealth. But despite its popularity, city green spaces remain off-limits to many, and it’s not just because of geography.
The Trust for Public Land has found that 80% of homes in low-income neighborhoods are a short walk from a city park, but many residents don’t get to enjoy the outdoors. The Blue Sky Fund, a local nonprofit that provides science education in the outdoors to thousands of students in Richmond Public Schools, is trying to change that.
“For many of our students, their experience with Blue Sky is the first time they’ve ever been to the river, even though they live blocks from it,” says Tanesha Powell, the organization’s academic program manager. “Many of our kids come from the East End, and they don’t realize how close they live to the water.”
Powell says many students don’t feel like they belong in area parks, and they often lack transportation, free time or the right equipment. Executive Director Eleanor Kootsey says that when Blue Sky does winter programming, they supply winter coats, gloves and hats. They also loan gear to students so they can bring their parents back to destinations. “Even their parents are seeing some of these places for the first time,” Powell says.
At wealthier schools, Parent Teacher Associations raise funds for field trips. But for the 14 elementary schools Blue Sky serves, most of which receive Title I funding for students from low-income families, field trips are not in the budget. “Even if they have after-school trips, they have to pay a fee,” Kootsey says. Blue Sky’s programs are free for schools and students, funded by private donations and grants.
The Blue Sky Fund recruits people of color as primary educators to provide role models for their students, who take day and overnight trips to parks throughout the region. Once a month, they take elementary students on day trips to places like Belle Isle and Pocahontas State Park. In middle school, students join the Outdoor Adventure Club for weekly sessions where they learn how to rock climb, kayak, follow a map and build fires, culminating in a day or weekend trip into the outdoors. By high school, the students are ready for a bigger challenge: a leadership program that kicks off with a five-day backpacking trip focused on leadership and mentoring.
Students from Richmond’s Franklin Military Academy set up a tent at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach.
Lack of access to green spaces is rooted in systemic racism. Groups like Blue Sky can help by creating a sense of belonging, but barriers remain. Duron Chavis, an urban farmer and community engagement coordinator for Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, helps people all over the city to garden and farm, with a focus on serving people in designated food deserts where residents lack access to grocery stores and fresh produce. These food deserts match up with historic redlining maps of the city, showing the long-term impact of the racist urban development policies implemented in the 1930s. “They’re almost identical,” Chavis says, which is why he’s working to “increase green spaces equitably, with a focus on race and space.”
His work is community centered and involves a lot of listening. “Folks from the neighborhood come out and talk about what they want to see,” he says. Despite the inclusive approach, he’s run into issues when law enforcement and the city parks department get involved. At Broad Rock Community Garden in South Side Richmond, he says the city threatened to undo their work.
“Name me a space on Broad Rock [Boulevard] that’s comparable to Byrd Park,” he says, highlighting the need for the garden. “The community there has experienced a lot of trauma, and we were building a space to mitigate that, to let the community come together.” At first, things went well, but the garden came under intense police scrutiny.
“As soon as we put up the pavilion, that’s when the police started coming by,” he says, referring to a handsome wooden structure that shelters picnic tables. “People without houses started sleeping there. We didn’t have a problem with that, the community didn’t. Where are the shelters in that area? There aren’t any services.”
He started to get complaints from people who liked to visit the garden: They no longer felt welcome. “If you’re a young African American male, people give you the side eye,” he says. “Police started asking everybody, ‘Are you on drugs? You sleeping here?’ We didn’t build the garden just for people who have houses or people who don’t struggle with addiction.”
Chavis doesn’t have all the answers, but he knows he’s helping. “Green space isn’t the solution,” he says, “but it’s a solution that impacts a lot of problems. It’s a space where people can convene and do the things that make a neighborhood a neighborhood.”
Chavis has convinced the city to back off on policing and increase collaboration. His takeaway: “Equity-based solutions require people who have a lens on racial justice and a sensitivity to communities of color,” he says. “That is not only vital, it is the make-or-break point.”
Chavis’ perseverance stems from his resilience, a key trait that Blue Sky seeks to build in its students. Kootsey paraphrases the organization’s mission statement in describing its impact: “We facilitate inner transformation through outdoor education,” she says. “They’re learning outside with hands-on education — and it’s fun.”
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