Edward Waters College, New Town Success Zone partners and City of Jacksonville officials collaboratively broke ground on Success Park Thursday to commence the construction of the soon-to-be community park. Edward Waters College, located in the heart of the New Town Success Zone, offered its property on the corn ensure the maintenance of the park for the next 20 years, as agreed upon in negotiations with the College and the City of Jacksonville.
“Success Park will be a building block in the edification of the New Town area, and Jacksonville as a whole,” said Edward Waters College President and New Town Success Zone Co-Chair Nat Glover.
The park is designed to serve as a safe place for the youth and senior citizens in the community to exercise and build community relationships, ultimately to impact the initiatives of the NTSZ by improving the health and social development of citizens in the New Town community.
“The residents of New Town identified the need for a park several years ago as a place where families could gather, seniors could exercise and perhaps a community garden could thrive,” said New Town Co-Chair Pam Paul. “Success Park will be an exciting enhancement for the neighborhood.” The park will also serve as another resource to tie into the initiatives of the Schell-Sweet Community Resource Center on campus through health and wellness, and educational initiatives. “Edward Waters College is excited to support this community collaboration to provide developmental and educational support for our community,” Glover said.
Success Park is planned to house state-of-the-art electronic playground equipment along with the standard equipment found in most parks, and special weather-resistant exercise equipment will be placed around the perimeter of the park. “This park is going to be one of a kind,” said PeDro Cohen, director of the New Town Success Zone. “You won’t find another park in Jacksonville like this.” The grand opening scheduled for September.
