Wildcat center at bunch park

WILDCAT CENTER AT BUNCH PARK Education, Environment, Entertainment, Economics: Imagine the Difference One Park Can Make

2015 Collaborative Plan

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Dunbar High School Enterprise Business Group Mr. Cameron Sadler – Instructor Mr. Carlos Walker – Principal

Dunbar Business Club Jayla Johnson

Veronica Sandoval

Takyria Page

Wesley Roberts

Nigel Burns

Revonne Timms

Patrick Curtis

Amber Hardy

Diamond Davis

Elijah McCutcheon

Javier Sustatia

Institute of Urban Studies/University of Texas at Arlington Brian Guenzel – Director Rhonda Fields – Special Programs Coordinator Ayeh Khajouei – Designer Gloria Rumao – Designer Baishakhi Biswas – Designer

Tarrant County Public Health Department Belinda Gonzalez Hampton – Health Planner & Grant Writer, Health Planning & Policy Division C. Jan Parker – Division Planning & Policy Manager

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Wildcat Center at Bunche Park plan is a dynamic high school student lead project to recreate Bunche Park into a vibrant community-centered linchpin. This creative work is the mastermind of the Dunbar High School Business Club, envisioned during a summer enrichment camp hosted by UT Arlington faculty and the Institute of Urban Studies staff. After brainstorming a number of potential projects, students chose this project to implement. Working with master student designers and planners from the Institute of Urban Studies, conceptual plans were drawn to reflect the imagined ideas of the Dunbar students.

Partnership and collaboration are key to seeing this project to fruition. Dividing the project into three implementation stages, Phase I included adding the collaboration of the Tarrant County Health Department, who lead a grant writing effort through NACCHO and their Health in All Policies. An outline was created for goals and objectives for selecting and training a youth leadership team who would then help develop a community event. This community event would be held at the park and include a variety of activities, food, images of the park vision, as well as the administration of a survey for the broader community to supply their input. Two additional grants were applied for, one through the APA-APHA, and the other through a BUILD grant.

Phase 2 of the project entails using established partnership inside and outside the community to finalize the overall plan and begin finding opportunities for funding. This would involve students and other community leaders.

Phase 3 of the project involves using the Wildcat Center at Bunche Park as a template for other schools throughout Tarrant County. The Institute of Urban Studies will develop training modules and identity partners, which will include member(s) of the Dunbar leadership team.

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BUNCHE PARK: COMMUNITY-CENTERED PARK Bunche Park began as a collaborative, creative planning and design effort between Dunbar High School and the University of Texas at Arlington’s Institute of Urban Studies. In the summer of 2014, a group of students from Dunbar High School in Fort Worth met for a week-long camp hosted by faculty from UTA’s School of Urban and Public Affairs and staff from the Institute of Urban Studies’ serving as mentors. With a passion for their neighborhood and a desire to make a positive impact, the students devised a number of initiates to enhance their community (see appendix). Because they wanted a doable project that would foster community and serve the greatest number of people they selected the undeveloped 2.3 acre Bunche Park.

Situated between Dunbar High School and Dunbar Middle School and surrounded by older residential housing, an elementary school, and the TCC Career Center, Bunche Park promises a number of possibilities for this predominately black neighborhood. While the area is essentially in a food desert and within blocks of the freeway, the students envision the park as a place that would feed both mind and body. Their long-range vision includes an e-library and study center with food service, a study center, a community garden, places for food trucks, and an open plaza with a stage for events. They are interested in a place for all ages and abilities within their community, a community-centered park instead of a park in the center of a community. Figure 1 shows the students initial sketched out plan, followed by the initial proposal for the park and programming.

Figure 1: Initial Sketched Plan LEGEND OS – Open Space B – Building EP – Event Parking PL – Parking Lot PC – Pavilion w/ Stage CG – Community Garden

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INITIAL STUDENT PROPOSAL The plan includes a list of programming ideas and activities and a very conceptual layout of the site.

Narrative: The community center would appeal to all ages in the local neighborhood and serve the surrounding communities. It would appeal to all ages and operate for special events as well as regular business hours to be determined, but likely include at least a Saturday and several weekdays. The center would have outdoor activities and structures such as a pavilion for outdoor performances and a community garden. There would be three separate buildings even different sizes to serve the community. Adequate parking for typical days would be available on site, but for larger special events additional parking would need to be provided on street and through parking agreements with local businesses, churches and schools as activities should not generally conflict.

Spaces: Parking would be in the north central part of the site and attempt to minimize its appearance by putting it behind landscaping and buildings where possible. Traffic circulation would generally come in through the North on Ramey Ave. and head South on to Fitzhugh Ave. on the East side of the property. An open space on the north west corner would serve as turfed area to eat, hang out, have small community sponsored events. The South West corner of the site across the creek would be connected by a wide pedestrian bridge and could be a site for a small community garden. In the middle of the site there would be a pavilion for outdoor performances. The site would also include three separate and different size buildings connected by a single pergola to accommodate the programming and activities at the site.

Programming: Indoor activities: • • • • •

Karaoke Bingo Dominoes Chess Pool Tables

• • • • •

Book Club Garden Club Senior Socials Dances Invited speakers

• • • •

“GO Center” Inter-Library Loan Pickup Drop off Digital Library Study Rooms

• •

Stand Up Comedy Community Gardening/Urban Farming

• • •

Outdoor Movies Invited Speakers Picnic Area

Outdoor activities: • • •

Karaoke Music Performances Community Theater

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INITIAL STUDENT-PROPOSED WORK PLAN During the summer camp, the students developed the following brief “to do list” to move the process forward and serve as a learning opportunity for the students.

Gather Facts and Information Objective: Assess the current situation • Who owns the property?

• What deed restrictions, zoning regulations, platting requirements, development regulations, environmental regulations, and building codes would need to be addressed?

• You have identified a solution to an issue, is their general agreement on the issues and support for the solution? You may need to consider surveying the community and interviewing local leaders.

• Don’t reinvent the wheel. You need case studies. What other communities have done something like this? What are the lessons learned?

Finalize the Plan Objective: Know the details of exactly what you want to do • Plan the site o IUS will provide a planning student to help design the site; the result will be a concept plan for the site. (this is not a construction plan or a site plan) • Program the site • Make a list of all that has to be done o Zoning o Platting o Finances • Determine who will do what • Get community support Brass Tacks Objective: Action Planning, getting all approvals needed, all funding acquired • A champion of the cause should be identified by now • The “To do” list should have multiple people taking responsibility to see that certain tasks will be done, progress should be getting made.

• At this point meetings with business owners, developers, and city staff and officials should have already happened • A site plan may be needed at this point, this may require a licensed engineer or architect

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UTA: INSTITUTE OF URBAN STUDIES Building on this initial work, faculty, staff and graduate students from the School or Urban and Public Affairs and the Program in Landscape Architecture met with the high school students and their teacher, Mr. Cameron Sadler, to further develop the park, which will be the heart of the community. The high school students clarified goals and expectations and shared further research they had done. Three conceptual ideas were developed to further the discussion for the park. Each of the concepts includes places and activities that engage people of all ages and abilities in the community, as well as components to attract others and activate the park, making it a safe, comfortable place.

Concept 1 below creates a central plaza with a food court and a library along the perimeter. This plan provides two open space or “rest� areas which include artistic seating and tables under a canopy of trees. This concept also includes a number of bike and pedestrian trails throughout the site for both schools and visitors to enjoy. The central plaza will function as a place for festivals and community activities throughout the year. The library would be designed to accommodate people of all ages with specific programming for high school and middle school after school enrichment.

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Concept 2 for the park focuses on the community garden opportunities and creates a central plaza boarded by three separate buildings connected by trellised courtyards. A paved area is created adjacent to the buildings to accommodate food trucks, and picnic areas and butterfly gardens create a space for the community and visitors to enjoy. Trails encircle the area and provide non-vehicular connections to the community. The central plaza would programed to keep the space activated for safety.

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Concept 3 integrates art and community in a multi-functional space. This plan includes a community garden, stage with open multi-purpose lawn edged by two buildings and a shade structure. Additional parallel parking and a market area are also included, with a central water feature and artistic seating.

Three entryways are specified, and a wide mid-block walkway between the park and the high school makes for easy connections.

Next Steps Toward Conceptualizing The Vision: The students at Dunbar High School in Mr. Sadler’s class are currently reviewing the concepts. We will meet this week to discuss the refinements and lay out next steps.

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PHASE 1 IMPLEMENTATION, COLLABORATION, AND PARTNERSHIPS: TARRANT COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT For the implementation stage a collaboration of multiple partners is needed. Using the principals of Health in All Policies (HiAP), the collaborative for Bunche Park includes the originators of the idea for a healthier community, the Dunbar High School business class students, along with the expertise from the Institute for Urban Planning and Tarrant County Public Health. The first phase toward implementing the plan is to jointly meet to plan and review initial ideas generated by the students about their community setting. Ideas will be generated and buy-in garnered for the next steps as they relate to the training, field trips, project outcomes and outputs and determine as well who is missing from our group to include in these events and trainings. Three grants are currently being pursued toward this project, including a grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), an APA-APHA grant, and a BUILD grant.

About Tarrant County Public Health Department The mission of Tarrant County Public Health (TCPH) is to provide information, services and resources to help safeguard the community’s health. We serve a client base and offer a scope of services as diverse as the county's population. As the local health authority with a dedicated staff of more than 450 public health professionals and annual funding resources totaling approximately $60 million TCPH services truly touch everyone, every day, and everywhere of our 1.8 million residents over 41 municipalities.

About NACCHO NACCHO’s vision is health, equity, and security for all people in their communities through public health policies and services. NACCHO’s mission is to be a leader, partner, catalyst, and voice for local health departments in order to ensure the conditions that promote health and equity, combat disease, and improve the quality and length of all lives.

NACCHO is governed by a 27-member Board of Directors, comprising local and tribal health officials from across the country elected by their peers, and including ex officio members representing the National Association of Counties, of which NACCHO is an affiliate, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Health in All Policies (HIAP): Health in all Policies (HiAP) is a change in the systems that determine how decisions are made and implemented by local, state, and federal government to ensure that policy decisions have neutral or beneficial impacts on the determinants of health. HiAP emphasizes the need to collaborate across sectors to achieve common health goals, and is an innovative approach to the processes through which policies are created and implemented.

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The HiAP strategies being addressed are as follows: • • •

Developing and structuring cross-sector relationships Incorporating health into decision-making processes Integrating research, evaluation, and data systems

Implementation Phase one Overview: TCPH, UTA’s Institute of Urban Studies and the selected Dunbar student leadership team will jointly plan, educate, and engage in dialogue with civic and community residents. Using the strategies from Health In all Policies, Bunche Park will become a viable community development and planning project.

This phase involves joint collaboration with the actual community residents, students, health agencies and the University to develop and administer monthly training, education, and dialogue toward achieving the community goals and objectives. The following serves as an outline for this phase: • • • •

Over seven-months activities and training will be jointly planned, which will serve to promote and educate youth leadership in the community.

As part of the HiAP strategy, The environmental health topic will be the built environment.

According to the Dunbar High School student group, this environment is not conducive to healthy active living.

The scale of the project phase is the immediate neighborhood.

The scope will be to empower the identified community within the high school service area to affect their built environment proactively with the aim that by doing so they will have collective control of destiny that will result in improved health outcomes.

Goals, Objectives, Activities and Outputs: Goal 1. Provide the select Dunbar students with monthly trainings that will produce empowered young advocates that know how to affect their built and social environments. a. Provide Leadership training to students by February 28, 2015, including but not limited to empowerment strategies developed in collaboration with the school system and business leaders i) Professional presenter ii) Field trip to Fort Worth City Council meeting b. Provide Government 101 training to students by April 30, 2015, including but not limited to how development works and how to better engage their city leaders i) Professional presenter ii) Field trip UTA, Urban Institute, Tarrant County Public Health, North Central Texas Council of Governments c. Provide Health in All Policies training to students by June 30, 2015 i) Professional presenter ii) Field trip to Commissioners Court

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Goal 2. Dunbar students, in conjunction with the Institute of Urban Studies and TCPH, will evaluate proposed activities and develop an action plan to move their vision from conceptual to achievable activities with milestones by August 30, 2015. a. Design an evaluation form to capture the intrinsic motivation or internal desire to participate in the Bunche Park project. i) Research other evaluation forms on internal motivation and controlled destiny ii) Develop suggested questions for evaluation survey iii) Urban Institute vets and selects appropriate questions iv) Students participate in evaluation b. Design evaluation form(s) to capture the retained training information for leadership, government, and health in all policies. i) Institute of Urban Studies and TCPH develops evaluation form for students ii) Students participate in evaluation c. Develop an action plan of activities that will provide guidance for students to implement their plan. i) Students will consider all factors involved in the implementation stage, including but not limited to; review and incorporation of lessons learned from leadership training, government training, and health in all policies training ii) Students will research appropriate stakeholders and potential contacts iii) Students will create a potential meeting schedule with appropriate representatives iv) Students will develop document of proposed action steps Goal3. By the end of May, 2015 the select students at Dunbar High School will host a community event to share their social and physical environmental vision of Bunche Park with the surrounding residents, stakeholders and city government. a. Students, working in collaboration with the Institute of Urban Studies and TCPH, will create a social and physical environmental event to present their vision of Bunche Park, exhibit their leadership in community development and the inform the participants in the importance of including health in every program and/or policy concerning their community.

Achievable Results from Phase One Implementation Phase one of the project includes participation and evaluation of-action discussion and reporting about each training and field trip to ensure the correlation between the activity and goal. It also includes creating and implementing surveys at the one Visioning Event where the projected vision will be displayed in drawing. This effort will end with next steps for the future plan. A review of what worked, and what can be done further to ensure all the 7-months effort has been documented to share with other community/student groups. A video and/or published report of the project will also be included as final steps.

1. Provide the community with information to be their own empowered advocates to affect their built and social environments beyond just the community center a. We would share data/information relevant to their community b. We would host workshops on how to carry out some of their own research (from existing data) 12

c. We would host workshops to demonstrate how development works and how to better engage their city leaders d. To identify people in the community to carry the plan forward 2. We would develop temporary ways to show the community the high school students vision for the community center that could be permanent, such as a. Temporary plantings/landscaping b. Food trucks with healthier food options c. Outdoor music and art performances d. Projected image son screens of what could be e. Large posters showing the conceptual site plan and what the activities could be 3. Action and Evaluation Plan a. We would evaluate the community response to the students vision of the community center through in person interviews at the site b. We would develop an action plan with those identified who can carry the plan forward An evaluation plan with metrics will be created to be carried out by a joint effort of the TCPHD and the Institute after August 2015. Partnerships included in this project are the University of Texas at Arlington, Institute for Urban Studies, Fort Worth Independent School District- Paul Dunbar High School students, Black Chamber of Commerce, along with other community and civic leaders from the identified target area, many of whom work currently with Tarrant County Public Health and UTA Institute of Urban Studies on other projects.

Implementation Timeline: Month (2015) January February March April May June July August

Activity Selecting student team, orientation about project, planning training, community event, evaluation/next steps event Community leadership training; Government 101 Field trip-City Hall Planning Vision Event Community Vision Event Training/visit/Urban Institute HIAP training-TCPH Evaluation/Final Reporting/next steps!

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PHASE 11 The second implementation phase of this project is to identify funding sources for the final community center. A team will be identified at the end of phase one to discuss, plan and implement phasing and construction of the project. Once the project is installed, a post occupancy evaluation will be used to develop and measure the projects social, environment, educational and public health impacts.

PHASE III One of the outcomes of this project is to create a project template to be used throughout the region for community development. The Institute of Urban Studies will develop the template based on lessons learned toward improving other communities through collaboration in planning and implementation.

The Dunbar Youth Leadership Team can serve in these other teams in training toward creating social bridges and empowering other youth to do the same.

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APPENDIX Below are notes and images from the initial high school summer camp lead by faculty and staff from the Institute of Urban Studies and the School of Urban and Public Affairs at UT Arlington: Other ideas were: Remodel Village Creek Apartments Bring back water park to Bunch Park Attract finer fast food like Chipotle and Five Guys Library Grocery Store like Aldi Improve Football field

Images of first concept plan and input:

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