Our work at NYC Parks
New York City has one of the largest urban parks systems in the US. Parks take up nearly 14% of the city’s land, providing critical open space for residents. New urban parks initiatives around the country are raising awareness about the potential for parks to do even more, bringing people together and bridging divides. Through our work in parks, we aim to be a part of that movement here in NYC.
Since 2015, Street Lab has partnered with NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) to bring its unique portable learning environments to parks designated for investment as a part of the city’s Community Parks Initiative (CPI). Through CPI, the city is working with communities to create thriving public spaces through capital improvements, enhanced public programming, and capacity-building work with local groups to care for and better use parks in low-income, dense, and growing neighborhoods that have not seen significant capital investment in a generation. More recently, we focused our collaboration on some public pools, where thousands of New York City kids receive free meals daily.
We currently schedule most of our work in parks during the summer months when kids are out of school, targeting low-income neighborhoods where the risk of “summer slide” is also greatest. Contact us if you know a park where you’d like us to pop-up, and see our calendar to learn more about our park schedule.
Our work in NYC parks has been generously supported in the past in part by Leaves of Grass Fund, and in Manhattan by Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer.
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Blog posts about our work in NYC Parks:
Starting a conversation about play
Leslie is participating in a year-long working group focused on "learning through play" with practitioners and researchers convened by the Lego Foundation. At a recent meeting, the group discussed creating a large mural in Philadelphia (inspired by artist Candy Chang)...
Uni reading room in Lower Manhattan at Washington Market Park
The Uni visited Washington Market Park this weekend! Thanks to our host Friends of Washington Market Park and partner Green Below 14.
Uni reading room at Amp Lit Festival, Hudson River Park
The Uni portable reading room landed at the second annual AmpLit Festival, a co-production of Lamprophonic and Summer on the Hudson (NYC Parks) which brings authors of all backgrounds, styles, and levels of recognition to center stage on the W. 70th St Pier in...
Uni begins residency in White Park, East Harlem
The Uni Project launched a one month residency in historic White Park, named for civil rights activist and author, Walter White (1893-1955). We'll be here four Friday afternoons starting May 19, assisted by students from the Young Women's Leadership School of...
Uni EXPLORE cart returns to Chinatown
The Uni Project was back in Chinatown's Sara D. Roosevelt Park this weekend with our EXPLORE cart created in partnership with the Harlem-based HYPOTHEkids. The portable science lab and biological drawing activity is a runaway hit in this location. Made possible with...
New EXPLORE cart brings STEAM learning to NYC Chinatown
The Uni Project returned to Chinatown's Sara D. Roosevelt Park this weekend and brought something new: an EXPLORE cart created in partnership with the Harlem-based HYPOTHEkids for their STEAM the Streets initiative. People gathered around microscopes and magnifying...