Build a Skatepark in NA 101

Teenagers are powerful. And when they have a dream, and they are not afraid to talk about it to everyone they meet, big things can happen. In the fall of 2009, teenagers in the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition's UNITY Youth Leadership Program expressed a desire for a skatepark in North Adams, MA. We talked about it in our program sessions, researched how communities go about building parks, and then started talking. Our group met with City Councilors, with Mayor Richard Alcombright, with a local police officer, and with staff from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA). And a cool thing happened: everyone was excited by the idea of a skatepark.

City officials supported the idea and challenged Youth Leadership Program members to find funding and demonstrate community support. We got to work. We met with staff at Mass MoCA, who expressed a desire to help identify artists to design the park with input from local skaters/BMXers and skatepark engineers (How cool is this? A big, skateable work of art?!). We visited schools and found that 430 out of 450 high school students and staff surveyed wish to see a skatepark built in North Adams.

We searched for funding, looking to state, federal, and private resources. While there were many possible funding routes, the Pepsi Refresh Everything contest quickly revealed itself as our best bet (follow the link to learn how it works!). The contest, while more competitive than most other funding routes, could provide $250K--an amount that could allow us to build a good park. The other thing we liked about the contest? The winners are determined by popular vote. North Adams might not be a big city, but we are a tight-knit community and we are very well networked.

So, we entered the contest. We found out on August 1st that we'll be in the running for the September round of voting. Throughout August, we worked energetically to rally support and spread the word. 50 people attended our two volunteer meetings in late August and agreed to help get out the vote in September. We arranged for feature articles in The North Adams Transcript, The Berkshire Eagle, The Advocate Weekly, and iberkshires.com. We've started flyering and having tables with info at community events. Once September hits, we'll be kicking all of this into overdrive. If we win, we'll have $250 to build a really cool park with skateable artwork. The location is TBD, pending conversations with city officials and Mass MoCA staff. We'll keep you posted! In the meantime, please visit us here often to hear about our progress and learn about ways you can help!