Penn grad works to make Emerald Park shine

One Penn grad is helping to turn an abundance of dirt, weeds, rocks and litter into a field of green grass, an outpouring of plants and a number of tall trees.

This transformation is the ultimate goal of Friends of Emerald Park, a community based organization aiming to revitalize the worn down Emerald Park, located in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Katrina Rakowski, a 2012 College of Liberal and Professional Studies graduate, established the group to combat the park’s cycle of falling into disarray and then being revitalized.

“There was a ‘save the park program because the owners of the lot decided they would sell it to developers” a few years ago, Rakowski said. “Everybody came together, and the neighborhood association … raised $35,000 to take the lot back.”

Since then, however, the park has fallen apart despite numerous cleanups, due to the constant turnover of the locals who maintain the park, Rakowski said.

“It’s become a haven for drug sales, drug use, prostitution and homeless people,” Rakowski said. “I was afraid where I was, afraid to leave my house.”

Rakowski started Friends of Emerald Park in August 2012. It currently has around 55 members.

“I wanted the community as a collective entity to combat the behavior that we really don’t want to see around here — that’s really the biggest part of the park and the thing I feel strongly about,” Rakowski said. “The emphasis for starting the friends group was using and beautifying the space in order to build better communities for everyone.”

The group meets to discuss design ideas for a new garden in the park and to do frequent cleanups of the park every five to six weeks.

“We pick things that have floated around up, replace the rocks around the trees, mow the lawn and clean up waste,” Rakowski said.

The Friends of Emerald Park group also received the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Green Machine Grant.

“It works to revitalize neighborhood parks with community groups and redesign existing spaces,” Green Machine Coordinator at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Nic Esposito said. “It ensures that the design is exactly what the community group wants and that they can maintain it and utilize it.”

Esposito, who is a resident of Kensington, said that the grant was created in 2011 and has now been given to 29 parks in the area.

Esposito further explained that the grant encourages a step-by-step process to ensure that the community is engaged and happy with the end result.

The grant is not a monetary reward, according to Rakowski.

“It provides services and plant materials — like workshops to educate people so when seasons come and go after the program we can continue to maintain the park,” Rakowski said. “This way if someone new doesn’t know how to sheet mulch, but another neighbor knows how to do it they can help that person with it.”

The project of renewing this park is a joint effort and required a certain amount of energy and leadership, Esposito said.

“My wife and I run Emerald Street Urban Farm right across from the park and have been active in the park for a while,” Esposito said. “We needed some energy getting in there and Katrina stepped up to be that person. She saw everything we were doing with the farm and stepped up to put together the Friends group.”

Erin Kelly, another Kensington resident, explained why she helps out in the park.

“It’s because I use it — I take my dog there and it’s one of the few green spaces … I have super cheap rent and do my bit to elevate the few places that are nice,” Kelly said. “I think it’s going to be maintained now because every year we see more people with more interest — they want to preserve it, they see the potential the neighborhood has and there is enough energy that it can be sustained because there’s a handful of people just pitching in.”

Ultimately it comes down to the time and effort of the members.

“This is a community that really loves this park and enjoy having structure without the politics,” Rakowski said. “It’s just a group of us wanting to do good for the park.”

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