food gardens with New Design and East Side

In 2008 and 2009 Open Road created food producing school gardens with students from New Design and East Side. Students raised collards, garlic, sweet potato greens, peas and herbs on the roof and in school gardens in the Lower East Side. This was served in the New Design cafeteria and on the roof for skateboarding classes + events.

skate spots we're working on this winter

Keeping swales + permeable cobblestones clean so stormwater drains work at open road park

an open road is always changing

winter garden with cornucopia and new design

At Open Road, kids work side by side with architects, artists, writers, scientists, and professional athletes. Green areas are integrated with active sports, reading areas and skate ramps with slides and art. Ponds, sand and dirt are playable as well as respected living systems. Organic food grown in a skate park is served by the cafeteria staff. Instead of fences and signs, suggestive design  tells you where the fast ball playing and skateboarding spots are. This is the leafy green area good for growing food, reading, and birdwatching.

Since kids love to play in water our water systems are open and integrated into the playground. Ponds are connected with underground cement holding tanks. These lead to deep ponds that fill & run dry. Kids play in the ponds, which change daily as the water levels change. Through participatory design the ponds and streams change direction as kids design new channels, waterfalls, and retention basins. All of the stormwater at Open Road Park is channeled into an 8' deep 60' wide bowl, open to skateboards, BMX, tag, and peoplewatching.      Come play with us. openroadpark@gmail.com

OASIS Maps

Skateboarders, urban gardeners, artists; check this out. OASIS lets you click on any piece of property in NYC and see the owner, political representatives, how it's used, who takes care of it, toxic contaminants, natural areas, and much more. Open Road has been working on this collaborative effort with a huge team for many years. See the website here and see an article about the collaborative here.

New Rooftop Art

Art by Royce Bannon, H2O, Billy, Paula, Olu, more.

halloween clips from runmygame.com

Save the Unisphere

check out a movie by clicking the photo, and sign the petition online
check out our proposal spearheaded by Rodney Torres after the jump

We're supporting local efforts led by Rodney Torres to add new skateboarding areas to Flushing Meadows Corona Park. These include a new skateboarding area under the Van Wyck Expressweay, new skateable art benches along the park's winding pathways,  and a new skate plaza near the Unisphere.



Friends of Flushing Meadows
Flushing Meadows Corona Park is a beautiful park with skateable plazas known around the world. The Unisphere, the car free paths, fields, and dry fountains are filled with people biking, skateboarding, walking, and playing volleyball and soccer. Winding paths, open fields, and dry fountains promote a wide variety of activities not available in other nearby parks.

But now the Unisphere is closed to skateboarding, without any new skate park alternative nearby. So Friends of Flushing Meadows has been created to mobilize the community. We believe this park will be even more popular year round when the community is more involved in care and improvement. Skateboarder advocates are taking a lead in the Friends of Flushing Meadows, and are involving soccer, volleyball, and cricket players, bikers, and families in park improvements & supporting the Parks Department’s work in our park.

We are designing a beautiful new skate plaza near the Unisphere and need your support to make it happen. 

In addition to this new skate plaza, there are other areas of the park we'd like to open to recreation. The area under the Van Wyck now is just designed for cars, but people informally skate and play there. These areas could be made beautiful and safe recreational spots with a combination of professional design/build and DIY community efforts, like Burnside and FDR.

The Unisphere and Flushing Meadows have been a home for the local and worldwide skateboarding community for over 20 years, breeding new generations of talent, keeping kids motivated, progressing, and productively active. Skateboarders document their skills for skateboarding publications and video productions and these promote the park in a positive light. This coverage will help attract funding to the Parks Department for maintenance and capital projects, and for programming, events, and education for the Friends of Flushing Meadows.

There is great interest in the worldwide skateboarding community in the Unisphere, which is being returned to a prior life as a fountain despite its vastly more popular current use: active recreation and skateboarding. A petition is filled with signatures to reopen it, at least seasonally, for skateboarding. If the Unisphere itself can't be open to skateboarding, the petition shows how many skateboarders care about it, so there will be official support for a real skate park within close view. Many people consider skateboarding at Flushing Meadows, on the winding paths and around the Unisphere, as a cultural heart of the park.

Beyond the Unisphere, skateboarding and bicycling take place all over the park, in winding paths that extend around Meadow Lake and connect to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. There are paths around Willow Lake, in a natural wetlands area in the little-used far southern section of the park. Recreational playing fields and playgrounds in the park are used for activities that reflect the vast cultural mix of Queens like soccer, cricket, volleyball, biking and skateboarding.

Please get involved in three projects Friends of Flushing Meadows is working on now: 1) to design the fountain jets so the Unisphere can be open to skateboarding when the fountain is dry, 2) to add skate art + benches along the winding pathways, and 3) to create a new skatepark in Flushing Meadows and make areas now filled with cars new recreational space. All of these areas will be multi-use and welcoming to everyone in Flushing Meadows Park in Corona, Queens. Contact us at openroadpark@gmail.com

skateboarders organizing at the hellraiser

Save the Date: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, NYC

2nd Annual Halloween Hellraiser on November 1, 2009.

The second annual Halloween Hellraiser is set for Sunday November 1, 2009, from 12 noon to 6 pm at Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street at Essex, Manhattan. Skateboarding, music, art, literature, and food.

Presented by Run my Game and Open Road of New York. All ages. Free. Check back here for updates.Click here for rooftop slideshow.

And if enough of you volunteer we can do free Skate School at the Hellraiser like we did at  afropunk

Partners: Sign up now to run your own table. Your table is FREE if you provide art, literacy, or music education services. Promote your group, reach new kids, meet new people. You may not charge for any services at this event, but you may sell your own books, writing, art, or music at your table. No cost. 1000+ come to this event. Join us.

see the ESPN story about our trip with the kids

above, Noguchi unrealized NYC Playground, Riverside Park

above left + center Noguchi unrealized NYC playgrounds.
above right Lily Yeh, Philadelphia, unfenced 5' high concrete

above left rooftop pyramid. center grass maze.
right giant slide, Smith playground in Philadelphia.

above left + center Noguchi unrealized slideable pyramids, NYC
above right public park in San Francisco

left, giant slide in Japan, bikeable hills, skateable mounds in Europe.
NYC is far behind in allowing public art you can play with.
Are we a cultural capital or not?

How do we get from this...............to this?

email us at openroadpark@gmail.com

Billy Rohan, NYC Parks Commissioner Benepe, Paula & June

We work closely with the Departments of Parks and Education to identify spots for skateboarding, raise sponsorship funding, lead a participatory design process with skaters, and build the project. Then we support stewardship activities and events in the completed parks.
Contact us at openroadpark@gmail.com

Welcome to Open Road. Our mission is free public places and programs with youth. We create gardens, parks, murals, and public events, with free programs in architecture, writing, art, music, and youth research. Come see us at Open Road Park,12 st between 1st & A, Manhattan. Write to us: openroadpark@gmail.com. Your donations are tax deductible; we are a tax exempt 501(c) 3 non-profit, incorporated 1990 in New York State.

Team Pain Skate Art at Manhattan Bridge

click the red piece on the upper right to see Jefferson Pang's album

VIMBY - 12th & A Skatepark

tony hawk in the white house/open road outside the white house advocating for the legalization of skateboarding in DC. live twitter updates @skateable

obama with tony hawk and other founding fathers. tony in the center with skate shoes, black suit. Pictures from twitter @tonyhawk

Write to us about youth advocacy. Send us movies. Write to us about skateboarding. Send pictures. Come to our Creative Writing workshops. Volunteer to advocate for and build skate spots, advocate for youth, and support free youth programs.

We've been building parks for 20yrs and we've never seen anything like this. Right now kids want to skateboard, and they are willing to work for it, so they've started to convert our playgrounds into skate spots. These spots are skateable parks, not segregated skate parks, with community gardens, art, music, and youth culture, open to all.


tony hawk getting ready to meet with president barack obama

Come to some of these spots and volunteer, write to us about your advocacy projects, upload advocacy videos to youtube and send us links to your youth service projects. Participatory projects with youth leadership are the wave of the future, please send us yours. openroadpark@gmail.com

The Pursuit of Happiness

The Pursuit of Happiness
One day Billy called and said Here's an idea. Maybe next week when school's out, spring break, we skate in front of the White House. I said Yes. Because I always say Yes no matter what the question is then I sort it out later. It's why I'm careful who my friends are. Do you want to do it legally, with a permit? Yes, I have to, Billy said. I can't get arrested.

So I start finding out what it takes. First I need to figure out what DC is. I know it's a district, but if it's not a state, does the city have a city government? Who handles permits? I know that sounds stupid, but I didn't know. So I call the National Parks Service. Yes, you would talk to us about permits for demonstrations or sports events in Lafayette Park in front of the White House. But you can't skateboard there. It's grass.

What about the sidewalk? You can't get a permit for the sidewalk. But anyway you can't skateboard on the sidewalks on DC. You can't skateboard anywhere unless it's permitted. Like a skatepark.

What about a demonstration in the park, and we skateboard in the street? The street would be the district. The district you mean like the District of Columbia district? Yes. Do you know who I would ask there? DOT.

But, back to the park, could we have a permit for a demonstration about skateboarding in the park? Yes. And could we build stages, and could we skate on those stages? I don't know. That's a good question. Let me give you to my supervisor. Good luck.

The supervisor is interested. She wants drawings of a skateable stage. How many people would we expect? A thousand come to our events in NYC.

(to be continued)

Photo courtesy Tony Hawk Foundation

tony hawk with open road and manhattan bridge skateboarders. SteveR@5boro set this up with Tony, thanks Steve and 5boro!

Open Road Rooftop June 2009

mini mania 2008
rooftop rampage 2008
rampage 2009
and then some movies for you of some of ourfriends
gonz 1
gonz 2
happy people

June 13, 11am to 4pm, FREE

King of Spring, April 2009, Open Road Uptown

photo courtesy runmygame.com

Manhattan Bridge LES survey results.

Overwhelming interest in skate art, concrete, variety, and a simple skate spot design. Billy Rohan and Steve Rodriguez of 5boro custom designed a layout with Team Pain. Thanks for answering the survey. We got 1500 hits on the survey on official new york. Tim Payne of Team Pain will be up in NYC to custom install.

Billy Rohan's "playground in a box"

Playground in a Box
5 people, a shipping container, a set of tools, & moveable equipment.

click the photo to see a movie with Open Road's playground in a box design. At the end of the day Billy Rohan puts away a moveable skatepark (along with the skateboards & helmets we lend out free) inside a 20' shipping container.
Click here for Open Road Skateboarding Phys Ed program.


we're custom designing this concept for another NYC location this summer, with multi-use skateable ramps + slides, benches, and a stage (above). Click for skateboard phys ed program.

Street Games & King of Spring in Harlem Sat April 18. Click image for info. Apply to volunteer at event openroadpark@gmail.com

open road. who we are. what we do.

top photo: public art youth crew, billy (skateboarding) tyriq randy

above: charles ahlem dito marcos nikios karel olu paula (founder)
below: anthony (music)
we create programs with youth based on what they want to do. Right now we do participatory planning, public art, skateable green playground design, music, art, food waste composting, youth led research, mapping, advocacy, activism.

DJ Class at East Side Community HS: Open Road/Apostle Sound

alejandro polanco, wilkins vidal, diamond rodriguez, david velez, corey pena: Open Road playground mural crew youth leaders.

Natural Playground Design

parks dept bank by billy rohan

Sweet Potato Vines in the Rooftop Greenhouse

vines will shade the skateboard ramps

skateable art

skateable art designed by DOT (above)

skateable art at open road park designed by billy rohan

skateable art in ikea red hook photo billy rohan

Skateable art in paris photo billy rohan

Skateable art in paris photo billy rohan

manhattan bridge skatepark

With design and construction managed by Open Road, this park is being created by skaters. Get involved. This is the first NYC project funded by the Tony Hawk Foundation. Construction to begin Spring 2009.

Summary of survey results: Most important thing to people is flow and the bad surface. People overall prefer cement obstacles, with and without steel edging. People want a variety of obstacles, plaza style, mix of street and transition, pool coping. Many people brought up need for building up speed, quarter pipes, banks.

check this link for pictures of skateboarders in the park drawing designs, answering the survey, conducting interviews, measuring the site, and drawing their skatepath to Manhattan Bridge Skatepark

skate/music fri feb 20, 12-6

open road east river skate/music fri feb 20 12-6 at the Blue Oval, across from the domino factory, north of the williamsburg bridge

Open Road Park in 1990 and Today

Olu and Ahlem's design team: Manhattan Bridge Skate Park & Allen/Pike Street

Skaters and neighbors build scale models of Manhattan Bridge skate park, Allen and Pike Street, and bike/skate traffic lane designs. They add traffic lights, pedestrian overpasses, seating and water fountains to the Allen and Pike Street malls to create a corridor linking the skate park with the rest of the city to the north.

Olu and Ahlem's team


See this link for their final presentation of their designs to Leroy Street Architects, the Parks Department, New Design High School staff and students, Hester Street, and Open Road.

And see this link for Ahlem's, Olu's and the rest of the team's drawings and writing in their proposal for the Allen Street/Pike Street Malls & Manhattan Bridge Skatepark

Moveable Marble Ledges: moveable with a forklift. FAQ: yes that is Billy Rohan on the forklift.

If skateboarders want to use these as marble skateable ledges they can be professionally cut and placed within an overall design within the Manhattan Bridge Skatepark. They can be joined together by a professional stone mason so they can be long ledges.

open road art & playground murals

open road art programs: Paula

Open Road Skateboarding PhysEd Standards

Students understand and demonstrate movement concepts and principles in a variety of movement forms: Skateboarding requires self awareness, balance and physical control. Students learn to walk, push, glide, skate forward and backward, hop and jump (ollie), all of which demonstrate different movement concepts and principles. Momentum, inertia, friction, slope, incline and other concepts are learned naturally while skateboarding, in a fun, experiential and challenging atmosphere.

Students use interpersonal communication skills that respect differences and demonstrate responsible and social behavior: In Open Road skateboarding physical education classes students depend upon one another, learn from each other, work on skills in a group and work independently. Students learn to respect one another's physical capabilities and differences. Skateboarding as a group requires students to demonstrate responsible and social behavior by respecting one another's physical space, learning not to skateboard into one another, enjoying the achievements of others, and learning to assist one another in mastering the skills. In skateboarding culture when a skateboarder falls in public others show respect. Students in the class quickly adopt this standard.

Students exhibit a physically active way of life and understand that physical activity provides opportunities for enjoyment, challenge, self expression, stress reduction and employment: By participating in Open Road skateboarding classes and being encouraged to skateboard on their own after school, and at citywide skateboarding events with their families, students participate in a physically active way of life. Skateboarding is naturally enjoyable and fun for children. Learning the sport is challenging, and by increasing the skills learned, the skater is continually challenged to learn more. Skating encourages self-expression by teaching the students at their own pace and allowing them to create their own choreography. The physical and mental focus required to skate well, along with the sensation of freedom felt gliding, reduces stress. The career and employment opportunities provided by skating are evident from the sponsorship relationships associated with skateboarding events, and through exposure of students to skating instructors – professionals who earn a living by skating and teaching the sport.

Students demonstrate competency in physical skills with proficiency in several: Skateboarding requires competency in a variety of physical skills. At the conclusion of the school year, the students are able to demonstrate competency in numerous physical skills on the skateboard, including standing, pushing, gliding, skating forward and backward, balancing on one foot, hopping, jumping, turning forward and backward, and navigating safely through the playground.

Students demonstrate safe and responsible personal and social behavior in physical activity settings: In Open Road skateboarding classes, students learn and are able to demonstrate safe behavior while using a skateboard. This includes the proper way to wear and care for the equipment, the safe way to fall and get up, and how to distinguish between safe and unsafe skateboarding behavior. All of the skills learned will include the proper and safe way to execute each maneuver, with discussion of the possible consequences of not executing the maneuvers safely. Students learn safe ways to assist someone who has fallen, to avoid bumping into other skateboarders, and to respectfully alert other skaters who may not be aware of their proximity.

Rooftop Playground Designs

To see rooftop playground designs click slideshow to the right

open road food waste compost bins. park slope food coop composts food waste in the hot box

see this link for a guide to building hot box food waste compost bins


John Decker managing the Open Road Hot Box set up at the Garden of Union, Brooklyn. The Hot Box system at this garden composts food waste from the Park Slope Food Coop, which has over 8,000 members.



ambient temp is 48 degrees, compost temp is 140.
here is a report by cornell university on food waste composting in NYC, featuring the open road hot box. the report is a pdf so you need the free adobe reader. you can download it free here.

Open Road of New York volunteers designing Manhattan Bridge Skatepark

Thomas Greene Park in Brooklyn

Open Road built moveable skate obstacles & donated them. They were up for a couple of weeks & hundreds of kids came. This along with listening sessions by the Parks Department where the entire room asked for a skateable park here is part of a powerful movement for change. Photo Right: Ramp/skate armor: $300, Ledge/skate armor & steel: $1,000. Photo Left: Spine $2,000 in skate armor/steel

Art at Open Road Park

skate event: Brooklyn

serving food from the garden

Community board 3 parks committee: unanimous vote in favor of new skateparks Sep 11 2008

Manhattan side of the east river under the Williamsburg bridge

Urban Greenhouse Design: both of these have been up over 10yrs in NYC

Left: Open Road Park Greenhouse is 20' long by 16' wide and fits a regular class of about 30. 12th St. between 1st & A, NYC

Right: City As School Greenhouse (on the right as you enter the school) was designed and built in partership with CAS, Open Road, the Dept of Sanitation, and Coop Tech HS. It fits 30+ people.
Clarkson and Varick, Manhattan.

Collecting soil samples

Science class labeling soil samples in the greenhouse

Manhattan Bridge Skatepark team study the site

Growing food for the school cafeteria

skate the mini ramp at open road (12 st btw 1 & A)

Tyriq Halloway, Dito Gil, Adam Zhu and the rest of the crew rebuilt a recycled ramp w/ Billy Rohan

In such a short time this volunteer crew has done so much for our park. For their earliest work see the link below. "In other Acapulco Gold news, over the winter AG and team skater Billy Rohan got together with Open Road of New York, The Gonz (Krooked), Vans, and Supreme to open a skatepark at 12th and A in Downtown NYC" http://hypebeast.com/2008/03/acapulco-gold-swirl-caps-12-and-skate-park/

Manhattan Bridge skatepark crew with Tony Hawk

The Tony Hawk Foundation is funding their first NYC Skatepark. 5boro's Steve Rodriguez made this happen and Open Road is managing design and construction with skaters from all over NYC.
Over 100 skaters have contributed ideas to participatory design sessions, shown up at Parks Department and Community Board meetings, and presented with Tony Hawk (above)

Billy Rohan's Phys Ed classes at Open Road Park

The kids build their skateboards and learn skateboarding
skills for Phys Ed credit at East Side Community High School.
check this link for pictures of the kids using their boards:
http://participatorydesign.blogspot.com/2008/04/skateboarding-physical-education.html

Krush Groove

Skate Brochure

Preschool Playground Design

see this link for preschool playground design ideas that integrate natural areas with play





Natural light reflected on low-VOC paint. VOC's
(Volatile Organic Compounds) in commercial paint
can be triggers for asthma and allergies. We designed
this preschool with moveable play pieces, recycled
stone floors and mats. Children can move everything.

The water based reflective paints in the murals bounce
sunlight into the well ventilated room. These pictures
are taken with natural light from two small windows.

NDHS students build ramps w/ Open Road

Ramps created by Paula Hewitt, Billy Rohan
and Frosty with New Design High School students


the ramps were taken apart, moved, and
custom rebuilt for the roof in one day. see
photos of the finished ramps below

Open Road Rooftop Rampage

top photo Jay Maldonado (still photo

from video at www.runmygame.com)

all other photos Paula Hewitt

Sound Sculptures

http://www.sonicarchitecture.com/

photo credits: Bill and Mary Buchen

Design & Build: Rooftop Skatepark

...
We built recycled moveable skate ramps,
made from the same ramps we used for the
King of Spring event at Open Road Park.

The rooftop is shaped like an E

The E runs north/south a whole city block. At first we thought we'd use the
center part of the E (above left). This location was
rejected in talks with Scott, the principal (above right).
There would be too much noise in offfice rooms
used after school under this section of the roof


This section of the roof, to the north,
is better. Enough room to skate,
no offices below. So we moved in the
skate ramps, in pieces, and rebuilt them
with New Design student volunteers.

Open Road Rooftop Skatepark 350 Grand

http://www.runmygame.com/ Rooftop Rampage June 14
photo Jay Maldonado

Mark Gonzales and Jill Herman. Photo Billy Rohan.
Jill Herman is the legendary founder of East Side
Community High School, and consultant to principals
Scott Conti, Paul Thompson, Mark Federman. Mark Gonzales
is the legendary mentor, skater, supporter of skate programs
and artist. Open Road is fortunate to have both on the team.

New Design HS Summer 08 Public Space

Potential projects to create this summer:
A. participatory design proposals for parks (photos/text/models)
B. objects that could be in parks (mural/plants/sewn/paper/photos/soil)
(temporary/permanent)

photos credits: Top row Hester Street Collaborative and Livingwalls.com

Middle row Paula Hewitt. Bottom row lego.com, mark gonzalez/Addidas, P. Hewitt

Open Road at Krush Groove

click to enlarge. text your names if you want id
ramp painting by S. Maldonado.

Open Road Rooftop Skatepark

ramps by Frosty, Billy Rohan, Paula Hewitt, & New Design

students. Ramp painting by S. Maldonado

Live Grass and Ramps

Graphic Novel bios of Open Road people

Rooftop Films with Open Road

Open Road Park. Photo by Jun.

...and now, another season of Rooftop Films at
Open Road project sites in June 2008.
http://www.rooftopfilms.com/08-summerseries.html
for Open Road Rooftop shows, Grand & Essex, Manhattan.

Rooftop Films

Paper 3D models Play Equipment

Playground Murals

Playground Murals

skateable art

  

Loose Parts: grass, ramp slides, climbers

Dads, moms, and neighbors make all kinds of

"loose parts" safe: Moveable skate ramps,

changeable monkey bars, & clean soft grass.

Allen Street

ThinkTank/New Design www.newdesignhigh.com

....
In the design above, left, skate ramps
coexist with gardens, benches, & trees.

In the design above, right, X's represent
basketball courts & skateboard ramps and
purple lines mean "remove street".

For more on Hester Street Collaborative
see http://www.hesterstreet.org/



...

Mother's Day

Nando and Johnny hosted a mothers' day BBQ
at Open Road Park. Tito donated moveable
monkey bars from a preschool that discarded them.

Open Road Park murals

mural art

hot box food waste composting

open road designed & patented the hot box, a food waste compost bin. we use the hot box to make compost to grow fresh produce for public school cafeterias, fruit trees, and landscaping around our skateable parks. see this link for a guide to building a hot box so you can produce your own rich compost. see this link for pictures of the hot box and the park slope food coop members.

April 2008 interview NYRAG

In an interview by the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers, Barbara Greenberg of the Levitt Foundation discusses assessing youth development program outcomes with Paula Hewitt Amram of Open Road, a Levitt grantee

NYRAG: Paula, can you give me some background on Open Road, and tell me a little about the kind of outcomes you are hoping to achieve?

Paula Hewitt Amram: Open Road was founded in 1990, and is based in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, though we work citywide. When we first started, it was to take over a specific vacant lot that was being used for drug dealing. That established the way Open Road functions: working closely with families and staying involved long-term. In 1993, we took over a contaminated homeless encampment. It’s now called Open Road Park. The young people who started this project with us were then ages 11 and 13, and are now program directors. Our core mission is to develop these relationships and through them develop outdoor environmental projects that have tremendous public use. Open Road Park is now a one-acre public park with a basketball court, greenhouse, and a turtle pond. It also serves as the home-base for all our programs.

NYRAG: And Barbara, how is this a good fit for Levitt, and helping to further your mission?

Barbara Greenberg: The Levitt Foundation is a relatively small foundation, giving less than $1 million per year. Our focus is young people ages 6 to 18 in the five boroughs and on Long Island. We encourage children and youth to learn about their environment and improve and protect it in their own neighborhoods. We prefer to fund programs that are youth empowered, so kids identify and take action on issues that are important to them.

NYRAG: How do you set up your evaluation program to see if a particular grantee is meeting those goals?

BG: We obtain evidence that the young people have acquired knowledge, that they’ve improved or protected their environment, and that they’ve practiced leadership and citizenship skills. We strive to be accountable
and use each grant dollar wisely. However, we aren’t able to justify costly outside evaluations on every project. What we’ve done is build monitoring and evaluation into our whole grantmaking cycle. For instance, when we solicited a proposal from Open Road, we asked them to describe their goals and define the measures of success by which both of us could judge their achievements. Once a grant was approved, our letter of agreement restated these measures of success, and when they make their reports to the Levitt Foundation, they gauge their progress against these measures. Similarly, when we site visit we see how much of this has been achieved. In these ways, evaluation becomes an integral part of the entire grant cycle.

PHA: I can give you an example of one of our long-term projects that Levitt supports. It is called Prove It with Improvement, and we had very targeted goals because the young people had already chosen to work on specific environments. These were the same youth who had
been involved with the project before we wrote the proposal, and they’d already designed the project in a park in the Lower East Side. They wanted to reopen a locked gate, reopen a locked bathroom, and improve the environment where it had been poorly cared for. So that was one of the evaluations: asking whether they completed these very specific goals. We also said we’d be working with 20 young people and at least 30 adults from the general public. We had quantitative measures like these, plus qualitative measures like leadership development. We take attendance every day, and we know if the same people are coming on a regular basis, and if they were there in 2005, 2006, and 2007. We require that adult staff do extensive daily writing and keep journals. These journals are also part of our reports. In addition, many of our staff meet directly with the Levitt Foundation during site visits and are responsible for creating presentations.

BG: The Levitt Foundation is interested in whether we achieved the environmental impact we wanted. However, we also want to know whether the kids are practicing leadership skills and building their confidence. We expect many of these young people will become the future stewards of their urban environment, but we also anticipate these hands-on learning experiences will serve them well in whatever path they choose.

PHA: One of our evaluation methods is to do surveys of the surrounding neighborhoods. We found there’s been a change in people’s expectations during the 15 years we’ve been working in the Lower East Side. There is more of an expectation environmental projects are going to be more racially and culturally diverse. Not only is there an increase in the number of these programs, but there is also more demand for them. The city has a program where it grades parks, so this is another way for us to evaluate our work. Are the parks getting a better letter grade since we’ve been involved? Asking this question enables us to do external as well as internal evaluation.

Paula Hewitt Amram is the Founder/Executive Director of Open Road, which designs and creates free, public, youth-led projects through participatory design, including public gardens and parks, green roofs, mapping websites, public murals, and youth-led research. Since 1989, Ms. Amram has consulted on programs for the New York City Department of Education, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and environmental and youth organizations. Another NYRAG member that funds Open Road is The Hite Foundation. http://www.openroadny.org

Barbara R. Greenberg, MSW, is President of The Philanthropic Group, an organization that provides consulting and management services forfoundations. Greenberg facilitated a decision-making process to assist the Levitt Foundation board in reaching consensus on a grantmaking focus. She designed its grantmaking strategy, and has managed its grantmaking program for ten years. Ms. Greenberg has more than 25 years’ experience in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors, in diverse roles including Executive Director of a family foundation, Manager of a national corporate grantmaking program, and Executive Director of a countywide nonprofit counseling center. Her experience also includes serving as a board member with NYRAG, Grantmakers in Aging, the American Society on Aging, and the American Littoral Society.
bgreenberg@philanthropicgroup.com

skateable art boardwalk

http://mail.google.com/mail/?tab=qm&zx=sqysqzdpmiuw&shva=1#inbox/11b6a8932dbb2228

Food waste composting with kids

Afterschool design

Create a regular schedule and a well organized room so the children develop a familiarity and sense of comfort with their environment. Begin and end sessions in "circle", where you plan and reflect.

1. Reflect light into the room with mirrors and light colored murals. Allow free air flow through the room. Grow live plants, Keep washable surfaces clean. Avoid fabrics and rugs (allergy and asthma triggers)

2. Use moveable mats, shelves, play areas.

3. Color code areas for free play, art, reading, math, plants, kitchen, dress up. Paint or decorate each area with a color theme. Create a map of the room with these colors.

4. Have a familiar schedule that the room fits. Circle, snack, free play, rest time, outdoor play are all familiar and comforting. Create a "circle" area with shelves stocked with calendars, reading and math games, musical instruments, large story books.

Make a list of things you need and break them into categories:

1. Things you can buy used from thrift stores, flea markets, garage sales and Goodwill. These include hard (cleanable) toys like blocks, trucks, legos, kitchen play areas, washable rubber mats, plastic and rubber numbers and letters, and hard plastic or rubber animals. Wash everything with soap and hot water even if it seems clean to you.

2. Things people will donate. Make a list of things you need and post it everywhere. For example: art supplies (scrap paper, washed out tin cans for holding paint and brushes, rubber bands, string, fabric), books (specify ages).

3. Things you should buy new. a) Indoor moveable play areas. Soft vinyl covered foam works well for all ages. It can double as a play area and a rest and reading area. These should be new (for safety and cleanliness). b) educational supplies, like calendars, flash cards, puzzles. Montessori materials are often good, and check out science supply houses. Here is a comparison shopping web site. Just search for "play mats" or "educational supplies" http://www.nextag.com/

survey results

In the box, write details about the specific kind of obstacle you want. If you don't like one of the choices of materials tell us that or just don't answer it.

Each person's set of answers has a line above and below it. Some people didn't answer all questions. That means they didn't like the material (or the question).

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a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - up ledge

b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - wave, snakerun

c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - ledges, varied height, minimum 8-10 feet long

d. steel obstacles - none

e. wood obstacles with ramp armor/skate lite type of covering - pyramid

f. prefab obstacles purchased from an equipment catalogue - none

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b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - pole jam

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a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - Two 15 inch high 8' by 5' manual pads. placed 25 feet after each other. Another one of same specs, but curves.

b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - Replica of the Pier 7 manual pads from San Francisco.

c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - one laying horizontally, another laying on top bisecting then 8 feet afterwards , 2 stacked up going longways. That way you can use the bisecting rock as a launch to the stacked granite blocks.

d. steel obstacles - an up-ledge of construction I-beams. Make it as an upledge, then on the sides make banks coming down the sides of them.

e. wood obstacles with ramp armor/skate lite type of covering - DEFINITELY NOT

f. prefab obstacles purchased from an equipment catalogue - DEFINITELY NOT _________________________________________________________________ a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - a downrail with small hubbas on the sides for frontside and backside b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - cement hip , also on side of hip smal 2flat 2 stair set on other side of funbox hip d. steel obstacles - steel flat bar a long one round and square one b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - Radial Ledges, pool if possible c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - Marble hubbas e. wood obstacles with ramp armor/skate lite type of covering - Quater Pipes, Mini ramp if possible

c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - yes

a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - Cement bowls with pool coping - use Grindline parks as a model.

a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - up and down box similar to the one at the banks made from anything but wood

b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - manny pad

c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - better ledge than the dusty ones already there

d. steel obstacles - a straight unkinked flatbar

e. wood obstacles with ramp armor/skate lite type of covering - quarterpipe

a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - An up and down ramp similar to the one at the brooklyn banks but made from anything but wood

b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - Kicker with a ledge

a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - a pool or bowl

d. steel obstacles - a pole jam

e. wood obstacles with ramp armor/skate lite type of covering - mini half pipe

f. prefab obstacles purchased from an equipment catalogue - rust in peace

a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - This is the best way to go!! And transitions in the form of a bowl.

b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - fun, but they chip out and get unusable after little use

c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - Marble and granite are very good durable material and fun to skate... mimic nearby spots that are a bust

f. prefab obstacles purchased from an equipment catalogue - never ever use pre-fab... worse than not even having a park

a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - Anything, as long as it has some flow. How about a snakerun that ends in a bowl, with a couple hips, round and angular (see Groton CT or any Sloppy Sam Park for examples of building concrete up from asphalt)

b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - Same as above. Consider creating two areas. One smaller street area with a variety of ledges, boxes and rails. And another section that is oriented more for experienced transition skaters with a variety of obstacles (see Grindline and Dreamland skateparks for inspiration and ideas)

c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - sure, maybe a couple of walls with stone or granite coping. Or a couple of banks heading up to some boulders (see Volcom Skatepark in Mammoth, CA for an example of that)

d. steel obstacles - no

e. wood obstacles with ramp armor/skate lite type of covering - no

f. prefab obstacles purchased from an equipment catalogue - NO! If you want to make something unique and worth the effort, something that has any kind of impact on the skateboarding community in NYC and beyond, dump the idea of prefab obstacles. Never. It is a waste. This is New York. Lets have a skatepark that reflects the creativity and diversity of this city. Something truly unique! Look at some of the 'Do it yourself' parks around the nation, Burnside in Portland, FDR in Philadelphia. Be inspired! c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - granite ledges d. steel obstacles - rails e. wood obstacles with ramp armor/skate lite type of covering - euro gaps mini ramp

a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - bowls with pool coping or metal coping full pipes cradles spine mini ramp

b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - Enclosed pool with shallow end steps, 9' deep, 5' shallow, cast in place or pool coping. This will attract adult skaters!

a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - concrete round wall that can be built up over time

c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - 2 concrete ledges with marble or granite slabs on top (cost efficient) spaced out to hit back to back

d. steel obstacles - A mounted flat bar at least 14 inches tall, round preferred. also a mounted pole jam

f. prefab obstacles purchased from an equipment catalogue - hell no a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - roundwall, concrete, pool coping! b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - roundwall, concrete, pool coping! f. prefab obstacles purchased from an equipment catalogue - no! a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - a ledge that curves like a C. b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - mini ramp or a 5 stair with a hand rail. c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - a mini bank that has a marble ledge on top d. steel obstacles - pole jam f. prefab obstacles purchased from an equipment catalogue - a hip to over a bearier(like a kicker that lunches you over a barrier) a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - grind boxes, quarter pipes, manny pads of various sizes with coping for grinding b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - wallrides/banks of differenet sizes and angles c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - ledges d. steel obstacles - rails e. wood obstacles with ramp armor/skate lite type of covering - mini ramp, drop ins, set of stairs, higher platform for tricking off of, hips and pyramids with rails and hubbas f. prefab obstacles purchased from an equipment catalogue - none a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - north7 type spot would be ill b. cement obstacles with no steel edging (custom designed) - a barrior type spot c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - marble or granite ledges for grinds and manuels would be ill d. steel obstacles - flat bars e. wood obstacles with ramp armor/skate lite type of covering - mini ramp 5 ft high with a 6 ft extension f. prefab obstacles purchased from an equipment catalogue - benchs like one of the choices of materials tell us that or just don't answer it. a. cement obstacles with steel edging (custom designed) - hubba ledge and a curved ledge c. stone obstacles (marble/granite, etc) - marble top ledges like 12th and a school

Open Road Park

420East 12th