{"id":86564,"date":"2024-09-25T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insideclimatenews.org\/?p=86564"},"modified":"2024-09-26T11:46:26","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T15:46:26","slug":"chicago-latino-neighborhoods-park-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insideclimatenews.org\/news\/25092024\/chicago-latino-neighborhoods-park-access\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago\u2019s Latino Neighborhoods Have Less Access to Parks, But Residents Are Working to Change That"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story is part of a collaborative reporting project<\/a> led by the Institute for Nonprofit News and including Borderless Magazine, Cicero Independiente and Inside Climate News. It was supported by the Field Foundation and INN.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carmen Barragan remembers the church bells ringing from her village\u2019s plaza in Michoacan, Mexico. She recalls looking out at the bustling courtyard filled with fruit vendors, children playing games and the verdant trees that engulf the plaza in her hometown of Cotija. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That vibrancy is a standard that she hopes to see in outdoor gathering spaces in her neighborhood of Brighton Park on Chicago\u2019s Southwest Side. It led her to become a community organizer focused on promoting health through her neighborhood council. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her mission: create safe community hubs for her neighbors to use and come together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

But it hasn\u2019t been easy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would take my kids to parks in other neighborhoods and see that they are in better conditions, and it seems like people there didn\u2019t have to fight for those parks to be maintained, but here we do,\u201d said Barragan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her organizing efforts contributed to multi-year campaigns that led to renovations at Kelly Park, a play area known as Hidden Park and a school playground in Burroughs Elementary School.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This organizing is vital for Barragan\u2019s community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton Park is one of the hottest neighborhoods in Chicago<\/a>, experiences high levels of air pollution<\/a> and is susceptible to flooding<\/a>. Its residents are also among the most physically inactive<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, it lacks a key element to combat these conditions brought on by climate change: substantial green space and parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kelly
Kelly (Edward) Park, which includes a playground, sports fields and mature trees is seen on Sept. 13. For many years, Kelly Park was Brighton Park’s only park. Credit: Max Herman\/Borderless Magazine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Barragan was happy when the Chicago Park District announced plans to build its headquarters with a park in her neighborhood. The new facility, which includes indoor and outdoor recreation and nature areas, opened in the neighborhood last year\u2014a significant win for the community known as a park desert<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the Chicago Park District has a long way to go to help Brighton Park and other neighborhoods catch up with other parts of the city with greater green space access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research has shown<\/a> that a lack of access to parks and green spaces isn\u2019t rare for communities with demographics like Brighton Park. The neighborhood comprises mostly low-income residents and a majority Hispanic population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recently published study<\/a>, researchers examined access and connectivity of green spaces in 10 major cities, including Chicago. The study found that neighborhoods in Chicago with a higher proportion of Hispanic residents are associated with smaller and fewer parks, less vegetation and less connectedness between those spaces than neighborhoods with higher proportions of any other race or ethnicity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNewsletters\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the web’s top headlines deliver the full story, for free.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

\n\n\t\t\t\t\t