For over two decades, the Groundwork Network has collaborated with the National Park Service – Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Brownfield and Land Revitalization to transform vacant or contaminated land into parks, trails, community gardens, and recreational spaces that provide multiple benefits to their communities. The Land Use Innovation (LUI) Initiative, launched in 2022, builds on this partnership by supporting innovative efforts to engage residents in every stage of the brownfield reuse process, from initial project conception to official opening of the new space.
In 2024, we awarded $460,000 to five Groundwork Affiliates to work hand-in-hand with community members to repurpose brownfields into spaces that serve them, from building local resilience to educating the community and creating new community gathering sites. With this second round of the LUI projects well underway, Groundwork Affiliates are starting to make big strides in their efforts to loop residents into the brownfields conversation and transform vacant land into active community spaces.
Groundwork Denver | Rooting Community in Design
Often, when residents are asked to contribute to the design of new parks, trails, and green spaces, feedback is collected in a conference room or on Zoom with a handful of visuals or an online survey. Through their Land Use Innovation grant, Groundwork Denver (CO) is collaborating with the City of Sheridan to explore more hands-on and interactive ways to collect feedback on the concept for a new trailhead where Bear Creek meets the South Platte River. They are centering connection, interactivity, and reflection in their approach by hosting site visits, nature walks, and guided journaling sessions to collect input from residents of all ages. They’ve collected input from 260 adults and 130 youth so far! The developers are now working to integrate community feedback into their designs, with an anticipated reveal by spring 2026.
Groundwork New Orleans | Youth Ambassadors as Brownfield Champions
All successful brownfield projects need community champions and local advocates, and Groundwork New Orleans is using its LUI grant to launch its New Orleans East Youth Ambassador program. Through this program, high school students build their environmental leadership skills by learning about the brownfield process, completing community science projects, practicing storytelling and public speaking, and leading community outreach efforts. This summer, Ambassadors completed a brownfields inventory in their neighborhood and used infrared cameras to collect and track heat data at different sites across the city. Ambassadors also conducted short interviews with residents to better understand the local perception of brownfields and hear ideas for repurposing these vacant lots. To support this effort, Groundwork New Orleans collaborated with a local media company to train Ambassadors in interviewing and video editing. The Ambassadors compiled their video interviews into a short film that they will be sharing during a brownfield clean-up day they are hosting this fall.
Groundwork San Diego | It’s Supposed to Flood? Building Consensus for Less Conventional Solutions
The Chollas Creek Watershed communities in San Diego, CA, are increasingly experiencing intense heavy rainstorms causing flash flooding and dangerous conditions. Following a particularly damaging flooding event in 2024, Groundwork San Diego has been working with residents and stakeholders across the city to identify creative solutions to capture rainwater and mitigate flooding. One of their many solutions includes the construction of a floodable park: a park that is designed with nature-based infrastructure to capture and store excess rainwater and release it slowly to reduce flooding. The Groundwork San Diego team has been hosting a series of outreach, education, and engagement events to raise awareness about how floodable parks work and their multiple benefits to the community. They are also collecting input about additional recreation features to add to the park to ensure everyone benefits from this new space.
Flood Parks were recently featured in The New York Times. Check out this article to learn more about these innovative solutions.
Prioritizing residents’ vision in the brownfield transformation process ensures that these land reuse projects address real community needs. The LUI Initiative gives our Affiliates the ability to incorporate community engagement strategies into their brownfields work from the outset.
Learn more about the Land Use Innovation Initiative here.
