By Hannah Drown, cleveland.com
LORAIN, Ohio – A new community park, designed to serve as a vibrant gathering space offering cultural programming and urban agriculture, is set to break ground in Lorain Thursday with completion expected in July 2025.
The groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 11 a.m., marking the first step toward converting vacant land owned by the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority (LMHA) at 30th Street and Vine Avenue into a multifunctional community space.
The South Lorain Community Park will feature a performance stage with a full sound system, an accessible play area for children of all abilities, flexible programming space, urban agriculture plots, murals painted by local artists and free access to Wi-Fi and bathroom facilities.
“Over the last two years, we have undertaken a great fundraising effort and finally raised the money to start breaking ground on the park,” Gale Sayers Proby, COO of LMHA, told cleveland.com.
The plan for the park originated from a Choice Neighborhood Planning Grant awarded to LMHA and the City of Lorain in December 2022. This $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development included $100,000 specifically designated for a permanent community addition.
After extensive resident and community partner input, the decision was made to create a community park that would serve as a safe space for gathering, social events and neighborhood programming.However, the vision quickly expanded beyond the initial HUD allocation, leading to a more ambitious project.
“We designed the park based on what the community said they wanted, and it was a $1.2 million park,” Judith Carlin, CEO of LMHA, told cleveland.com
The development of the park was made possible through a collaboration between LMHA and the City of Lorain. They worked with several local donors and organizations to secure additional funding beyond the HUD grant, including the Finch Group, Nord Family Foundation, Community Foundation of Lorain and First National Bank.
Original source: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/02/construction-to-begin-on-new-community-park-set-to-open-in-lorain-this-summer.html