JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hemming Park is one of six organizations selected to receive a $100,000 grant from Southwest Airlines as part of the 2015 Heart of the Community program led by the airline and Project for Public Spaces (PPS).
The grant will help Hemming Park re-imagine and activate the important but underutilized public space at 117 W. Duval St. in the heart of downtown Jacksonville.
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The six public spaces set to be developed, programmed and activated by the 2015 Southwest grants include:
- Civic Plaza in Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Cornog Plaza in Ft. Myers
- Hemming Park in Jacksonville
- 4MKE: 4th Street and Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee
- Congress Square Park in Portland, Maine
- Strauss Park in St. Louis
The six Heart of the Community spaces were selected through a competitive application process. Proposed projects were evaluated in terms of preliminary work and preparedness, capacity for local impact, potential for backing and strength of the commitment demonstrated by local partners.
Non-profit organizations in each of the cities will administer the local grants. Partners include Downtown ABQ Main Street Initiative, Lee County Library System, Friends of Hemming Park, Creative Alliance Milwaukee, Friends of Congress Square Park and Grand Center, Inc. As a part of the Heart of the Community grant, each local partner will receive technical assistance from PPS to set a clear vision and programming platform to help activate their space.
Southwest Airlines and Friends of Hemming Park will lead the local initiative to transform Hemming Park into a thriving public space for residents and visitors by working with the Jacksonville community to determine a clear vision, innovative programming platform and high quality amenities for the space. The grant can also fund a variety of physical amenities, such as tables and chairs, outdoor reading rooms and information kiosks.
"We are thrilled to have been selected as a 2015 grant recipient with the Heart of the Community program and look forward to working with Southwest Airlines, PPS and our local community," said Vince Cavin, executive director of Friends of Hemming Park. "With this generous support, we will continue to re-imagine and reinvent Hemming Park as an exciting and inviting public space for everyone living in or visiting Jacksonville."
Placemaking, an emerging movement with environmentalist roots, positions public space as an engine for urban development, serving as catalyst for building sustainable, healthy, inclusive and economically viable neighborhoods.
"Cities are more than destinations, they are places of human connections and livelihood," said Gary Kelly, chairman, president, and CEO of Southwest Airlines. "Our purpose at Southwest is to connect people to what's important in their lives. What better way to do that than by helping to create more access to our public spaces where communities can come together."
Strengthened by broad community participation and engagement, placemaking incorporates the planning, design, management and program development for public spaces as a means to advance vibrant, sustainable communities. Placemaking strengthens the connection between people and the places they share.
For more than 40 years, Southwest's lead partner Project for Public Spaces (PPS) has refined the participatory placemaking process.
"The best way to build a sustainable world is by focusing on place," said Fred Kent, founder and president of PPS. "Placemaking is more than how we design public spaces. It is a means by which people are collectively and intentionally shaping their environment and building deep and lasting community ties. Placemaking turns our approaches to land-use, transportation, governance, and the environment upside-down by asking people what they fundamentally need in a public space and empowering them to be a part of the development process."