A quick ride on the E train brings you out to Rufus King Park in Jamaica, Queens: one of the city’s smallest but most utilized parks. “It really is a great little park” says Reuel Daniels, Project Manager at the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation - one of two organizations who work hard to maintain the park’s upkeep - “and its seriously being used by the community all the time.” Natividad Hernandez at the Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan agrees with Daniels and confirms the importance of the park within the community, explaining that a lot of immigrants who move to Jamaica miss having backyards and turn to the park to fill that void. According to Hernandez, “the park is a demand [of the community] always.”

The strong emphasis that Daniels and Hernandez put on parks might seem shocking considering the wide-ranging problems within the immigrant community in Jamaica that each of their organizations seeks to address. The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation strives to “revitalize Jamaica and strengthen the region” by buying and selling real estate and donating the proceeds to the area, enhancing the lives of those living there by running cultural activities and encouraging people to move into the community. Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan similarly aims to improve the quality of life for Jamaica residents – specifically the Hispanic community – by running trainings about and advocating for better immigrant housing, easier access to legal documentation, and more complete legal services. The question becomes, therefore, why, in organizations that strive to make such huge changes to immigrant communities, is there such a strong focus on the upkeep of the park?

The answer to this question, it seems, lies in the history of Rufus King Park, the tensions that have arisen within the community on its lawns, and how the efforts of these organizations have helped. “If you have a park in a community that’s not taken care of” says Daniels, “it sends a bad message to the community.” This, apparently, was the case in the park in the early 1990’s when the new Hispanic community living in Jamaica started to play soccer in the park. Daniels explains that “the soccer took over the park, it wasn’t managed” and that in the end it “really destroyed much of the park.” This, she adds, led to some tension between the new immigrant population and the black community already living in Jamaica. The Parks Department tried to calm this unease by placing large rocks on the main lawns to prevent the soccer playing, but this did little to deter the players and did not repair any of the already destroyed grass. In the end, the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation and Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan worked together to advocate on behalf of the community, and as a result of their efforts the Parks Department removed the rocks and replaced a torn up lawn with an Astroturf field which is more closely regulated.

Although the installation of the Astroturf field did not eliminate the tensions within the community altogether, it certainly represents a start, and, for now at least, has brought conflict out of the park. It is for this reason that Daniels and Hernandez continue to focus their work on the park. The park, it seems, can represent a great public space for cultural sharing and integration but – if not closely monitored – also a point of contention within communities. As Hernandez says, “Its not easy, everyday is different, but doing something small like this every day can make a difference.”

Visit Rufus King Park! Take the E, J, or Z to Jamaica Center - Parsons/Archer

Check out our events calendar to see what's happening in this park (and others)

Welcome to the new Immigrants and Parks Collaborative blog! Our recently redesigned blog is all about spreading the word about the Collaborative and encouraging YOU to be actively involved in New York City’s many multicultural parks. Each week we’ll post the “Immigrants and Parks Collaborative Calendar of Events” which will give you a sense of some of the activities going on in the parks. The following week we’ll update the calendar and provide a review of and photos from the events of the week before. In addition, we will be spotlighting each of the organizations that make up the Collaborative individually so you can get a better sense of what each one does.

Check out the events for next week HERE!

We try to update the blog every week so visit us often. We hope to see you outside this summer!


Putting on a multicultural event in a New York City park? Questions about the Collaborative or what we do? Let us know! Send an email to immigrants.parks@gmail.com.

A year ago, Hester Street Collaborative and Asian Americans for Equality, two of our Immigrants and Parks Collaborative members, released a community visioning report to inform renovations at Allen and Pike Street malls, a set of linear parks along Allen Street, also known as "Avenue of the Immigrants". Hester Street and AAFE held a series of events aimed at engaging the largely immigrant populations of Chinatown and the Lower East Side in providing input for the redesign of their park. The City's Department of Transportation and the Parks Department have started working on the upgrades. I encourage everyone to visit and see the transformations for themselves!

For more information and to download a copy of their report, check out Hester Street's website http://www.hesterstreet.org/ or the article in streetsblogs.

Check out our new introductory video which talks about the issues around engagement of immigrants in parks and the significance of this work! It also highlights some of the work being done on the ground by members of the NYC Immigrants and Parks Collaborative.

Enjoy and feel free to post any comments:
View Out Introductory Video On YouTube

On Thursday, January 29th, Hester Street Collaborative, in partnership with Middle School 131, the Chinatown YMCA, and Asian Americans for Equality, unveiled its second annual Lunar New Year Lantern Installation in Sara D. Roosevelt Park to celebrate the Year of the Ox.

Last year, students at M.S. 131 and the Chinatown YMCA constructed lanterns out of colorful sheets of vinyl and battery-operated LED lights to celebrate the Year of the Rat. This year, the students constructed lanterns out of recycled plastic bags supported by adjustable wire templates and stamped with symbols of the Ox. The lanterns, hung alongside last year’s Year of the Rat lanterns in SDR Park, create a public installation that celebrates the New Year and promotes sustainability in the neighborhood.

After the lanterns were installed in the park, Hester Street Collaborative hosted an hour of design activities for local kids in its workshop at 113 Hester Street. Participants made their own paper lanterns, Chinese zodiac masks, and buttons for the New Year, and ended the evening watching a traditional performance of a dragon dance by Asian Americans For Equality’s Unicorn Dancing Team.

The Year of the Ox lanterns will hang in SDR Park throughout the month of February to be enjoyed by local residents and visitors alike. This student-created and culturally inspired installation is one more step toward sustainable, long-term community involvement and cultural expression in one of our neighborhood’s most important open space resources.