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.