AKRON, Ohio - In one of its first moves, Akron's newly created Office of Integrated Development announced the city will partner with Friends of the Metro Parks to develop the Akron Parks Collaborative.

The Office of Integrated Development, overseen by Deputy Mayor for Integrated Development James Hardy, is composed of the Planning and Economic Development departments, and parts of the Engineering Bureau.

The Akron Parks Collaborative will be tasked with engaging the community in "friends groups" near each park to help keep Akron parks clean and inviting. The community-led groups will work with the city to guide and support the efforts. The collaborative is based on a successful model used in large metropolises like New York City and Philadelphia.

"Through Akron Civic Commons, we've learned that public space can serve as the connective tissue in a neighborhood, helping us build a stronger sense of community," Mayor Horrigan said in a news release. "As I remarked in my State of the City address this year, we must seek partners to expand our capacity in neighborhood development. Working with the Akron Parks Collaborative, my hope is to better support resident-led improvements to our city parks."

Akron's Department of Planning and Urban Development recently released a comprehensive study of the city's park system. There a 161 parks within the city limits, including Summit Metro Parks, covering 3,804 acres. The study is available here.

Akron currently offers twice the national average of parkland per 1,000 residents, at 19.1 acres versus 9.5 acres.

In addition to the new Akron Parks Collaborative, the city is partnering with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition's Akron Civic Commons project to launch the Akron Parks Challenge.

Neighborhood leaders and organizations are invited to to pitch a vision for their favorite park and explain how they could partner to achieve that goal.

"Since our founding, city leaders have viewed park land as vital to the well-being of our residents," Hardy said in the release. "The Akron Parks Challenge attempts to spark renewed investment in public space by inviting citizens to co-design their parks. Our goal is to expand the Akron Parks Challenge in future years and improve all our neighborhoods one park at a time."

Two parks will be chosen to work with the city and its partners to develop park improvement plans. The plans will receive up to $100,000 from the city's 2018 capital budget to support implementation.

First round submissions are due April 30 and can be submitted here. Submissions require a brief synopsis, which must include the park name and goal of the project. Each submission will be reviewed by a selection committee made up of Akron City Council members and representatives from the Akron Parks Collaborative, the Knight Foundation, and Akron Civic Commons. Successful applicants will be announced by June 1, 2018.

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