When Elizabeth Downey was a child, she remembers riding her bike to play at the Gleason Park playground and watching the students at Indiana University Northwest.
As Downey grew older, the playground declined and went without repair. Now, she’s one of two students who led the charge to restore the Gleason Park playground, now known as the Blossoms of Change.
“To see this come to fruition has been amazing,” Downey said. “Now I can bring my daughter over here to swing. I can do my homework while she’s playing. It’s a real full circle moment.”
Downey and another IUN student, India Smith, teamed up with their campus groups, the Black Student Union and My Sisters’ Keeper, to help repair the playground, which is across the street from IUN’s Dunes Medical/Professional Building at the corner of 35th Avenue and Jefferson Street.
Downey and Smith started the project in March, they said, and by mid-July, the space featured a new swingset, kid climber, pet waste station, and a kindness rock garden with flowers. Participants in IUN’s annual Kids College helped create the garden with words of encouragement and affirmation written on the rocks.
Their work was funded through a $15,000 grant from the city of Gary’s Love Your Block program, which has funded 21 community projects.
Love Your Block is powered by the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, and it brings city leaders and residents together to build stronger neighborhoods, according to a previous city news release.
Tiara Williams, coordinator of Love Your Block, said she loves seeing IUN students participate in the program.
“We want them to stay, and we want them to be part of the city and come outside the school walls and enjoy it,” Williams said. “I feel like Love Your Block is about more than that. It’s love your city, love your neighbor, and I love it.”
The IUN students partnered with Flourish Community Hub, a program that connects Gary residents to nonprofits and resources throughout the community.
Pastor Dexter Harris, founder of Flourish Church, said this was the first time the university and organization had partnered on this scale. Harris included the project under Flourish Community Hub’s 501(c)(3) status to help with funding when the students were worried about obtaining the money.
Flourish Church partnered with other local churches and brought five youth groups together to help with community projects. The groups help put in the playground equipment and with landscaping, which Downey and Smith said was “a big help.”
“It was really cool to see,” Harris said. “There were really a ton of teenagers out here helping.”
IUN’s Black Student Union Advisor Antoine Hawkins asked Downey and Smith if they would want to help revitalize the playground around October or November last year. The two students worked together through the Black Student Union and My Sisters’ Keeper, so he said it made sense for the two to collaborate on the project.
“It was all about doing something in the community, and I thought this would be a good idea,” Hawkins said. “I can say, they just took it and ran with it.”
Before Love Your Block grants were announced, Hawkins said he was interested in getting students to update the park, but the city’s help made everything fall into place.
Sandra Carr, IUN student engagement specialist, said she spoke with city leadership about the project when Love Your Block grants were announced.
“They spoke not only with my office, but also with our CURE office, and we said, ‘Let’s do this,’” Carr said. “So, I came back, and I told the students about it, and they were so engaged throughout literally the whole process. They went to all the meetings.”
Since the two student organizations helped with the park, members will help maintain the park each year. Flourish is also committed to help maintain the playground, Harris said.
Both Downey and Smith said they never expected to make an impact like this while they’re still in college.
“It’s amazing, especially because it’s connected back to our school,” Smith said. “There’s a stigma that we’re not a real campus because we’re a commuter campus. However, getting to see how our school and our groups have collaborated with the city of Gary proves that even though we’re commuters, we’re still connected and taking initiatives to make this a better space.”
Williams believes this is just the beginning of the city’s partnership with IUN, she said.
“Their students are feeling more invested in the city, and they’re making their mark on the city,” Williams said. “We want you guys to stay with us. Come and build and grow with us. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
