Hack the Parks- Bringing the Community Together for Change

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:36:37 -0400

http://gb.tc/programs/hacktheparks/

Park improvements can be an engine of change for Baltimore. Well-maintained city parks promote social health, improve neighborhood safety, and spur economic growth.

The power to make Baltimore's parks (and the city, as a whole) sustainable, livable and vibrant lies with us. So we are calling on the citizens of Baltimore to "hack" the city's parks. By hacking we mean, citizens develop their own applications (whether they be technology-based or not) which create simple, tangible benefits for the community.

gb.tc has partnered with the Mayor's Office of Information Technology and Baltimore's Department of Recreation and Parks to give Baltimoreans a real opportunity to change our urban green spaces. The goal isn't just to better life in Baltimore, but to give citizens the chance to build real, sustainable businesses which help achieve this end.

Hack the Parks is making grants available to support the most innovative park improvement proposals. We encourage you to think small, at least to start. The funded projects are all pilots. In addition to seed money, the selected pilot projects will also be given park space or other Rec and Parks resources to test their plans, pivot, and evolve into truly viable products.

Here's how it works:

Throughout April and May 2013, anyone can propose a solution (or multiple solutions) to improve a Baltimore City park.

On May 24, the selected pilot projects will be announced.

In June, Rec and Parks will roll out implementation of the funded solutions.

All summer long, the solutions will be used in their assigned city parks. Updates on each project will be posted on this website, so the community can keep track of its progress.

At the end of the summer, there will be a celebration where presentations will be made on each project's success.

Hack the Parks is made possible with the support of