Gary/ Dominguez Campus Park:
UPDATE:
LVEJO, Little Village residents and students of both Gary and Dominguez School celebrated the Grand Opening of the Gary Dominguez Campus Park on Saturday, April 28, 2001. An awards ceremony, ribbon cutting and championship soccer game were all part of the Celebration. However work still must continue to get the park up to it's proper condition. The issue of sod still remains as most of the grass on the field is dead. LVEJO is continuing to work with both Gary and Dominguez school as well as the Chicago Board of Education to come to a agreement regarding the replacement of the sod.
"Steep slopes, random dips, large bumps, construction material and thin missing sod" are some of the words that community members of Little Village used to describe the conditions of the old Gary /Dominguez park. In 1995 Gary Park was cut to 1/3 of it's original size when Josepha Ortiz de Dominguez School was built to help ease the overcrowding in the local school. The Board of Education signed a letter stating that they would upgrade what was left of the park to accommodate the new and old school. That didn't happen until 4 years of petitions, protests, meetings with over 3,000 residents to get the Board of Education to keep it's promise. Finally in 1998 the Board of Education sat down with the community, by the communities request and co-designed the park based on the neighborhoods needs. A deadline of October 1999 was set. However, due to problems with the subcontractors and asphalt removal the ending date was pushed back to December 1999. The problems continued after that as well. The Public Building Commissions subcontractors brought out the sod and trees in October and left them out uncovered the entire winter and then planted them dead in the spring. The Little Village community with the support of LVEJO reorganized and demanded that the park be re-sodded and all dead plants and trees be replaced. After a six year battle the Gary/Dominguez will finally be ready for the public in Spring of 2001.

Little Village Academy Garden and Environmental Justice Class:
In the 1999-2000 school year LVEJO started it's Environmental Justice classes at Little Village Academy. The classes involved 6th and 7th grade classrooms of English and Bilingual students. The students participated in a wide range of projects that extended from the classroom into the neighborhood and there homes. One of the highlights of the class was the design and building of a native garden in the school preschool playground. The upper grade classes designed the garden based on plants and flowers native to the state of Illinois. Students decided to plant it outside the preschool classrooms as a gift to the younger children. The students dug and planted everything with the help of there teachers, volunteers and LVEJO staff.

LVEJO, Boys and Girls Club of Little Village and Kaboom Playground and Garden:
As a joint effort with the Little Village Boys and Girls Club, LVEJO, and Kaboom a new playground and garden were built adjacent to the club in October of 1998. Kaboom donated a entire playground to the club as a 50/50 grant sought out by LVEJO and the Club. Our part was to bring in community members to help put together the playground and build the garden during the two day event. Over 150 community residents turned out for the event and donated there time, effort and skill for the children. Local carpenters built benches and garden walls for the children. Parents formed groups to teach the children about gardening and outdoor maintenance for the playground. This was the first big event for LVEJO and turned out to be a great success.

http://www.kaboom.org/page.aspx?kbid=40

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