The Johnny and Shirley Lewis Pollinator Garden in the Roots of Hope reading trail and garden includes painted handprints of children and volunteers who helped transform the vacant lot.
Courtesy, One Safe Place
Courtesy of One Safe Place
After a lot in the Historic Southside neighborhood next to Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary School sat vacant for years, several Fort Worth organizations have worked together to turn the space into a garden and reading trail.
On Sept. 12, more than 45 volunteers came together to put the finishing touches on the garden and reading trail, called Roots of Hope. The completed space will feature a walking trail, reading stations, and landscaping designed to create a welcoming place for Van Zandt-Guinn students and their families.
The project, led by One Safe Place, a Fort Worth-based Family Justice Center, through the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas’ Project Safe Neighborhoods program, aims to identify vacant lots in the area and turn them into community gathering spaces. They choose lots in areas that have historically high crime rates to convert into “safe havens” for youth in the area.
“One Safe Place is one of our best partners in doing community outreach,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “One of the key pillars of Project Safe Neighborhoods is to demonstrate that, yes we are obviously criminal enforcers and we put bad guys in jail, but we’re also on a mission to build trust with our great community. That starts with crime prevention efforts.”
Local law enforcement, attorneys and university fraternities were among the 45 who volunteered on Saturday, Sept. 12 to convert the vacant lot into the reading trail and garden. Courtesy, One Safe Place Courtesy of One Safe Place
One Safe Place leaders hope Roots of Hope can provide an accessible place for Van Zandt-Guinn students to build literacy skills outside the normal classroom setting while creating a visible investment into Fort Worth’s Historic Southside neighborhood.
Andrew Dickens, One Safe Place’s director of community initiatives, said One Safe Place did all the fundraising for the project, but a lot of the design and planning work was done by the Historic Southside Neighborhood Association.
“The space is beautiful,” Dickens said. “We designed a 260-foot-long reading trail that navigates through the entire lot. Along the trail there are dedicated seating areas. There’s also a little library along that trail that has been stocked with age-appropriate books courtesy of the Fort Worth Public Library. It also has over 200 Texas-native plants that have been planted along the trail.”
One Safe Place first began working with the Historic Southside Neighborhood Association more than 10 months ago on plans to turn what residents called an “eye sore” into a spot where children at Van Zandt-Guinn and in the community could read and congregate safely.
More than 45 volunteers showed up on Saturday, Sept. 12 to help transform the vacant lot next to Van Zandt Guinn Elementary School into the Roots of Hope reading trail and garden. Courtesy, One Safe Place Courtesy of One Safe Place
Wallace Bridges, a member of the neighborhood association and former Fort Worth ISD school board member, first had the idea last year to turn the vacant lot into a community garden. He wanted children in the neighborhood to connect with one another more and have a better sense of place in their community.
“A garden has a magical way of bringing everybody together and working as a team,” Bridges said. “And another thing a garden does is it gives young people a sense of pride in their community and when plants are sprouting and looking really nice, they can say ‘Yeah, I was part of that. That is a project that I did.’ so we see this as an opportunity to create a meeting place where kids can come, read a book, sit down and enjoy it.”
Volunteers left painted handprints on fences surrounding the reading trail on Sept. 12 while transforming the vacant lot into the Roots of Hope reading trail and garden. Courtesy, One Safe Place Courtesy of One Safe Place
Wallace’s vision for a community garden was taken to the next level when One Safe Place got involved. Dickens and other One Safe Place leaders worked on enhancing the project to include a reading trail, native plants, and a small library space.
“The Neighborhood Association already kind of did all the hard work when it comes to adopting the land from the City of Fort Worth, stewarding it and really trying to build it up the best that they can,” Dickens said. “Our goal was just to come in and help them elevate it and take it to the next level to bring that vision and that goal they already had to life.”
One Safe Place leaders hope the reading trail can also be used to help improve the mental health of children. A study by NASA Science shows green space can improve mental health by reducing stress-related emotions and boosting mood through natural environment exposure. Access to parks and nature encourages activity and fosters social connection, the study found.
Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary is a predominantly Hispanic and African American campus. About 49% of students are Hispanic and 44% are African American. In total, 92% of students at the campus qualify for free or reduced-lunch prices. The school enrolls about 330 students in pre-K through fifth grade, according to district data. The campus has recently made improvements in the Texas Education Agency’s A-F Accountability Rating system, scoring a C rating after three consecutive years of a D rating or lower.
A young volunteer places books into a library box at the Roots of Hope reading trail and garden on Sept. 12. Courtesy, One Safe Place Courtesy of One Safe Place
Data from the Fort Worth Education Partnership shows that just 35% of students at Van Zandt-Guinn are reading on grade level, across all grades.
“We heard from community members and people that live around the site that this project would be a huge help when it comes to reducing violence and gang activity in the neighborhood,” Raybould said. “What I heard is that space had some gang activity around it previously. This is right next to an elementary school. So it’s all the more important in this situation, and I think it’s important for folks to have safe places in their communities.”
Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Samuel O’Neal is the K-12 Education Reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, covering public schools and policy that impacts them. He previously worked as a staff writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer and is a graduate of Temple University.