Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Dec. 18, 2024 – The City of Jonesboro was awarded a $189,515 Outdoor Recreation Grant to build a new inclusive playground, Director of Parks and Recreation Danny Kapales announced during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The playground will be installed at Allen Park as part of the city’s Master Parks Plan and Health Accelerator Plan, Kapales said.

“This is the first step in that park to make it all-inclusive,” he said. “The playground equipment will be similar to the equipment at Miracle League and the surface will be similar to Miracle League to make it where people with all different needs can get on the playground.”

The new playground will include accessible ramps, a We-Go-Round, swings, slides, a synthetic surface, sensory play structures, braille panels, shade structures, splash pad and more. The city will also remove the mulch surface barrier for wheelchairs.

Along with the playground, Kapales added that the city will work toward installing a splash pad and adding wheelchair accessibility from the playground to the splash pad.

“We should start the project in early spring with removing the old playground,” Kapales said. “It should take no longer than 90 days to complete the full installation of the new playground and splash pad.”

Director of Grants and Community Development Jeremy Biggs said on Wednesday the last Outdoor Recreation Grants Program application was made in 2020 and awarded in 2021, which was used for Union Park renovations.

“The recently adopted Master Parks Plan and Health Accelerator Plan identified Allen Park as a catalyst for reinvestment in community park space and to ensure parks can be enjoyed by citizens of all abilities,” Biggs said. “Construction and installation of these new amenities is expected to begin in the summer of 2025.”

Biggs added that Allen Park is a historically disadvantaged community, with 23.2% of the population having a disability, which is “considerably higher than other areas of Jonesboro.”

According to the Outdoor Recreation Matching Grant application, the Jonesboro Accelerator Plan is a blueprint for retrofitting Jonesboro’s Parks system to make them more inclusive and adaptive for people with disabilities. The city only has one all-inclusive park, Miracle League, and needs more. The plan identified two accelerator parks, which included Allen Park and Northside Park.

As a matching grant, the city may be reimbursed up to 50% of the project’s allowable cost. It is projected to cost $379,030 in total.