Friends of Clark Park

The Friends of Clark Park held our Annual meeting on October 19th. It was the first time the meeting was held online, as most of our board meetings had to switch to this year.

During the meeting we elected two new directors to our board: Erik Nash and Jonathan Marcus. Also three directors were re-elected to new terms: Ari Kessler, David Forde and Carol Jenkins. Erik and Jonathan bring welcome skills and energy to our mission to serve the park. Carol, David and Ari are staying on to continue their key contributions to the Friends. All four officers were reelected to another term as well.

My deep gratitude goes out to all of our directors and officers for your commitment to serve Clark Park. I would also like to thank our departing directors for their service to the board during their terms; Algernong Allen, Caroline Van-Zeijts and David Jonas.

COVID-19 cast a long shadow on 2020. Both of our iconic soccer seasons had to be cancelled, along with the always amazing Shakespeare in Clark Park and our annual Party in the Park which was set to coincide with Clark Park being the city’s signature site event for the Love your Park week in May.

Losing these and essentially all events in the park was definitely sad but it was more important to protect the health of the community. That being said COVID highlighted just how important a large green space is to an urban neighborhood. Clark Park gave us a place to get outside of our quarantine and spread out safely. It was still a place we could exercise and see our friends and neighbors and just get a little sunshine on an otherwise cloudy year.

The Friends also took advantage of the relative downtime. We ordered and installed new benches and sold them as memorials, and created a new logo and branding material as well as updated our membership guide. We also created an online store so that customers can now access our merchandise all the time. Perhaps most importantly we started and finished a strategic plan which we will use to guide us and engaged city council to bring attention to the condition of our perimeter sidewalk.

Look for more to come on those fronts next year. Into 2021 we will be implementing our new plan and also working on a master plan, which has long been needed for the park. This effort will be key to making improvements to Park B especially.

Most importantly of course, we will continue to protect the park and work to make it a place that welcomes and embraces all. Thank you to all of our members and partners and neighbors in this trying year and please stay safe.

Anyone going for early morning strolls knows that autumn has officially rolled into Clark Park and so it must be time for our public Annual Meeting. The meeting will be October 19th at 7:00pm and will take place online this year due to the ongoing public health crisis.

Unfortunately COVID-19 has come to define this year. At the outset of 2020 we had anticipated it would be a great year filled with many fun and healthy activities in the park, including being the signature site for the city wide Love Your Park Program and have that event coincide with our Party in the Park in May.

Neither of those came to pass of course, and we also had to cancel most events including both of our soccer seasons. However, I do not consider this a lost year. In fact we needed our park more then ever as a place where we could just be outdoors while staying socially distant. The park was possibly busier then ever and we had to find creative ways to maintain it since traditional large clean up days were not allowed and the city crews were limited by illnesses. The Friends have also made good use of the year to focus on organizing ourselves so that we may better serve the Park and community in the coming years.

To learn more please attend our Annual meeting in two weeks. We will have several guests who will be updating us on big upcoming projects and members in good standing can vote in the election of our new board for 2021. As always we are looking for people who can come help advance and extend our mission and add their voices to guide the future of the park.

Friends of Clark Park Annual Meeting (Zoom Meeting)

Or join over the phone at (646)-558 8656 

Meeting ID: 816 6782 1786
Passcode: 799958

Hope to see or hear you there! Please stay safe.

Over the last few months the Friends of Clark Park have been working on a new Strategic Plan to help us define our key areas of focus for the upcoming years. We are excited to announce that as of September 2020 this new plan has been approved and adopted. This is a key milestone for us as an organization as it will help us establish clear goals moving forward. 

As part of this plan Friends of Clark Park has also redefined our vision and  mission for the organization. Our vision is to foster a Clark Park which embraces everybody and enhances the health and happiness of its neighborhood. Our mission is Friends of Clark Park is an all-volunteer organization. We partner with the neighboring community and with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation (PPR) with the goal to maintain and enhance the physical aspects and cultural opportunities of Clark Park.

Check out our Strategic Plan Page to see more details and read the full plan.

Friends of Clark Park is very supportive of the statement Council Member Jamie Gauthier released about the upcoming demonstration in Clark Park:

Due to state budget cuts this year, the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy, which neighbors Clark Park at 44^th Street and Baltimore Avenue, lost a significant portion of the operational funding that it typically receives from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This funding reduction, plus the financial strain the school faces due to COVID-19, has put the HMS School in a challenging and uncertain economic situation. As many of you know, the HMS School is a nonprofit that provides life-changing programs and services to students with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, or other neurological impairments.

To help our neighbor in a time of need, we are asking our members to donate to the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy’s Emergency 2020-2021 School Year Fundraiser, and the Friends of Clark Park will match your donations up to $500. Any amount you can contribute to this fund will have a big impact. DONATE HERE

Please also help spread the word among your friends and networks by inviting them to donate to HMS School’s Facebook Fundraiser and sharing the fundraiser link with your social media networks. Use the hashtags #WeAreHMS and #HMSStrong in your posts. We will also be posting about this fundraiser on our Friends of Clark Park Facebook page, and encourage you to like and comment on our post in order to boost visibility.

Thank you for your support for the HMS School during this difficult time.

Earlier this month Philadelphia began the Green Phase of our COVID-19 response called Reopening with Care. In this phase the city will continue scaling back restrictions on social and business activities while still working to ensure residents’ safety. Despite this shift it is important to remember that with the COVID-19 coronavirus still circulating, the Green Phase does not mean that all activities can restart. While Philadelphia has been able to keep it’s parks open throughout the pandemic, the city will continue to prohibit or restrict some activities to try and keep our community as safe and healthy as possible.

What does this change mean for Clark Park? To start with across the city parks and trails will remain open with athletic fields now open for exercise. The hoops that were removed from basketball courts will be reinstalled across the city. Additionally, playgrounds will now be open for children and household use. While not a factor in Clark Park, park buildings, restrooms and facilities will remain closed. It is also important to note that most Philadelphia Parks & Rec events and programs are canceled until further notice, and it is still not allowed to host social gatherings in the park larger than 25 people. For full detail, please check out this handy guide. 

While Clark Park remains open, your safety is critically important. When you are using the park, please follow the following guidance from the City of Philadelphia:

• Wear Masks – block the virus from spreading from infected persons by wearing masks and requiring others to wear them
• Isolate – keep people who might be carrying the virus safely away from others (ideally at home)
• Distance – maintain space between people to reduce the chance that one infected individual will infect others, 6ft apart or more.
• Reduce crowds – decrease the number of people that an infected person could pass the virus to if other steps are not successful
• Handwashing – reduce the spread of virus from one person to another from touching contaminated surfaces
• Clean – remove respiratory droplets that may contain virus from surfaces that people may touch

As you enjoy the park this summer please continue to follow the advice of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health Department.  Thanks for helping to keep the West Philly community safe this summer.

Philadelphia’s Safer-at-Home Order (yellow phase) went into effect on June 5. The city will be scaling back restrictions on social and business activities in a way that prevents resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic. Your safety is critically important – please continue to follow the advice of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health Department: 

• https://www.phila.gov/media/20200529115032/COVID-19Reopeningframework52920.pdf 
• https://www.phila.gov/guides/safer-at-home/reopening-guidance/ 
• https://www.phila.gov/programs/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/ 

These recommendations have been created to support the Philadelphia Park Friends Network as we transition into the Safer at Home phase: 

What Yellow Phase Means For Neighborhood Parks: 

https://www.phila.gov/2020-05-30-what-the-yellow-phase-means-for-parks-rec-sites/ 

• Parks and trails remain open, athletic fields and tennis courts are now open. Events and sports leagues are still not permitted. 
• Park buildings, restrooms and facilities are closed 
• Playgrounds will open for children, their caretakers and Parks & Rec summer programming 
• Spraygrounds are expected to reopen in July 2020 with social distancing protocols and staffing 
• Athletics courts remain closed to help prevent group sports. The hoops that were removed from basketball courts will not be reinstalled until further notice based on guidance from the Health Department.   

Events and Gatherings: 

The City Of Philadelphia recommends no gatherings outside of your immediate household.  This differs from the State’s recommendations of gatherings no larger than 25 people.  The difference in recommendations is due to Philadelphia having a higher rates of COVID-19 than most of the state.  The priority is keep you safe!  

• Friends and Community Group permits will not be issued during the yellow phase.  
• Please avoid social gatherings in the park with anyone outside of your household 

See attached Play It Safe Guidelines for tips to enjoy parks safely. Please remember to #PlayItSafePHL while enjoying Clark Park this summer!

These continue to be strange times and we unfortunately are all living in a world of unknowns. For many of us that means taking it day by day and approaching what’s next with as positive a mindset as possible. With this attitude in mind the Friends of Clark Park (FoCP) are doing our best to continue to monitor the situation and do our part to help keep our West Philly community as safe and healthy as possible. For the most up to date information about park use and events, please visit Philadelphia Parks and Recreation (PPR).

For our part we are extending the cancellation of all upcoming FoCP events through the end of June. This includes everything from our regular volunteer days, the spring season of Clark Park Soccer, to our annual Party in the Park event. For events not sponsored by FoCP, please check directly with those organizations, such as Uhuru, Shakespeare in Clark Park, Clark Park Arts and Music Festival,  Community Unity and the Food Trust, which runs the Farmer’s Market. We are in communication with all the partners who hold events in Clark Park and will update our calendar as quickly as we can.

Please stay safe West Philly.

We are in unprecedented times. With the ongoing spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) and the incredible speed at which things are changing around us, we are living in a world of unknowns. At Friends of Clark Park (FoCP) we take our role as community stewards very seriously. That means ensuring that we do our part to try and keep our West Philly community as safe and healthy as possible.

With our community’s wellbeing in mind, we are announcing the cancelation of all upcoming FoCP events from now until April 29^th. This will include everything from our regular volunteer days, to our We Walk Philly program, to the upcoming spring season of Clark Park Soccer. We are also working in coordination with our partners who hold events in Clark Park to request they follow the same protocols. Please check directly with those organizations, such as Uhuru and the Food Trust, for the latest details on their events. Additionally, at this time we strongly expect the postponement of our annual Party in the Park celebration to a time later this year, but will make that final decision over the next few weeks. These decisions are being made in accordance with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation (PPR) guidance, and any events beyond this timeline will be closely monitored in the upcoming weeks.

In this time of uncertainty, we recognize the important role Clark Park can play in our community. It can be a place to get some fresh air or let the kids have a little time to run around. That being said we also want to encourage everyone to enjoy the park safely. Even though it is an outdoor space, social distancing is still recommended and it is important not to have larger gatherings. Please also use your best judgement with shared items such as the playground and be sure to always wash your hands. Please stay safe West Philly.