Funded Projects

Strengthening Teen Engagement in Miniparks (STEM)

Project Year

2025

City & State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Program Name

CATCH Planning

Topic

Environmental Justice/Climate Change

Program Description

"Problem   Access to greenspace (eg. parks, trails, etc) within communities has been associated with physical, mental, and social health benefits including decreased asthma rates, decreased obesity risk, improved mental health, and decreased rates of gun violence.(1) Lower-income and communities of color have significantly less park space than predominantly white neighborhoods, including in Philadelphia, the location of this project.(2) Several community groups have endeavored to rectify this by creating new or renovating dilapidated greenspaces within these communities. Unfortunately, youth perspectives are often overlooked in these initiatives despite the fact that incorporating youth preferences in the design of greenspace can increase their connection to and utilization of the spaces, which may in turn increase the benefits to their health.  Primary Setting   This project will take place in six communities in West and Southwest Philadelphia. (Appendix A) Adolescents will be recruited in collaboration with community organizations. Interviews will occur at the community centers affiliated with these organizations.  Number of Children Affected   Approximately 33,292 children under 18 live in these communities, including over 7,900 adolescents in the target age range for this project.(3)  Project Goal   Deeply Rooted, an initiative within the Penn Medicine Center for Health Justice, is a community-academic collaborative that leverages the healing power of nature to promote health and safety in Black Philadelphia communities.(4) Deeply Rooted is developing 6  miniparks within our target communities. These miniparks are community co-designed greenspace in previously vacant or underutilized greenspaces within the neighborhoods. Although community involvement is central to this project, youth voices in the design process have been limited. This project aims to directly engage adolescents through interviews to understand their perspectives and preferences for these greenspaces, relay these recommendations to appropriate steering committees, and create a path for long-term youth engagement within community greenspace projects.   Proposed Intervention   We will conduct 1:1 50-minute semi-structured interviews with 30 local adolescents aged 14 -19 years old. To reduce bias, we aim to recruit a balanced sample of adolescents who are and are not already engaged in nature-based activities. Interviews will focus on three domains:   1.    Minipark Design Preferences: Participants will view images of the minipark site nearest their home to discuss what would attract them to the space, their design preferences, and their perception of the importance of their input in shaping the site.  2.    Impact on Health and Wellbeing: Discussions will focus on how greenspaces and desired features may influence youth and community health, covering topics like physical health, safety, violence, and the impact of vacant versus maintained spaces.  3.    Information Sources: We will examine how youth learn about community initiatives and their impacts to improve outreach for future greenspace projects.  Interviews will be conducted in English to maximize feasibility and comparison of interview themes. This decision was based on census data showing approximately 74% - 91% of households in these communities are English-speaking only and information conveyed by the community organizations themselves.(3) Participants will receive a $50 gift card as renumeration for participation and in recognition of their time and expertise.    Anticipated Outcomes     We will conduct 5 adolescent interviews per month for 6 months, recruiting at least 5 teens living within the neighborhood containing or near (0.5 miles) each minipark site to ensure input by teens who are most likely to utilize each site. At least 3 site-specific, youth-generated recommendations for each minipark site and themes from domains 2 and 3 will be shared with planning committees. Global themes from all domains will be shared with the six Deeply Rooted Community Collaboratives. A long-term plan with at least 3 action items for ongoing youth involvement in Deeply Rooted greenspace projects will be developed from the findings. "

Project Goal

Give strength to and begin to facilitate the long-term engagement of the perspectives and preferences of adolescents in marginalized communities of West and Southwest Philadelphia in an upcoming initiative to expand available greenspace within their communities.

Project Objective 1

Interview up to 30 adolescents from marginalized target communities in West and Southwest Philadelphia regarding their preferences and perspectives on planned miniparks within their communities by January 1, 2026.  

Project Objective 2

Generate at least 3 site-specific design recommendations per planned minipark site within marginalized target communities in West and Southwest Philadelphia and disseminate to respective planning committees by May 31, 2026. 

Project Objective 3

Generate and utilize themes regarding adolescent perspectives on community greenspace including perceived importance, impact on health and wellbeing, safety, and sources of information for environmental issues and local initiatives to make a 3-point action plan to facilitate long-term engagement with community greenspace initiatives by May 31, 2026.  

AAP District

District III

Institutional Name

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Contact 1

Keven Cabrera, MD