In Chicago, the removal of basketball hoops and rims has been a growing concern across both city parks and other recreational spaces, with numerous courts affected, including those outside traditional park boundaries. Factors such as increased vandalism, rising maintenance costs, and the shifting priorities of park management officials have contributed to this decline.
A State of the Parks report by Friends of the Parks notes that many parks, particularly on the South and West Sides, are underfunded and burdened by rising maintenance costs, with resources often diverted to address vandalism. According to the Chicago Reader, basketball courts represent the largest number of decommissions by the Chicago Park District.
This issue is particularly notable in North Lawndale, a neighborhood with limited access to green spaces. Despite its population, there are only three parks with basketball courts in a two-to-five-mile radius, according to the Chicago Data Portal.
In July, Chicago Cares, UCAN Chicago, Students Demand Action, and community members celebrated the completed restoration of a public abandoned basketball court off of South California Avenue and West Flournoy Street in North Lawndale. (The lot the court sits on is owned by the city of Chicago). Thanks to funding from Everytown Community Safety Fund and the Vitalogy Foundation, a nonprofit founded by the rock band Pearl Jam, these organizations were able to restore the court, which has been underutilized due to its poor condition.
“I was there for the inauguration of the basketball court. And even that day, you could see the joy of the community and how everyone was a little bit shocked about this basketball court, but also extremely excited. It did bring a lot of people together to enjoy the day,” Students Demand Action leader Ade Osadolor-Hernandez, 22, said. “You had siblings and friends playing on the court who were so excited that they brought their own basketballs with them. We had a barbecue, ice cream, and music too. You could definitely see even the short-term impact of it that same day, creating a community impact and seeing the community unite.”
Students Demand Action identified the basketball court as a vital community gathering space. The group is the largest grassroots, youth-led gun violence prevention organization in the country and part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s network.
Despite the challenges of gun violence, Chicago’s public parks are seen as crucial places for children and families. For example, in early 2023, Students Demand Action leaders wanted to clean up Veterans’ Memorial Park on the South Side and make it playable again, as basketball nets and rims had been intentionally removed from the park during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 under former mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration. These removals, which disproportionately affected Black and brown neighborhoods, were part of an effort to curb gatherings and violence. However, Students Demand Action’s request to restore the park was denied by city officials, who had no plans for its revitalization.
“When the previous mayor was there, during COVID, they took out all of the rims and nets on purpose so people wouldn’t hang out there, and then they didn’t put them back. So, after COVID, we wanted to reopen these spaces and reclaim them for our community and for the youth, but they just didn’t want to,” Students Demand Action leader and organizing board member Justin Funez, 22, said.
Students Demand Action then sought guidance from different partners for the best next steps.
“We thought, ‘Well, now we have the grant, let’s find a park,’” Funez continued. “So, we found other community partners who helped us scout and find places where we could put this plan into action.”
During the Students Demand Action’s Summer Leadership Academy in the spring of 2023, the idea to renovate a basketball court in North Lawndale emerged between two student leaders —Justin Funez and Ade Osadolor-Hernandez. This led to further research and a grant application, prepared and submitted by Osadolor-Hernandez and Funez, which secured $10,000 from a Wear Orange 2023 grant from The Everytown Community Safety Fund and an additional grant from the Vitalogy Foundation.
“It was kind of surreal. In our proposal, we knew what we wanted, and we knew why we wanted it. And I think that made us believe that if we believed in the project, other people did too,” Funez said.
Funez grew up playing soccer in the street and basketball in Chicago, and he felt that many young people from their generation were not getting the same opportunities to reclaim these spaces. This was due to perceptions that areas like the South and West sides were too dangerous or contributed to increased gun violence, which he believed was not true.
“If there’s an incident of violence somewhere, the city had been actively taking basketball hoops down. So young people who would use those basketball courts didn’t have a space to play, didn’t have a space to congregate, didn’t have a space to be kids,” Chicago Cares CEO Rosie Drumgoole said. “Students Demand Action felt like that was a mistake, and they wanted to go and reclaim a basketball court. So that’s how we got started.”
Research by The Urban Institute, among other organizations, shows that environments that foster safety and care can significantly impact the reduction of gun violence. By engaging communities through the maintenance of safe spaces, deterring violent behavior through design, providing supportive resources that strengthen social bonds, and offering positive alternatives to crime, proactive, community-driven efforts create a collective sense of responsibility, which significantly lowers the risk of violence.
“With this framework in mind, the goal was to create a space that could trigger a chain reaction, where the presence of a safe, engaging environment for youth might lead to observable reductions in gun violence,” Osadolor-Hernandez, said. “The aim was to see how providing a space for play and enjoyment could potentially contribute to a decrease in violence.”
Ultimately, the new basketball court restoration in North Lawndale engages youth and residents by acting as a catalyst for them to enjoy and participate in the beauty of their neighborhood. Revitalization efforts have included building planter boxes, planting flowers, and creating a vibrant green space that extends beyond just a basketball court
Now, the court is not only a state-of-the-art basketball court with shock-absorbing plastic to protect players’ joints, but also space for picnics and relaxation, bringing both an aesthetic appeal and functionality.
To bring their vision for a restored basketball court to life, Osadolor-Hernandez and Funez said they believed it was necessary to partner with different organizations and community leaders who had experience with rebuilding or reclaiming spaces. It was the first time Students Demand Action worked on a project like this. So they looked to Chicago Cares and UCAN to help alleviate some of the pressure of restoring a public park for the first time.
“We have conversations with the community and they dream big with us,” Drumgoole said. “This basketball court is a beautification project, a youth engagement project, and a violence reduction strategy, and it took a few groups over the summer to really make it come to life.”
Since 2017, Chicago Cares has leveraged community partnerships on Chicago’s South and West Sides to challenge preconceived notions and drive neighborhood revitalization, engaging 17,880 volunteers across key neighborhoods like Auburn Gresham, Little Village, and North Lawndale.
UCAN’s efforts align well with this initiative as they aim to enhance youth engagement, violence prevention, and overall safety, to create safer environments.
“Anytime you have people committed to revitalizing or repurposing spaces in communities like North Lawndale, which has been heavily disinvested, it brings back dignity to the residents. It creates an ecosystem of safety and pride, offering more than just sports,” said Fred Long, UCAN’s vice president of development and member of the North Lawndale Athletic & Recreation Association (NLARA) Advisory Committee.
Long continued, “It represents a place where people feel proud to live and can access something beautiful and safe within walking distance.”
NLARA focuses on providing world-class sports and recreation opportunities for youth in North Lawndale. UCAN, as a fiscal agent for NLARA, has supported over 19 organizations in 2024 with more than $100,000 in funding to provide youth with athletic and recreational programs.
As much as funding is important, Drumgoole reminds us that collaboration and an openness to partnership are crucial.
“Any community-based organization, group, or anybody who’s looking to network or anything like that, I would just say, tap into your courage, reach out and have the conversation. Because, the worst they can say is ‘no,’ right?” Drumgoole said.
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