Description

Four new Pocket Parks are in the works for Clayton County that offer more self-care options. Deputy Chief Operations Officer Landry Merkison, Director of Parks and Recreation Nicole Horne join the Hostess, Communications Administrator Valerie L. Fuller,  to tell you what the County’s health and wellness Quality of Life pocket park initiative is, how the parks are funded, where they will be located, and what medical screenings will be provided.

Transcript

Valerie Fuller (intro):
You’re tuned in to the Clayton Connected Podcast in Clayton County, where the world lands and opportunities take off.

Valerie:
Welcome to the Clayton Connected podcast. I’m your hostess Valerie Fuller, Communications Administrator for the Office of Communications. Today in the Clayton Connected Podcast Studio, we have Chief Landry Merkison and he is the Deputy Chief Operations Officer. Welcome.

Chief Landry Merkison:
Pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.

Valerie:
We also have our newly appointed director of Parks and Recreation, Nicole Horne. Welcome.

Nicole Horne:
Thank you. Glad to be here.

Valerie:
All right. Today we are talking about Pocket Parks in Clayton County. Chief, what are Pocket Parks and how did they come about?

Chief Merkison:
So, a Pocket Park is exactly what the name references; is a small pocket of land within any given community where the county can provide additional gathering space, recreational space, and in this case, some health and wellness opportunities.

Valerie:
So, when we talk about health and wellness opportunities, I know we have existing parks within Clayton County. My understanding is that there will be at least one pocket park in each district.

Chief Merkison:
Yes. That’s correct. So, when we wrote the grants for these parks, we wrote four separate grants to provide this type of unique park within each commission district.

Valerie:
What can residents expect to see in each one of these parks?

Chief Merkison:
These parks will provide our residents and our citizens an opportunity to gather someplace closer to their home, where they can get in some recreational opportunities. And the unique things about these particular Pocket Parks is we’ve built in the infrastructure so that our fire and EMS department can bring their mobile clinics to these parks, set them up and be able to provide some community health and wellness initiatives for our residents to, to take advantage of.

Valerie:
And the health and wellness initiative is one thing. It’s all a part of the Quality of Life initiative as part of the strategic plan for the Clayton County Board of Commissioners, also?

Chief Merkison:
Absolutely. Right. So we recognize that, you know, our Parks and Recreation Department does a phenomenal job of providing top notch facilities for all of our residents. However, we understand too that there may be portions of our community that don’t live adjacent to or next to a park. So what we’ve really tried to do with these pocket parks is to expand our current park footprint but provide some more smaller, community centered, more closely I guess, gathered, you know, spaces for our citizens to come together. And, you know, whether it’s hold a family reunion, whether it’s just get the kids out somewhere in a small area to play or take advantage of those health and wellness opportunities to kind of take their quality of life to the next level.

Valerie:
Always looking to move Clayton forward. When we talk about these Pocket Parks, you mentioned a few of the benefits of the Pocket Parks, specifically the health and wellness piece of it. You also mentioned that there was a grant that was written in order to fund these Pocket Parks. Can you tell us a little bit more about the grant?

Chief Merkison:
Sure. So we received notice that the state of Georgia was putting funds out. And they’re state and fiscal local recovery funds, which is a pot of money that the state sets aside for unique opportunities. Specifically, this grant was improving neighborhood outcomes in disproportionately impacted communities. So essentially what that means is these grants were available to communities that had what they call disadvantage census tracts. Right. So, the Department of Community Affairs sets kind of the income thresholds and some other limits that go into identifying these census tracts where maybe they are underserved or where maybe the median household income is below a certain level. So in order to qualify, you had to have some of these census tracts. Clayton County has ten of them. So we looked for areas within these census tracts to put these pocket parks to be able to provide this additional resource to citizens within those census tracts. We wrote four grants, and we were hoping to get one. We didn’t dream that the state would award us all four of them. But they did. So we’re very excited to bring all four of these Pocket Parks to the community.

Valerie:
Absolutely. Now with that, now that we know a little bit more about Pocket Parks and how our residents, and even visitors to our county because it’s not just for Clayton County residents. Right. Let’s talk to Director Nicole Horne. You are newly appointed as director of Parks and Recreation. What are some of your thoughts about Parks and Recreation as you come into this new role?

Nicole:
So as I come into the new role of Parks and Recreation, today is my 91st day. Our idea really is to make sure that we’re engaging the community and getting their input for the programs and services that we’re offering within our parks and recreation facilities and parks, and also to try to get the community to come outside. I think this Pocket Park initiative is a great initiative for us to introduce our residents to outdoor play. We do a lot of video games, we’re in the recreation centers but outdoor and green space is a great place for our community to basically start their parks and recreation needs.

Valerie:
Right. So in conjunction with the Pocket Park initiative, one of the things that you have been very clear about is that you like to engage with the citizens in your role as a leader in Clayton County as well as our parks and as well as the Clayton County Board of Commissioners. We never want to leave the constituents and or our residents out, who is our direct audience. So, working with the Parks and Recreation Department and the Office of Communications. We’ve started this campaign. So let’s tell them about the campaign and how they can participate.

Nicole:
So the new campaign that we have coming out is the picture your Park campaign in, in terms of us trying to get your ideas of the type of signage you would like to see in our parks. As parks and recreation professionals, we’re familiar with our parks. We utilize our parks day in and out, so we don’t necessarily need signs. But for our users, what’s the easiest way for you to navigate your way through our parks? And the best way for us to do that is to ask you which sign works better for you when you’re out in our parks doing your leisure activities. So we thought it was a great way to engage the community and let them have some initiative, some ownership if you will, in these Pocket Park form in the formation of the Pocket Parks.

Valerie:
So with that, throughout the community, whether you’re a visitor or whether you’re a resident of Clayton County, as you ride down the highways and byways of Clayton County, at our intersections, you’ll see signage and our senior centers, the recreation centers, the libraries, as well as on all of our social media pages, and also claytonparks.com. There’s actually a website that residents may also go to, claytonparks.com/pictureyourpark. The campaign is picture your park and as Ms. Nicole just alluded, it’s very important that the citizens be engaged and have an opportunity to say, which sign would you like? There’s at least three options. You can log on to claytonparks.com to find out more information.

But it is the Picture Your Park campaign. You can also scan a QR code if you happen to be near a sign at an intersection or somewhere at one of the recreation centers, the senior centers or the libraries. Anything else you want to tell them?

Nicole:
Well, we just want you all really to get out and participate in this campaign. We want you to picture what you think your park should look like. This is a good opportunity for you to to do that because you belong here in our parks and recreation system.

Valerie:
Absolutely. Chief Merkison I’ll allow you to please give us some closing comments about quality of life or anything that you see fit to talk about this happening here in Clayton County that you want to remind the citizens about.

Chief Merkison:
Yeah, I think as as we close out, I would just want to remind our citizens to, to look for updates on these Pocket Parks and get out and spread the word not only about these Pocket Parts that are coming in some of the opportunities but about all of our parks in Clayton County, and what we have to offer from our youth recreation leagues to the activities that go on in our parks for for seniors. And really, we cover the gamut from, you know, the youngest to to, to the oldest, but not only just targeting our Clayton County citizens, but, you know, if you find yourself commuting through Clayton County and you see one of our Pocket Parks, you need somewhere to pull over and take a phone call or read a book or take a break on your afternoon commute. Leverage this signage, that Ms. Horne is talking about and find your way to a Pocket Park and enjoy it.

Valerie:
Absolutely. Thank you so much, chief. Thank you, Ms. Nicole, for joining us. We’ll see you back here later on the Clayton Connected Podcast.

Valerie (outro):
I’m your hostess Valerie Fuller. Thank you for listening to the Clayton Connected Podcast in Clayton County, Georgia, where the world lands and opportunities take off.