Archdale Park Improvements

Background

Archdale Park is located at 5400 Cherrycrest Lane, Charlotte, North Carolina. This 16.6 acre park already boasted a basketball court, picnic shelter, playground, and multipurpose field. In 2023, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation utilized a $4 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant to reinvest in existing amenities and make improvements to the park. Civility Localized was retained to engage the community to help Park & Rec envision the parkland in a way that would serve and reflect the neighborhood. Public engagement and outreach was held over an 8-month process led by the County, McAdams Design Firm, and Civility Localized.

What We Did

Civility Localized developed outreach strategy and conducted stakeholder development. The team planned a virtual Stakeholders Workshop and two in-person Open House events. For these events, Civility Localized design team developed flyers, postcards, QR Codes, and conducted PR/media outreach.

Civility Localized also promoted an online survey to gather public input.

Civility Localized provided engagement and promotional materials to County staff for special event attendance. This included:

Engagement summary report
Translation of Materials to Spanish: Choice Translation
Developed Online Survey (shared at events and online via County platforms)

Challenges

Archdale Park is situated in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual community of mixed-income residents. There are also a wide range of businesses, houses of worship, and public facilities. Reaching into this deeply diverse community required equitable engagement practices and innovative strategies to remove barriers to participation.