Blackwell Park Reimagined as a Community-Centered Green Space
Volunteers pose with Southside ReLeaf staff in October 2025 to celebrate the installation of raised beds at Blackwell Park’s new community garden, which also has four new fruit trees.
Blackwell Park — an important gathering space in South Richmond — had long been underinvested and lacked the quality green infrastructure and amenities needed to support community health, recreation, and climate resilience. Southside ReLeaf partnered with city agencies, nonprofits, and technical experts to transform Blackwell Park through green infrastructure and community-driven design beginning in 2018 and concluding in 2025. We led extensive resident engagement — hosting meetings, collecting input, and incorporating community priorities into the final plans — while supporting the development of new amenities like walking trails, a nature-based playground, pollinator gardens, and a community garden with fruit trees.
This project was a collaboration among the Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities, the Richmond Department of Public Utilities, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Timmons Group, and the Richmond Office of Sustainability, alongside Blackwell residents who helped shape the park's vision.
Impact:
Created a revitalized park with new recreational amenities and safer, more accessible green space for residents and families.
Planted 193 trees and 3,167 native plants throughout the park and along 15th Street to support cooler temperatures, improved air and water quality, reduced stormwater runoff, and wildlife habitats.
Installed 975 square feet of bioretention to improve water quality by capturing and filtering stormwater runoff before it reaches the James River.
Installed a 9,500 square foot permeable parking lot, allowing precipitation to seep through the surface into the underlying soil, mitigating flooding, filtering pollutants, and restoring natural water tables.
Increased climate resilience through reduced flooding, expanded tree canopy, lower urban heat, and restored habitat.
Established pollinator gardens that support biodiversity, pollinator health, and environmental education opportunities.
Expanded opportunities for local food access and community stewardship through a new community garden and fruit trees.
Delivered a community-informed design that reflects neighborhood priorities and encourages long-term community use of the park.
Strengthened cross-sector partnerships among nonprofits, technical experts, residents, and city agencies to support future green infrastructure collaboration in Richmond.
Established a replicable model for integrating green infrastructure, recreation, environmental restoration, and public health investments in historically underserved communities.
Celebrated the grand reopening of Blackwell Park with a community ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 8, 2025.
Blackwell community members gather to provide input on proposed upgrades for Blackwell Park in April 2023.
Bioretention is installed in March 2025 between the shelter and basketball courts to slow, store, and filter stormwater runoff from the courts and park site.
Work begins on a new permeable parking lot in March 2025, to allow water to drain through the surface.
Southside ReLeaf co-founder Amy Wentz speaks at the podium with Reverend Dana Sally-Allen at the ribbon cutting for Blackwell Park in November 2025.