New Cleveland Park Opening Day

This article is originally from ACE Mentor Program Cleveland on October 31, 2022.

Opening day for the new Cleveland park on East 71st Street was held on Saturday, October 22nd. In conjunction with the Architecture, Construction & Engineering (ACE) Mentor Program Cleveland, Midtown Cleveland, Inc., The Cleveland Foundation, Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Next Generation Construction, Vocon helped to fine-tune and implement the inaugural park design that ACE Summer Experience students in summer of 2021. The student’s vision for the Cleveland park focused on adding more usable green space in Midtown to satisfy the community need for safe and healthy gathering spaces. It is situated between East 71st Street and East 72nd place on Chester Ave and includes two parcels of land amounting to approximately 12,380 square feet of space.

The new Cleveland park was rescued from forgotten land along Chester Avenue in Midtown Cleveland. It incorporates seating built by ACE students and new landscaping and charcoal grills. Thanks to a donation from The Cleveland Foundation, this new public amenity provides much-needed green space for the nearby Hough neighborhood. Future phases of this space will incorporate additional seating, low-impact workout equipment and a dog park for both small and large furry friends.

The mission of the ACE Mentor Cleveland program is to develop architecture, construction, and engineering career pathways for students. The six-week program includes sustainability related education, career/professional development, placement with an employer and for most participants a paid stipend totaling $3,000+. It engages roughly 200 students from 11 high schools in the Greater Cleveland area. Over the last 14 years, the Cleveland ACE program has provided over $1,400,000 in scholarships to over 190 college students.