University Area Community Development Corporation (UACDC) will break ground for the seven acre Harvest Hope Park on Wednesday, March 8 at 13704 North 20 St., Tampa, 33612, in the heart of the University Area Community.
All are welcome to attend this free event, which will be begin at 9:30 a.m. with a breakfast prepared from ingredients, in part, harvested from the Harvest Hope Park community garden. A ceremony will follow at 10 a.m., with tours at 11 a.m. Local artists will create live art in the park while Prodigy Moves displays their mobile classroom.
After two years of planning, a recent $423,000 Community Development Block Grant, awarded by Hillsborough County Affordable Housing, is making it possible to proceed to the long-awaited next phase of Harvest Hope Park, Phase II.
Phase II begins with this initial ground breaking, in preparation for construction set to begin on several exciting components: a multi-purpose sports field, walking trails and infrastructure improvements. Infrastructure improvements will include upgraded sidewalks, lighting, landscaping, irrigation and parking. A community garden already is in place, as is the Harvest Hope Center, which includes a kitchen to be used for teaching purposes.
Phase II of the Harvest Hope Park will be completed by December 2017.
Phase III will include completion of a tilapia fish pond, a playground, outdoor fitness stations and signage. The final stage, phase IV, will entail remodeling the Harvest Hope Center, which includes a full learning kitchen, community meeting space and offices from which to run community programming.
UACDC is the first organization to be awarded the Treasure Tampa (T²) grant, in the amount of $30,000, from the Gobioff Foundation. These monies will be utilized for the creation of three to five dynamic art installations by local artists for the UACDC Art in the Park program. This is scheduled to begin by August 2017.
