Built with Park in a Truck

Parks built so far

Neighbors have already used this toolkit to build real parks around Philadelphia. Here's where, with what's known about each — click a pin or a card for the story, photos and press.

See the interactive map online, or the list of parks below.

Cecil Street Garden

Kingsessing Avenue & Cecil Street, Philadelphia, PA 19143 · Kingsessing, Southwest Philadelphia

A community garden on a reclaimed Kingsessing corner lot, listed in the Park in a Truck toolkit as "Cecil Street Park" and used as a planting-prototype site with LandHealth Nursery. It's since become part of a federally funded pollinator-habitat network linking several Southwest Philadelphia Park in a Truck sites, planted with native trees and echinacea. Resident Victoria Miles-Chambliss: "Our block has really changed since we put in the garden. It's like an oasis in the middle of Southwest Philadelphia."

Source: Park in a Truck toolkit p.69 acknowledgments; Grid Magazine

Melon Street Park

38th & Melon Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19104 · Mantua, West Philadelphia · opened 2019

Park in a Truck's first-ever park, opened October 2019 on a vacant Mantua lot (about 2,400 sq ft). Mantua Civic Association president DeWayne Drummond: "The ground that we're standing on right now, it was a vacant lot. Now, it's beautified by community members and the youth." Founder Kim Douglas describes it as a park that "can drain stormwater, grow plants, provide habitat for wildlife, and host entertainment."

Source: Park in a Truck toolkit pp.7-13, 39, 66-69; Jefferson news

Glenda Anne Memorial Park

5900 Greenway Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19143 · Kingsessing, Southwest Philadelphia · opened 2019

Dedicated August 3, 2019 on a formerly-dumped-on lot, with 200+ neighbors and elected officials attending; Glenda Ann Christopher's family accepted the park as her memorial (press coverage spells it "Glenda Ann Christopher Memorial Park"). A pollinator garden was added in spring 2023 — organizer Greg Thompson: "A week or two after it went in they were there — bees, birds, butterflies and a lot more insects than we've ever seen." A second dedication in June 2024 celebrated that addition; youth volunteer Semaj Flores: "We got involved in this for the environment and for the youth to help younger kids that's dealing with gun violence."

Video: Transforming Neighborhoods, One Park at a Time — Built by the Community, for the Community

Transforming Neighborhoods, One Park at a Time — Built by the Community, for the Community · Thomas Jefferson University

Source: CBS News Philadelphia; Grid Magazine; Park in a Truck toolkit p.69 acknowledgments

S 60th St & Greenway Ave

S 60th Street & Greenway Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19143 · Kingsessing, Southwest Philadelphia

A Park in a Truck site a block from Glenda Anne Memorial Park, in the same Kingsessing greening corridor — listed in the toolkit's acknowledgments (credited to Ted Behr, Southwest Globe Times) as a separate line from Glenda Anne. No press coverage names this lot distinctly from Glenda Anne Memorial Park; treat the two as related but separate sites until confirmed otherwise.

Source: Park in a Truck toolkit p.69 acknowledgments ('6oth and Greenway'); unconfirmed beyond that

Dover Street Pocket Park

1322 N Dover Street, Philadelphia, PA 19121 · Brewerytown, North Philadelphia

Listed on Park in a Truck's own site directory. It postdates the published toolkit (not in its acknowledgments) and no independent news coverage was found — details beyond the address are not yet confirmed.

Source: Park in a Truck Linktree only; unconfirmed elsewhere

Tilden Middle School

6601 Elmwood Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19142 · Elmwood Park, Southwest Philadelphia

Students built a pollinator/habitat garden at Tilden Middle School as part of the same Southwest Philadelphia pollinator network that includes Cecil Street Garden, funded in part by Pew Charitable Trusts through Audubon Mid-Atlantic with Park in a Truck as a partner. Youth are paid through PiaT's Park Ambassador program to maintain it and monitor pollinators.

A network of habitats for birds and bees is blooming in Southwest Philadelphia (Grid Magazine, Apr 2024)

Source: Grid Magazine; Park in a Truck Linktree

Streetscape of Brewerytown Garden

Brewerytown, Philadelphia, PA 19121 · Brewerytown, North Philadelphia

Listed on Park in a Truck's own site directory, near Dover Street Pocket Park in Brewerytown. This is a different project from Neighborhood Gardens Trust's unrelated "Brewerytown Garden" at 27th & Master St. No independent news coverage was found — details beyond the approximate location are not yet confirmed.

Source: Park in a Truck Linktree only; unconfirmed elsewhere