Resources and News Prop 68 Park Grants

Interwest knows that “Parks Make Life Better”! For that reason, we collaborated with two cities to apply for Proposition 68 funding to create and renovate park space in their communities and ultimately improve the quality of their residents’ lives.

Interwest partnered separately with the Cities of Perris and San Gabriel to apply for Prop 68 funding this summer by organizing and attending community engagement events, making presentations to City Council on progress and resident input, and packaging the final application for consideration. We were proud to be part of these Cities’ efforts to improve the quality of life of their residents by making safe, accessible and inclusive outdoor space a priority.

Parks should be a place where residents of all ages can engage in healthy, outdoor activities and gather safely for family-friendly fun. In the spirit of making park space more accessible in our cities, Proposition 68 made $254,942,000 of competitive grant funding available from the California Department of Parks and Recreation in order to improve existing parks and create new parks. To be eligible for funding, communities must have less than an acre of park land per 1,000 residents and must engage with the surrounding community to ensure that the park will include the feedback and priorities of those who will use it most.

Interwest staff had the opportunity to participate in several community engagement activities for the City of Perris, including a concert in the park, a visit to a senior center, a gymnasium event geared towards local teenagers, and several events where children were encouraged to design their own dream park. At each event, attendees were asked about their ideal amenities and weigh-in on what mattered most for them. Finally, the City hosted an event on the proposed park site with posters displaying the survey results and the proposed park design. Though the project site is currently just an empty lot, residents of all ages came to enjoy food, a rock-climbing wall, and to see how the City incorporated their priorities and desires into a beautiful plan for their future park.