UPCO Park Outdoor Fitness Center
Community Development Project
Improving Neighborhood Health and Vitality
Strong and healthy neighborhoods benefit everyone. Our community development projects began as an outgrowth of our annual outdoor health and wellness festival, Streets Alive! Between 2011 and 2023, Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln organized and sponsored Streets Alive!, a one-day event that promoted good nutrition and active living. For the event, we collaborated with medically underserved neighborhoods that served as co-hosts for Streets Alive! to take health and wellness education and resources throughout 2 miles of neighborhood streets to encourage people to walk or bike the route. The festivals welcomed thousands of visitors each year and showcased the host neighborhood. Streets Alive! is on hiatus in 2024 to give us time to refresh, reinvent, and reimagine the festival. Change is good!
In 2017, we began working with the neighborhoods that hosted Streets Alive! to identify and implement projects that could enhance neighborhood health through improved access to physical activity opportunities, walkability, and safety. We collaborated with the host neighborhoods, Lincoln Parks and Recreation, community organizations, and other sponsors to make a lasting positive impact through a community development project that would not only benefit the host neighborhood but add to the beauty, safety, and well-being of our entire city.
UPCO Park Community Development Project
University Place, co-host of Streets Alive! in 2022 and 2023, is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. In collaboration with the University Place Community Organization, Lincoln Parks & Recreation, and neighborhood stakeholders, Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln identified a project that would improve the health of University Place residents through providing additional access to safe physical activity opportunities within the neighborhood hub, UPCO Park. The project funded a free outdoor activity center with fitness equipment and free fitness classes, suitable for older youth, adults of all ages and those with varying abilities. The site is adjacent to a children playground so families can be active together.
Sponsors
We have been fortunate to partner with Lincoln Parks and Recreation, the Lincoln Parks Foundation, and our host neighborhoods on project ideas that will improve neighborhood walkability and vitality. Their generous support and community sponsors like the Nebraska Presbyterian Foundation, Ameritas, Black Hill Energy, and Bison, Inc. who believe in investing in the health of our neighborhoods, are critical in bringing these projects to fruition.
