LEARN ABOUT the first PARK in Georgia named after a latinx: A Family-friendly PARK THAT SERVES COMMUNITY AND HONORS DIVERSITY

In 2009, a year after the death of her mother, Ms. González's youngest daughter, journalist and Presidential Leadership Scholar Isabel González Whitaker, worked with engaged neighbors, Mayor Shirley Franklin, civic and city leaders including Atlanta City Council President Felicia A. Moore and Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Fulton County Robb Pitts to rename Coronet Way Park—a small, austere park in a culturally diverse neighborhood and walking distance from where her mother had lived for 30 years. The park would be renamed for her mother and established to honor the values of family, community, diversity, inclusiveness and tolerance.

With support from Ralph de la Vega, the former Vice Chairman of AT&T; Atlanta’s leading park non profit, Park Pride; her family; park neighbors and community leaders the park was officially renamed in 2009, and the Friends of Sara J. González Park was established through Park Pride, the premiere Atlanta parks improvement organization and operating 501(c)3.

Since 2010, Isabel has led annual clean ups and plantings with family, neighbors and the community. In 2017, the Friends of Sara J. González Park received a significant endowment from EDENS, the developer of the Moores Mill Center and Publix Super Market on Bolton Road.

That same year, Ms. González Whitaker applied for the Park Pride Legacy Grant. With guidance from City of Atlanta Urban Planner Daniel Calvert and Project Manager Patrick Hand, the Friends of Sara J. González Park received a $100,000 grant funded by the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation.

A community-based visioning committee was established to work with the Friends of Sara J. González Park, city officials and the project manager to create consensus on a plan for the funds. Ms. González Whitaker led the quarterly meetings, which yielded four pillars for the plan that align with the park's themes of diversity, inclusion, family and unity while providing enriching equity features for a traditionally disadvantaged community: (1) make the park ADA-compliant; (2) ensure the playground design is all-abilities; (3) build a soccer field for children’s play; (4) create a legacy plaza to reflect themes of inclusiveness and cultural diversity.

In March 2018, The Sara J. González Park received the prestigious Park Pride Inspiration Award for the work efforted. The groundbreaking for the park's enhancements including the city’s first bilingual instructional/directional signs, took place May 2018 with a ribbon cutting attended by the neighbors, community representatives, media and city and county officials including: Atlanta City Council President Hon. Felicia A. Moore, Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts, District 9 Atlanta City Council Member Dustin Hillis, Commissioner of Parks and Recreation for the City, Amy Phuong. In August 2018, Georgia Power Foundation generously provided the support for the build out of the first ever "Learning Nook" in an Atlanta city park. Inspired by Teacher of the Year José Manuel Osorio who held after school ESOL lessons with students at the park using his own folding metal chairs and plastic card table, this custom fabricated education space is designed as a shaded seating area with electricity for laptops, comfortable seating for 10-15 students (including wheelchairs) and a desk with the goal of providing safe and focused educational gatherings. Cox Enterprises and the Trust for Public Land named Isabel González Whitaker in September of that year Atlanta’s 2018 Cox Conserves Hero in recognition of the park’s positive community impact. The park's dedication took place in October 2018 with a keynote address by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

In December 2018, the park received another significant grant from Park Pride to prep land for a children’s soccer field, complete the Learning Nook, and to debut the Officer Edgar Flores Memorial Learning Garden the first ever Latin ethnobotanical community garden in Atlanta, which also received support from the Chick-Fil-A Foundation.

In 2018, González Whitaker enlisted the leadership of Atlanta-based community advocate and urban agriculturalist Sofia Marie Aun to ideate and execute the Officer Edgar Flores Memorial Learning Garden, the first Latin ethnobotanical garden in an Atlanta park and which was created with support from Prof. Paul Duncan of the University of Georgia’s Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute. The garden is dedicated to the legacy of DeKalb County Police Officer Edgar Flores, the first Latino officer shot and killed in the line of duty (December, 2018). Aun worked closely with the Flores family and loved ones to formally legislate the establishment of the garden, and led quarterly volunteer events as well as developed programming for park. In July 2019, Aun was invited by the Office of Mayor Bottoms to speak at the Mayor’s 2020 Census Block Party at the park, which saw 350 in attendance. In October 2019, the Learning Nook, irrigation for the soccer field, and the Officer Edgar Flores Memorial Community Garden debuted with addresses by the Flores family, Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields, DeKalb County COO for Public Safety Joseph Lumpkin, and Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner John Dargle, Jr.

More recent developments include the 2022 launch of Sprouting Readers in partnership with Emory University’s Urban Health Initiative and created with support from park supporter Elizabeth Wickland; the debut of the children’s soccer field in 2022 thanks to a generous grant from Park Pride, as well as the announcement of Sandy Feliciano as the new Community Engagement Director of the park (Sofia stays on as advisor). 2023 saw the unveiling of important enrichment features that continue to live out the park’s values: a new water fountain and all-abilities swing-set, thanks to Sofia Marie Aun and Truist; a “Read in Color” diversity-centric lending library thanks to supporter Carmen Rita Wong; seating for the children’s soccer field thanks to Atlanta Parks and Rec; and the park’s first permanent art installation thanks to Savannah College Art and Design’s Paint our Parks program.

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