Can you provide more detail on this process?

The process is usually used by a municipality to construct a central facility of a park, usually an all ages youth playground. The process typically follows these steps:

  1. The municipality determines a site for a project and determines that a Community Build may be a good approach to completing the project. This usually includes developing a master plan for the park that lays out what potentially could be built on the park grounds.
  2. The municipality reaches out to the community to see if there is interest in the community for a park community build project. Basically are residents and business owners willing to support a community build with their time, talents and financial support?
  3. Once community commitments are in place, the municipality works with a core group of volunteers create a Community Build Committee. This core group typically consists of 20 to 30 volunteers.
  4. The Community Build Committee, with funding help from the municipality, selects a consultant to help lead the design, fund raising, public relations/volunteer recruiting and construction process.
  5. With help from the Consultant and through successful volunteer recruiting the Committee adds members to form sub-committees, typically a design committee, public relations committee, fund raising committee and build (construction) committee.
  6. For youth playground projects, the Consultant typically holds a Design Day, where they enter the local elementary school(s) to solicit youth ideas on what should be in the park usually in the form of a ‘drawing contest’. The best, constructible ideas are then incorporated into the design.
  7. The Consultant works with the Committee to design the park project.
  8. The Consultant works with the Committee to help promote the park project and recruit volunteers.
  9. The Consultant works with the Committee to develop funding for the project, usually a combination of fundraising, grant monies, in kind donations, utilization of municipal staff and equipment, and some public funding.
  10. The Consultant works with the Committee to help organize and manage the construction phase. The Consultant provides a construction foreman during construction to help coordinate the volunteers who are building the park and to ensure it is constructed as designed.