The WBNA Friends of Dexter Training Ground Park is a “friends” group of one of the most heavily-used and prominent parks in Providence, Rhode Island.  Working through our parent group the West Broadway Neighborhood Association (WBNA), the Friends of Dexter Training Ground Park group organizes neighbors for the purpose of advocating for, maintaining, promoting, and celebrating the Dexter Training Ground Park.

The Dexter Training Ground park is a 9-acre city park on the West Side of Providence, Rhode Island.  It is one of the most heavily-used parks in the city and has the benefit of being used by people of diverse ages, incomes, and ethnic backgrounds.  On one end of the park is the nationally renowned Cranston Street Armory built in 1907 that looks like a magnificent castle.

As beautiful and vital as the Dexter Training Ground is, the park has not been adequately cared for. Examples of this include:

• Constantly overflowing trashcans
• If playground equipment is tagged with graffiti it is not removed.
• If a bench is damaged or loses a bolt it is removed rather than repaired and resecured

This frustrates neighbors.  The WBNA, the neighborhood association that was formed by neighbors to advocate for better care in the entire neighborhood, has made some good strides towards positive change, yet needs the more focused help of a specifically dedicated Friends Group for the park.  Five years ago WBNA brought the community together to rebuild the playground through a grant they secured.  They also got the parks department to install dog bag dispensers, new trashcans, and new benches and have gotten grants to plant trees. While these improvements were appreciated the trash still overflows, the city refuses to refill the dispensers, and the equipment is not properly maintained by the city.

As an organized group focused on the park, we are able to take on issues such as:

• Finding  volunteers to refill the dog bag dispensers,
• Creating a phone tree of neighbors to email/call the city when trash needs to be dumped, graffiti removed, benches repaired
• Schedule annual maintenance of playground equipment and long-term care of trees
• Make long-term planning decisions with the Parks Department such as adding a Gazebo for performances in the park, lighting the statue of Ebenezer Knight Dexter, getting tree species labels on significant trees
• Write grants for additional equipment such as benches and trees
• Have a representative on Citywide Green, a city group that advocates for green spaces throughout the city.
• Work with other groups such as garden clubs to increase plantings and beautification of the park
• Create signage that denotes the significance and history of the park

In a short time, the Friends Group has accomplished a lot. Accomplishments include:

• Working with the Parks Department and the Providence Dog Park Association, successfully had the unofficial off-leash area designated as Providence’s second official off–leash area!
• Held a well-attended Fall 2006 cleanup of the park. We picked up litter, painted benches and playground equipment, cleaned grafitti, and raked mulch in the playground area.
• Opened dialog and developing working relationship with the Providence Parks dept to make them aware of maintenance issues such as trash pickup, playground equipment maintenance, bench replacement, etc.
• Refilled Doggie Bag dispensers and installed two new dispensers by the off leash area
• Coordinated the planting of two donated trees near the off leash area
• Coordinated the trimming of trees in the park, creating a line of sight across the park to promote safety and discourage loitering and illegal activities.
• Coordinated with the Traffic Dept to replace Hollywood Roadstreet sign
• Met with Citywide Green and other groups to develop working relationships.