Do you have an idea of what you'd like to see at our local parks? Well, now is your opportunity to have your voice heard when it comes to park projects. Beginning today, applications are open for Fayette County residents — of all ages — to submit a proposal for the Lexington Park Equity Accelerator (LPEA).

About the accelerator

In 2021, the city announced it would be joining the 10-Minute Walk Campaign — meaning 100% of Lexington residents would live within a 10-minute walk to a park or green space by 2050. The LPEA was created to help facilitate that goal.

LPEA is one of six programs supported nationally by the Trust for Public Land, which has given the project a $182,000 grant. An equivalent amount of in-kind technical assistance will be given to Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government as well.

Locally, the collaborative project is led by the city's Division of Parks & Recreation, Division of Planning, CivicLex, and Seedleaf.

The main goal of the Accelerator is to use community input to craft public policy that increases access to green space through the development of new parks + public land-use planning. The committee has done this by:

Addressing disparities in access to public green space.
Educating residents most impacted by these inequities on how green space policy is created.
Developing new ways to bring residents into the policy creation process.

Get involved

Now that the community input sessions have finished, Fayette County residents are invited to submit a proposal for up to $1,000 for a project that includes the following aspects for policy- and decision-making:

Advocacy
Belonging
Connectivity
Equity

Applications will be accepted through Friday, Sept. 22 and reviewed by a selection committee made up of staff from Parks & Recreation, Div. of Planning, and fellow residents.