Accountability

5k runs, community festivals, concerts, and softball tournaments. Students went to the
park and interviewed its current users. They talked to people from all different age
groups about what they wanted out of the park (better lighting, access to bathrooms, a
nicer playground, a skate park.) They collected memorabilia, historic photographs, and
documented their interviews, eventually compiling a report of their findings and
producing a short video to document the social history and physical deterioration of the
park.
Inspired by the students’ work and vision, the Llano Grande Center arranged a
presentation before the City Council. Backed up by their findings and video
documentation, the students made their case for a redesign of the park. The Council
was impressed. They promised to match $10,000 in student-raised funds for the
renovation of the park and commissioned a student advisory committee on the project.
Unfortunately, little came of the officials’ promises.
However, the project didn’t end there. In 2006, the students presented their video to a
group of educators, one of whom connected them to the City of Neighborhoods program
at the Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design in New York. Run by the Cooper-
Hewitt’s education department, the project encourages civic engagement by teaching
problem solving through the lens of design. City of Neighborhoods works with teachers
and students across the country, fostering projects in Birmingham, Long Beach,
Brooklyn, and in the 9th ward in New Orleans. Two Edcouch-Elsa students were invited
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