Local nonprofit Hope Included, in partnership with Chattanooga Parks & Outdoors and Play & Park Structures, will redevelop Riverview Park into an inclusive space designed to promote play among children of different abilities, ages and communities.
A $500,000 inclusive playground and facility grant from the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities will partially fund the $1 million redevelopment.
Hope Included is one of seven organizations and communities across the state to receive this funding and is the sole recipient in Chattanooga.
In addition to designing the playground, Play & Park is providing a matching funds grant for the equipment.
Individual pledges and donations from the community have reached over $420,000. Hope Included aims to raise the remainder of the fundraising goal in the coming months to finalize the project.
Construction is slated for completion in summer of 2024.
Nicolle McCoy founded Hope Included after the 2019 passing of her daughter, Hope, from a rare condition called Xia-Gibbs Syndrome.
“I took Hope to Riverview Park to play during our six beautiful years together, and her physical and occupational therapists would use the park as a therapy site,” McCoy says. “We recognized the limitations of the park for children with disabilities and envisioned a more inclusive place to support the needs of all children.”
Donate and learn more at www.hopeincluded.org.