St. Vartan Park Garden Five-Phase Equity Plan

Led by Kevin O’Keefe, St. Vartan Park Conservancy in cooperation with NYC Parks completed a St. Vartan Park garden equity plan that values inclusivity, diversity, mental health and other community needs in accord with New York State human rights law.

The five-phase plan:

1. Convince NYC Parks to open the garden to the general public for a trial run and steward the space to show that the garden should stay open [2021-2022]

2. Open the garden on a permanent public schedule and launch St. Vartan Park Conservancy to bring more progress to the garden, park and park community [2022]

3. Remove the garden’s inner wire fencing that had blocked entry to a significant part of the garden [2023]

4. Launch public programming and extended public hours for the garden [2023-2024]

5. Provide garden accessibility to visitors of all abilities with the addition of an ADA-accessible entrance and pathway [2024]