Link to Quality Play for All

Junction City officials have received notice from the office of Governor Sam Brownback that the City has been awarded a Community Improvement grant of $188,244 through the Kansas Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program. The award will help provide funding for a planned upgrade of the Fifth Street Playground Park in Junction City.

A local group, The Quality Play for All Committee, has spearheaded this project, and the City then applied for the CDBG grant.

The Director of Marketing for the committee, Kendall Schoenrock. stated they are trying to do two phases in terms of the playground equipment. The first phase would involve putting a new piece of playground equipment on site next summer. with the major renovation in the fall 2018 time frame. ” We have other goals and other things in addition to the grant that we still need to raise some money for. And that’s what we’re going on to be focused here on in the next quarter, the first half of this year.”

Long term Schoenrock noted improvement plans will focus on FIfth Street Park, updating the playground equipment and making it safe by doing a lot of flooring that is safe for the children. Longer term there would be some help for other parks, potentially on Grant Avenue or elsewhere in the community.

The City Commission in 2017 also agreed to support a local match to help with the project.

In the letter notifying the City officials were told the CDBG funds being awarded are contingent upon the state’s receipt of the funds from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, and the award is contingent upon successful completion of appropriate contractual conditions.