Smith Community Park
As part of our mission to enhance community parks, Greensboro Parks Foundation is supporting an effort to reinvigorate Smith Community Park as a space for multi-generational health, wellness, and community gathering, expanding the reach and possibilities for programming around the Smith Active Adult Center.
Smith Community Park is a 5.4-acre property located within the Cone Mills White Oak Community of northeast Greensboro. It’s surrounded by single family homes and the American Legion Cone Post 386. It is home to the 17,000-square foot Smith Active Adult Center. Built in 1976, Smith Center offers diverse, year-round programs to meet the physical, emotional and cultural needs of adults 50 years old or better. The center is among the department’s most popular indoor recreation centers, with more than 70,000 annual visitors. The park provides active recreation opportunities, with pickleball courts, horseshoe pits, bocce ball courts, a playground, a community garden, open space, and two parking lots.
Where Greensboro Parks Foundation Comes In
Greensboro Parks Foundation was formed in 2006 with the goal of sustaining and enhancing our city’s award-winning parks system by obtaining critically needed funding from sources beyond those provided by the city’s annual appropriations. As Greensboro’s population has grown over the years, the demand for access to vital green spaces and innovative programming has amplified the pressure on the parks system to deliver additional resources to the community.
When Greensboro Parks and Recreation does not have the capacity to meet the demands placed on it, our dedicated team helps secure philanthropic dollars from generous community members and businesses to help fill the funding gap. To achieve this, we rely on our network of supporters who share our passion for the incredible natural beauty of our landscapes, the endless recreational opportunities, and the robust educational programming offered throughout the park system.
Thanks to the generous support of our donors and advocates, we continue investing in a continuously evolving public asset that promotes health and wellness, fosters community connections, and protects our local ecosystem.
We are proud to be the official 501(c)(3) philanthropic partner of Greensboro Parks and Recreation. When you invest in our most treasured community assets—our parks and shared spaces—you are making an impact for generations to come.
Creating a multi-generational outdoor space and expanding access for active older adults.
There are 2,100 residents that live within a 15-minute walk of the park. The median household income for the area is $28,000 per year and 59 percent of workers are in blue collar or service sector jobs.
In 2018, the Parks and Recreation Department engaged Westcott, Small and Associates to design a master plan for the park based upon previous planning work that identified the site’s aging tennis courts as ripe for conversion to pickleball courts. Parks and Recreation hosted community conversations for neighbors and Smith Center members to identify which amenities they would like to see at the park. The top five amenities chosen were pickleball courts, a picnic shelter with restrooms, a walking trail with fitness equipment, a park area with trees, shrubs and flowers, and permanent cornhole infrastructure.
Based on the availability of funding, the Master Plan broke the project up into two phases of development. The first phase, completed in May 2019, converted the two tennis courts into six pickleball courts, updated the parking area and added more ADA access, and installed a new gazebo and seating area. The project was funded with City voter-approved funds as well as private support from the GROWTH Network, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the Junior League of Greensboro, which provided an $8,000 community impact grant.
Key facts for Smith Community Park
Within 15 minute walking radius of the park.
Key facts for Smith Community Park
Phase 2 of the project aims to better support center patrons and members of the surrounding community by providing:
- A paved walking trail and outdoor fitness equipment with a shade structure
- A picnic shelter with restrooms
- Permanent cornhole and horseshoe pits
- Renovations to the community garden and a hydrant for easier watering
- ADA access between park amenities, parking areas and the center
- Additional site improvements, including new landscaping and the removal of an old gravel driveway.
The changes will enable the center to expand outdoor programming, adding new capacity for transformational activities that support the social, emotional and physical wellness of older adults. The park amenities will encourage multi-generational use and interaction, and make better use of what is currently underutilized space.
Example of Horseshoe Court
Example of Picnic Shelter
Example of Corn Hole
Example of Fitness Equipment
Example of Pickleball Courts
Senior Center