In early 2022, President-Elect John Carruth was deep in planning for his upcoming year as president starting in July 2022. In a conversation with then Roswell Recreation and Parks Department Director Jeff Leatherman, John and Jeff discussed ideas about possible ways Roswell Rotary could be of service to the City’s parks. Jeff let John know of a little-known, little-used, undeveloped park in the Liberty Square neighborhood near Mimosa Elementary School, a neighborhood populated by low-to-moderate income, mostly Hispanic, families.

The working idea was to apply for a District 6900 Community Grant to fund a pavilion that the club would erect as a service project. The proposal also included using design and engineering expertise within the club to help masterplan improvements that City could undertake with time.

When Roswell Rotary was not awarded the grant, the Club’s Charity Committee and Board of Directors adopted the concept of a larger project using part of the proceeds from the golf and tennis tournament fundraiser to expand the project scope. As the ideas developed, increasingly this undeveloped parkland became more known to Mayor, City Council, and Recreation Commission members. With that, some concern was expressed that the limited improvements envisaged by Roswell Rotary would result in a park not on par with the quality of other parks in the City.

Just as it looked like this service project might not go forward, the City learned of a new grant opportunity from the State of Georgia for improvements in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The census tract including Liberty Square was the only one in Roswell that met the criteria. In September 2022, Roswell Rotary joined the efforts of the City in applying for the grant. In May 2023, the City was awarded a $2.2 million grant for the complete redevelopment of Liberty Square Park.

What started as an idea for a modest club service project in a disadvantaged part of our city has blossomed into the full makeover of the Liberty Square Park with the approval by the City Council last month to move forward with the redesign and implementation. Learn more about the proposed improvements and timeline at Roswell Moves Forward on Liberty Square Park Redevelopment.