Mayor announces upgrades to Bensonhurst, Gravesend and Bath Beach schoolyards

The schoolyards of four schools in southwest Brooklyn are among 10 new sites added to the Schoolyards to Playgrounds program, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced on Friday, July 21.

The schoolyards of P.S. 95 in Gravesend (345 Van Sicklen Street), I.S. 288 David A. Boody in Gravesend (228 Avenue S), P.S. 163 in Bath Beach (109 Bay 14th Street) and P.S. 177 in Bensonhurst (346 Avenue P) have been slated for capital renovations and minor improvements.

“Schoolyards to Playgrounds is a powerful partnership founded on the belief that public spaces are where our communities thrive. These 10 new sites are targeted strategically in neighborhoods with below-average access to public space, and will bring even more New York City families within a walk to a park where they can play, relax, and grow,” said New York City Parks Department Commissioner Mitchell Silver.

The schoolyards will be open as a play space during non-school hours, soon joining 251 other schoolyards across the city that are already open in that capacity. Each schoolyard will receive up to $3 million in improvements, along with $70,000 in annual funding from the city’s Department of Education for labor and supplies.

With $18.2 million in funding coming from the Parks Department and $6 million coming from Community Development Block Grants, the Schoolyards to Playgrounds program seeks to bring 85 percent of New Yorkers within walking distance of a park by 2030.