#PeopleofNEI: Megan, building a community experience on the riverfront

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Northeast Indiana is evolving. These are the people shaping its future. #PeopleofNEI

This week’s feature:

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Megan is the Program & Events Manager for Riverfront Fort Wayne and is photographed from the new Parkview Tree Canopy Trail. She is one of many that have been working tirelessly on the grand opening of Promenade Park. She talks about how her childhood and her community are impacting how this new space will be programmed. “Promenade Park is the first place in our community that is completely and genuinely for everyone. We have removed all barriers including socioeconomic barriers. We want everyone in Fort Wayne to feel like they are part of the Fort Wayne family. If Fort Wayne is the home, we want Promenade Park to feel like the living room. It is going to provide a green space for everyone living and working in this urban environment that surrounds it. It will serve as the green jewel in the crown of Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne is my home. My roots are here. For a significant time, I wanted to deny or fight it or move away from it, but I realized that where you come from is who you are. If you don’t like it, you have an obligation to change it for the better. I grew up in a dysfunctional home and was homeless for periods of my childhood. There were many community experiences that were not open to me. Promenade Park changes that for everyone including those that are struggling. This park won’t change the struggle, but it provides a community experience no matter what part of the community you are coming from. Now, I am a single mom of two boys. My sons will get to grow up on the rivers. That’s a privilege. They see the struggles and triumphs, and I hope that they see the perseverance and hard work. Great things come from those two things. I’m excited for them to use Promenade Park as a way to get to know people from different parts of the community. I want them to play with kids that look different from them, and take a boat ride or eat a sandwich on the steps of the park with different people from the community.” #PeopleofNEI

A post shared by Input Fort Wayne (@inputfortwayne) on Aug 6, 2019 at 11:17am PDT

#PeopleofNEI: Megan, building a community experience on the riverfront

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