What Makes a Place "the Best Place to Raise a Child?"

At Valley In Motion, we learn from our partners and peers across the country and directly apply that knowledge to our work at home. Collaboration is a hallmark of VIM’s approach to carrying out our mission to build quality of life in the Lackawanna Valley. 

Last November, VIM had the honor of being invited to participate in a national forum exploring the powerful intersection of parks, green space, and public housing. Common Yards: Green Space and Public Housing Reimagined, was a joint effort of Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the

benefits and joys of the outdoors, and Design Trust for Public Space, a nonprofit that unlocks the potential of New York’s public spaces, catalyzing design ideas into action for a more just and equitable city. 

One of the greatest opportunities presented to VIM at Common Yards was the chance to learn how other cities across the country are engaged in this important work and how they approach the development of their public spaces in general. 

We were struck by the simple, but profoundly impactful key pillar of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ Atlanta Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative. The plan’s “North Star” is making Atlanta the best place to raise a child. “When a child thrives in Atlanta – Atlanta thrives,” said Mayor Dickens. “We have an opportunity to serve as architects for a brighter future where leaders, residents, partners and organizations are all working toward the same goal: Stronger neighborhoods for all Atlantans.” 

The initiative brings together public agencies, community residents, and the private sector – into a “group project,” as it is branded – to accomplish this goal through eight different focus areas of public life: 

• Affordable housing for all 

• Public safety for all 

• Youth development and education for all 

• Public spaces for all 

• Transit for all 

• Health and wellness for all 

• Economic opportunity for all 

• Dependable government for all 

  
  

After learning about Atlanta’s guiding principle, we have been considering that very idea as a framework for our own work in Carbondale, where VIM is connecting people to the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail, to the Lackawanna River, to school, shopping, work, and home. We are examining our proposals with these thoughts in mind: 

What would make Carbondale the best place to bring or raise a child? How could those considerations improve public spaces for everyone? 

VIM most directly operates within the realm of three of the eight building blocks that Atlanta highlights: public spaces, health and wellness, and public transit for all. Our Outdoor Towns work in Carbondale, funded by the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, supports work in all three of these areas. In collaboration with the City and with NeighborWorks Northeastern Pennsylvania, we are proposing public space improvements that both enhance or expand existing assets, like NeighborWorks’ Trailhead Park at the YMCA, and introduce new ones, like the Seventh Avenue Extension. 

The Seventh Avenue Extension is a pedestrian- and bicyclist-focused infrastructure proposal that would connect disparate, but proximate portions of the city. It includes new sidewalks, crosswalks, stop signs, separated biking and walking trails, and bike parking and amenities that would significantly increase connectivity, safety, and convenience for walkers, bikers, and drivers alike. The improvements would provide increased access to school, employment centers, the shopping center, downtown Carbondale and the neighborhoods surrounding it, and to the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail.  

Because of the connectivity they support, these proposed improvements, though not extensive, can significantly improve the daily lives of Carbondale residents and the experiences of its visitors. The plan proposes rerouting pedestrians and bicyclists from along Route 6, a highly traveled, high speed corridor, to the northern side of the shopping center, to newly created, tree-lined sidewalks and paths that would traverse from east to west and connect to additional sidewalk and bicycle infrastructure (either on-road sharrows or separated lanes, depending on road-width) along Seventh Avenue in downtown. 

Let’s return to the idea of creating the best place to raise a child, specifically in the context of this proposal. Imagine you’re a: 

• Tween, with freshly-granted permission to walk about. With these proposed improvements, you and your friends can more safely walk from school to the shopping center, to downtown, to the YMCA, your after-school destination to play basketball. 

• Grandparent, picking your grandchild up from school and going for a snack at Chipotle. Rather than having to navigate traffic and turning lanes, you can bypass the vehicular traffic entirely, walking safely to the school and back to the shopping center, where you parked your car. 

• Family living in the neighborhood east of downtown, walking an older child to school, pushing a baby in a stroller, and then safely heading back to downtown to run errands, walk the trail, or pass the time in Memorial Park. 

  
  

This effort to bring modern infrastructure for modern families has significant spillover effects. The idea of using ‘the best place to raise a child” as a frame involves more than solely determining what benefits a child; it also means improving the agency of a child’s caretakers – and, notably, extending the benefits beyond those who are not direct caretakers of children.  

That is because the benefits are universal and transferable. The same infrastructure that enables a safe walking route for children enables one for an elderly person assisted with a walker. The same infrastructure that enables a stroller to roll does the same for a wheelchair. The same infrastructure that allows children to walk to a park can do so for everyone. All these improvements create stronger, more connected, accessible neighborhoods for all. Using this framework, as Mayor Dickens stated, can help us create places where “people live with dignity, move freely, learn deeply and grow successfully.” 

Just what we are working toward in Carbondale. 

Preliminary concept and route drawings for the Seventh Avenue Extension proposal