Larchmont Elementary Community Schoolyard

Larchmont Elementary is in the suburbs of Tacoma, Washington, a diverse city with the largest park access gap of any major city in the state. Thirty-one percent of residents can’t access parks or open spaces within a 10-minute walk of home, including most of the 370 students at Larchmont Elementary.

In 2025, those statistics will take a turn for the better with the groundbreaking of the Larchmont Elementary Community Schoolyard. Tacoma Public Schools, Metro Parks Tacoma, and Trust for Public Land are teaming up to reimagine the asphalt space, as a healthy, vibrant, and welcoming resource for students and community members outside of school hours.

Students and neighbors are engaged in TPL’s participatory design process, outlining the vision for a new green space with room for outdoor learning, exercise, play, and connection. This resident-led process builds stronger social bonds, a sense of identity and pride, and community empowerment, which benefit communities in far- reaching ways. Investing in this schoolyard will create a new high-quality park within a 10-minute walk of home for over 1,100 nearby residents and help Tacoma continue building healthy, climate resilient communities, for generations to come.