Play Ball, Bed-Stuy! NYC Parks, NY Liberty, and Brooklyn Nets Unveil Refurbished Basketball Courts at Jackie Robinson Park Playground

Photo: NYC Parks / Malcolm Pinckney

Project is the latest in $2.1 million initiative by Social Justice Fund to upgrade courts in Brooklyn neighborhoods with acute levels of gun violence

A full renovation of the basketball courts at Jackie Robinson Park Playground in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn was celebrated today. This project is the latest renovation in the $2.1 million initiative by Social Justice Fund in partnership with Parks to upgrade play spaces in Brooklyn neighborhoods experiencing acute levels of gun violence.  

The $663,000 project renovated two full-size basketball courts at the popular neighborhood park to provide new playing surfaces in teal and gray, upgraded backboards with hoops and nets, new benches, and a colorful mural. The renovation work was sponsored by the Liberty and the Nets through Parks’ Adopt-a-Park program.   

The complete renovation of the basketball courts at Jackie Robinson Park Playground included a full-depth repaving of the asphalt surface and new color seal coating and striping in teal, black, and gray. Parks also installed new polycarbonate backboards to replace the existing backboards, hoops, and nets. Around the courts, Parks installed a new bottle filler for hydration, added new benches for spectators and athletes, and replaced fencing. 

In addition to the renovations at Jackie Robinson Park Playground, the Social Justice Fund has sponsored renovations to basketball courts at Breukelen Ballfields in East New York, Fox Playground in Flatlands, and in Sunset Park. The sites were selected in consultation with NYC Parks as part of the Social Justice Fund’s racial justice initiative. By targeting these investments in neighborhoods with acute levels of gun violence, as well as in the Social Justice Fund’s corporate backyard of Sunset Park, NYC Parks and the Social Justice Fund aim to provide a new resource for local organizations and serve as a catalyst for additional investments in those communities. 

This playground honors former Dodger Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), the first African-American Major League Baseball player. Renowned as a top-notch second baseman and a fierce competitor, Robinson led the Dodgers to six World Series appearances. He retired in 1956 with a lifetime batting average of .311, and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.