By Guest Authors, 3/28/23, https://positiveexperience.org/category/blog/
Throughout the Week of HOPE, we will be sharing stories of practicing the HOPE framework. The interview below with Dave Cosgrove and Patrice Baker shares an amazing story about practicing HOPE through community action and the creation of a new skatepark in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Learn more about the different ways to practice HOPE during our 3rd Annual HOPE Summit, and check out the HOPE Blog throughout the Week of HOPE as we post more examples of practicing HOPE.
Please introduce yourselves to our readers.
My name is Dave Cosgrove, and I currently co-chair a committee to bring an action sports park (aka “skatepark”) to the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I consider myself a late bloomer when it comes to social and civic engagement; however, I hope to serve as an example that it is never too late to make a difference in the lives of young people.
I started skateboarding actively at the age of 13 and quickly fell in love with all that the activity offered; a sense of community, physical activity, artistic expression and a nearly infinite canvas of “tricks” to progress through. As a teenager in the Northeast during the mid to late 1980s, there were virtually no skateparks in the area. So, my friends and I were forced to look at the town and city landscapes creatively to find those structures that were most enjoyable and challenging to skate.
While I was not fully aware of how skateboarding benefited me at the time, I can easily reflect now and see how the lifestyle provided a positive outlet to escape an often toxic home life. My fellow skateboarders became my chosen family, and we learned from each other and supported each other in ways that could not be satisfied for me at home. Over three decades later, many of those friends are still a part of my life today and I am truly grateful.
My name is Patrice Baker, and I am the Director of Prevention Programs for Pinetree Institute. At Pinetree, our key focus is addressing the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) through trauma responsive approaches. We do this by assisting communities in creating collaborative solutions to promote resilience and improve the health, happiness, and quality of life for the current generation and beyond.
One of our projects is convening and facilitating the Greater Portsmouth Youth Wellness Coalition, which is where I met Dave. I am a Trained Facilitator for HOPE, and the Hope framework really guides my thinking and my work around prevention efforts. At one of our Coalition meetings, Dave shared all the wonderful work he has been doing to establish a Skatepark, and I was amazed at how perfectly that effort lines up with the positive childhood experiences research…it is such a great example of HOPE in action!
How did the idea for the skatepark project come about?
Dave: The idea for the Portsmouth Skatepark surfaced in 2020, as a result of two local high school seniors approaching a City Council member to improve an existing, small and outdated park that was built over 20 years ago. The City Council member brought the ask forward to our mayor at the time, who, in turn, contacted me to help lead a committee effort to address the needs of the local skateboarding community. The mayor was aware of my skateboarding background. We had collaborated in the past on various city matters. So, he had a degree of confidence that I could help address the needs of our community.
My immediate approach to this project was to think beyond the existing park improvements that the teenagers requested, and to dream bigger. While the existing park served an immediate need at the time, I knew that a professionally designed and constructed park is what the city as well as the broader New Hampshire seacoast region, needed and deserved. Also, I knew that investing in an old design with deteriorating prefabricated structures was not a wise use of residential tax revenues nor other sources of funding. Furthermore, a private, professional grade regional skatepark had just recently closed early during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I knew that a massive vacuum had been created in the regional skateboarding community. While I could have opted to focus on a smaller park for primarily Portsmouth residents, I knew that our city could literally pave the way to satisfy a regional need and attract action sports enthusiasts from our local region and beyond. We are currently on track to break ground for the new park in the summer of 2023, which happens to coincide with Portsmouth’s 400th anniversary of incorporation.
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