High schoolers win funding for City Heights park

The advocacy group Youth Council pushed the city to commit $2.5 million in this year's budget to improve Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park.

Written by Marco Guajardo & Lauren J. Mapp, Edited by Kate Morrissey

Despite funding cuts to libraries, parks and arts in the new budget for the city of San Diego, a City Heights park revitalization project is moving forward thanks to the advocacy of a group of children who live there.

In June, the City Council approved $2.5 million to fund improvements to Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park, including a playground for kids ages 5 to 12, after advocacy from the Mid-City CAN Youth Council, an advocacy group that has developed young community leaders since 2010.

For years, Youth Council members have pushed for funding to revitalize the park. 

Herbert Hoover High School rising junior Jeanine Malebule said she was inspired to join the group by her older sister who is now 18 and participated before her. Having grown up visiting Henwood Park, she said the result of her group’s hard work feels rewarding, especially given how many community advocates she saw pushing for other funding requests.

“There were a lot of people that were going against it a little bit because they were kind of supporting the police,” Malebule said. “It's a miracle that they finally listened.”

Youth Council member and Herbert Hoover High School rising senior Obidullah Mahmoodi said he was excited about how families in his community will benefit from the funding approval. He hopes upgrades to the park changes how other San Diegans perceive City Heights. 

“Our community is a place where they advertise cigarettes and alcohol,” Mahmoodi said. “That [funding] can shift the future because with this park being revitalized, youth are going to know that they can change the community. That shift of the perspective of youth and eventually a shift for the community and we wouldn't be seen as a ‘ghetto’ anymore.”

Mahmoodi also hopes his younger sister, who is a freshman, will follow in his footsteps to join the Youth Council and advocate for other changes in City Heights.

“We aren't just rebuilding a park. This is a legacy, a legacy that we can continue, and maybe our siblings after us can continue,” he said. “Our activism doesn't stop at the Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park because there are tons of parks in San Diego County alone that need similar processes.”

The success in securing the funding was a long-fought effort from the Youth Council.

During the budget debates this spring, Youth Council members appeared frequently at the city sessions. On one occasion, about 20 high schoolers attended a city council budget hearing to demand additional funding to fix up the City Heights park.

Wearing black, loteria-themed hoodies with the name of their organization and holding signs and a large, hand-painted banner, the young people stood together at the May 5 meeting as seven of them spoke about the importance of revitalizing Henwood Park for their community. 

“If we are prioritizing housing, and we should, then where is the green space for this growing community to come together?” Mahmoodi said. “Because let me tell you something harsh but true — some of these new housing apartments feel like prisons.” 

“They are trapped, constrained and lack any sense of joy,” Mahmoodi added. “And cutting off joyful opportunities from our kids? That’s not just unfair. It’s unacceptable.”

Herbert Hoover High School rising junior Olivia Ngeneye also grew up visiting Henwood Park. She and Malebule said deteriorating conditions at the park motivated them to push for improvements. They said the park needs diaper changing systems, locks on stall doors and longer bathroom hours. Sometimes the bathrooms close at 4 p.m. while kids are still playing, they said.

Beyond those basic items, Youth Council has also pushed for bigger changes to the park, including the reconstruction of its two playgrounds, shade structures and bathroom installations.

The group’s first year of lobbying yielded $1.75 million from the city towards a playground for kids ages 2 to 6. 

This year, the Youth Council learned from the city that the park would ultimately need an additional $2.5 million to realize the full vision of its revitalization plan. 

The group of young organizers moved forward with that request.

“Today, I am asking, not for a luxury or favor, but a necessity,” Mahmoodi told the council members. “$2.5 million is not just an investment in a park. It's an investment in future generations, in equity, in dignity.”

After the group members spoke, the City Heights teens filed into an adjacent conference room where council members Sean Elo-Rivera and Kent Lee visited them separately. 

Both council members were among the four who introduced a revision in May to fully fund the park and extend library and recreation center hours.

Elo-Rivera, the District 9 city council member, told the advocates to avoid resting on the satisfaction of speaking publicly during the hearing and to stay persistent.

“Very, very few things equate to the power of a youth voice in explaining why something matters and creating that moral urgency to support them,” Elo-Rivera said.

Mid-City CAN Lead Organizer Victor Ponce identified Elo-Rivera, who was a director at Mid-City CAN from 2015 to 2018, as the Youth Council’s “champion.” When he entered office in 2020, he directed his staff to work closely with Mid-City CAN and other community-based groups during the budget cycle, Elo-Rivera said. 

In 2024, Elo-Rivera’s District 9 named the Youth Council "Youth Leaders of the Year" for its advocacy efforts.  

Ponce said the youth’s advocacy for regular park maintenance during its recent campaign has yielded more trash cans, trees and painted bathrooms.

“We had to go ask for that. That was because it was never just being done,” Ponce said. “It's like, if the money is already there, then why do we have to be asking for these things?”

The amendments introduced by four city council members before the final budget vote restored some hours to library and recreation centers, which several community groups advocated for through the budget revision process.

In his response to the city council’s amended budget on June 17, Mayor Todd Gloria vetoed several items but kept funding for the Henwood Park renovation project.

“I was shocked when I saw $2.5M for Henwood Park appear on the screen,” said Ron Sanchez, media specialist at Mid-City CAN, after the last budget hearing. “Because of the huge budget deficit I thought the council members would ignore the youth’s demand. We obviously are ecstatic that the funding for Henwood Park is included.”

The 2026 budget went into effect on July 1. The revitalization of Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park is projected to begin in 2028.

“I want the park to speak, to talk about our community,” Ngeneye said, “When you go to Henwood Park, you’re like, ‘Oh, that's this community. That's the City Heights community. It's not just any other community.’”