Four Corners Park in Peoplestown is about to level up in a big way. Park Pride has secured a $9.4 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to dramatically expand and upgrade the neighborhood green space, funding everything from covered basketball courts and a larger youth center to new playgrounds, community gardens, composting areas, a skate spot, classrooms, wetlands, better lighting and electric-vehicle charging. Neighbors and organizers say the windfall finally turns a long-running community dream into a project with the potential to change daily life in the area.
As reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the grant was announced Tuesday as one of eight awards nationwide in the Bezos Earth Fund’s latest Greening America’s Cities round. Park Pride President Michael Halicki told the paper the infusion makes Four Corners the largest project in the organization’s history, and the new money builds on a 2025 grant from Park Pride that paid for the project’s initial visioning work.
What the grant will fund
According to the Bezos Earth Fund’s announcement, the project is a 4.8-acre redesign intended to serve more than 3,500 nearby residents. Planned upgrades include accessible play areas, covered courts, indoor and outdoor classrooms, wetlands restoration and expanded community gardening and composting. The plan also calls for improvements to circulation throughout the park, upgraded lighting and EV charging to keep the space comfortable and usable year-round, as detailed by the Bezos Earth Fund.
Neighbors and youth groups
Longtime Peoplestown resident Columbus Ward told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he remembers playing softball on the vacant lot that is now slated for transformation, and that many neighbors worried the big promises for the park would never materialize. The site already includes the Rick McDevitt Youth Center and hosts programming from groups such as Dream Builders of Atlanta, which organizers say will play a key role in delivering expanded youth services once the new amenities are built.
How it fits into citywide efforts
The Peoplestown project is part of a $100 million wave of investments aimed at turning underused urban land into new or improved green spaces through the Greening America’s Cities program. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens praised the Four Corners effort in the fund’s announcement as an investment in a neighborhood shaped by decades of disinvestment and major infrastructure decisions, and said it supports the city’s broader push to expand park access, according to the Bezos Earth Fund release.
Next steps and timeline
The fund’s announcement says park projects in this funding round are expected to open in phases over the next several years, backed by long-term operations and maintenance plans. In the meantime, Park Pride and the Friends of Four Corners Park plan to keep leading community-driven design and fundraising work to move the project from visioning into construction, building on the organization’s recent grantmaking across Atlanta and DeKalb County, Park Pride noted.
