Organized youth sports return to historic park in New Orleans’ 7th Ward

Organized sports programs have returned to the 7th Ward’s Hardin Park, thanks to coordinated efforts by city agencies to revitalize the historic greenspace and at the same time tamp down on surrounding neighborhood crime.

In partnership with the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, The 18th Ward, a pay-what-you-can sports club, will bring baseball, soccer and flag football to the long-underused site.

The 18th Ward, an existing NORD partner that runs soccer programs at Easton and Norman playgrounds, will relocate its soccer program from Easton in Mid-City to Hardin Park.

“When they said, ‘would you like to run programs at Hardin Park,’ we literally came running because that’s what we love to do with our kids and families from all 17 wards in New Orleans,” said 18th Ward founder Lowery Crews at a news conference Monday.

It is also hoped that the restoration of sports and recreation programs at Hardin can also be a catalyst for curbing crime, officials said.

“Today is truly about community restoration,” Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said. “We’re talking about joy, opportunity and hope in a neighborhood that has tried to survive without investment, attention and care.”

The move caps months of planning to restart recreational programs there after the DA’s office began analyzing high rates of neighborhood violence through its New Orleans Data Informed Community Engagement program, also called NODICE.

The data driven approach launched in late 2023 and explores crime prevention strategies in areas where multiple quality of life issues are believed to contribute to crime “hot spots.” 

In the case of Hardin Park, the return of youth recreation opportunities marks a major step by city officials to improve upon decades of disinvestment that has plagued the area.

Previously called Crescent Star Park when it opened in the 1940s, Hardin Park was one of the first recreation spaces for Black New Orleanians that doubled as a place for community gatherings, according to researchers at the University of New Orleans. 

After Hurricane Katrina, the park became a temporary housing site for displaced residents, lined with FEMA trailers and later abandoned, until it reopened some years later. 

The park is central to the once-vibrant neighborhood bounded by Elysian Fields Avenue, St. Bernard Avenue, Broad Street, Florida Avenue and North Galvez Street. For years, it’s been the ire of residents who say they feel unsafe bringing their kids on account of rampant drug activity, squatted homes and violence in the area. 

The park adds to NORD’s portfolio of 35 active sites that offer team sports led by in-house site facilitators and volunteer coaches at no cost to families. The 18th Ward will hire its own coaches, addressing ongoing staffing challenges NORD says has hindered programming at Hardin and other sites it maintains. 

Overall, NORD manages 160 passive parks, playgrounds, recreation centers and pools — many of which have faced community scrutiny over poor upkeep  and inconsistent program offerings. 

NORD CEO Larry Barabino Jr. said the department thrives on partnerships with other organizations to keep programs afloat, citing the New Orleans Ballet Association — now in its 30th year — and youth tennis group A’s & Aces as examples.

Barabino said having The 18th Ward take on the site’s programming is fitting as the park is a few blocks away from the Good Shepard Elementary School where The 18th Ward runs outdoor activities for students. 

School CEO Thomas Moran said the park’s reactivation is an opportunity to expand The 18th Ward partnership and allow students to use the field regularly. 

“It’s this partnership that you see up here today that’s showing we’re vested in the 7th Ward. We’re vested at Hardin Playground and I look forward to kids and parents coming here and being involved,” Barabino said.