Providing a Safe Open Space

The Sergeant Anthony Park Neighborhood Association is dedicated to improving the park and its surrounding neighborhood, so that children and adults have a clean, safe place to live, gather, and play. The association maintains a community garden with managed flowerbeds and community plots for vegetables, and hosts park events during the summer months.

The park is named for Sergeant Joseph Anthony, who grew up across the street and attended Dickinson High School.  He was a star baseball player who the Dodgers wanted to draft, but he joined his brothers and enlisted in the military as a tail gunner instead.  He was shot down, and his body was never found.  The park was dedicated in his honor May 1, 1949. 

HealthierJC + Sergeant Anthony Park Neighborhood Association

The Sergeant Anthony Park believes that Building a Culture of Health means fostering a sense of shared community so that residents are more invested in the wellbeing of the neighborhood.  The association   encourages use of Sergeant Anthony Park by providing a safe, beautiful environment and hosting family activities such as yoga and gardening.

Sergeant Anthony Park aligns with the HealthierJC priority of promoting wellness and mental health by offering Jersey City residents the opportunity to experience, create, and benefit from the park’s resources.  The association is also committed to leveraging the ecological footprint of the park by using organic products, cultivating native plants, and growing food-to-table produce for the community.

How was the Mini-Grant Used?

As part of an ongoing effort to increase awareness of the facilities available in Sergeant Anthony Park and community garden, the association used the HealthierJC mini-grant for a series of free family-oriented yoga classes and garden workshops. 

Yoga classes were led by a professional teacher each Tuesday from July to September 2023.  And from July  to August 2023, Sergeant Anthony Park hosted the Hudson County 4H Urban Youth Farm Club where participants planted flowers and pruned flora in the community garden.

Funds were also used for youth outreach pizza parties to reward neighborhoods kids for volunteer garden work, and enlist Boy Scouts to reseed, fertilize and weed the park entrance lawn.  In total, Sergeant Anthony Park estimates the 2023 HealthierJC mini-grant served 200–250 residents, which included families, and minority, low-income, and disabled individuals from Wards D and E.

Making a Difference …

“Some of things we were able to accomplish with the grant really brought the community together.
The activities, including yoga, were multi-generational, the youngest 7, the oldest 70.”
— Head Gardener Norrice Raymaker

“Kids were climbing over the fence and vandalizing the gardens to get into the tomatoes and steal them,” Raymaker said.  “Now, children enjoy planting and caring for flowers, and we encourage them to be good stewards of the park and the garden. Now, they have skin in the game, so to speak.”

“The neighborhood is challenged economically,” Raymaker added.  “The park is considered disadvantaged, unlike downtown parks, which are gentrified and get income from farmers markets. Ours is tiny. We have no ability to raise funds, so the mini-grant was a life saver.  We have some activities for children who visit the park on their own without parents or adults.”

For more information, visit the Sergeant Anthony Park Neighborhood Association site at www.sgtanthonypark.com/.