A ceremony featuring Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will open Cook Peace Park at 10 a.m. on June 29, according to a press release.
Rodney Cook Sr. Park is a 6-acre neighborhood park in Atlanta’s historic Vine City neighborhood. The project represents a collaboration between the City of Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation, the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management, The National Monuments Foundation, The Trust for Public Land (TPL), City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office and the community.
The Peace Park, located at the corner of Joseph E. Boone Boulevard and Vine Street, represents a personal commitment Rodney Cook, Jr. made to his father in his father’s last days, to rebuild a 19th century Olmsted-designed Mims-Cook family park. Reclaiming land that was rendered unusable after a flood almost two decades ago, this new green space will provide urban farming programs, sports and youth activities, and a 10,000 volume library of the CT Vivian and Martin Luther King, Jr. families. Two museums narrating 300 years of Georgia peaceful tradition and THE ATLANTA WAY will showcase a legacy to the world for which Rodney Cook, Sr. had dedicated his personal and professional life.
Ultimately, the park offers a platform for development of a universal city and a peace university, currently being programmed by INSEAD (the world’s No. 1 business school) offering a Master’s and PhD in Peace Administration, the first of its kind. Around this initiative will be the development of innovative projects and education initiatives including:
•Annual world peace congresses
•Building a framework for an educational center
•International small group discussions
•Peace building in-residence mentorship programs
•Think-tank discussions
•Energizing programs around peace
•Database of resources and access to information
Information: www.rodneycooksrpark.org
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