BATON ROUGE - A project to revitalize a park in north Baton Rouge plans to bring children back outside.

72nd Courtside Glowup - the same name as the project - says Spark Park on 72nd Ave. is in need of an upgrade. A community development block grant from former Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome's Office is aiding the group in this initiative. 

"When you look around and drive through this street, there's nothing. It's like it's dead. Kids are looking for places to go. You see them ride through with their bikes, they have balls in the back, but there's nothing for them to actually do," 72nd Courtside Glowup volunteer coordinator Shanna Claiborne Elliott said. 

The group says since it's the only park in the area and they are trying to bring the spark back to Spark Park. 

"In this particular community, there isn't a BREC. So this park actually provides recreation for the youth that live in this area and, because there were missing basketball goals and it just needed fresh paint, we are updating to give them a safe space to play and be kids," volunteer Thomasina Joseph said.

They started phase on Jan 15. It focuses on revitalizing the basketball court. They've begun repainting the benches, goal posts and changing out the nets. They plan to repaint faded hop scotch and pickleball lines. As well as repaint a map of the United States that is on the pavement.

"Paint has faded away off an old hopscotch. So we would love to go back over it and so we can see more kids hop scotching and really being more active in this community," volunteer Chisolu Isiadinso said.

Phase two will focus on revitalizing the swing set and repainting a mural. 

"We have old roots that have grown inside of the actual box that we're going to rip up and tear out. And be able to come in and put fresh mulch down, sandblasters, swing sets, and paint a fresh coat of paint," Claiborne Elliott said. 

"We want to have mural here that depicts the freedom that we've experienced from over the centuries, so we can make sure that the children gain some history while they're here," Joseph said.

72nd Courtside Glowup says they hope to upgrade more playgrounds in the future and feel giving them some love could help keep kids off the street.

"When kids have an outlet to come and channel that energy, then they'll have something to actually do. So having this court open is going to have a vital impact on the community," Claiborne Elliott said. 

They plan to have both phases finished by April.

If you would like to volunteer with 72nd Courtside Glowup please click here.

They are currently taking vendor applications for their grand opening in April.