Students at Greenfield Elementary often play in a parking lot or on a grass field during recess and after school.

Soon, they’ll have a new community schoolyard with playground equipment, a turf field, trees and other amenities.

Students on Wednesday helped unveil designs for the schoolyard, which were crafted, in part, by a group of third-graders last year.

San Francisco-based Trust for Public Land is teaming up with Pittsburgh Public Schools and the Pittsburgh-based Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to bring a new schoolyard to the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh that would benefit students during the day and be open to the community outside of school hours.

Trust for Public Land has completed more than 300 similar projects across the country, including a dozen in Philadelphia, said Abi Mlo, the nonprofit’s stewardship and engagement coordinator. This is the group’s first project in the Pittsburgh area, but Mlo said the organization hopes to undertake more projects locally.

The project will convert a portion of the parking lot and grass field outside the Greenfield school into a schoolyard that accessible to people with disabilities, open to the public and geared for people of all ages, Mlo said. The school serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Mlo said Greenfield’s site “is lacking a lot of amenities a lot of other schools have.” She added that playing on an asphalt surface presents safety risks and children may be less enthusiastic about spending time outside there.

“Students might not feel as connected to nature or be as excited to be out there when that’s all they have,” Mlo said.

Mlo led a “participatory design” process with last year’s third-grade students to allow them to offer their ideas for the site. Students discussed what they wanted to see in a schoolyard, drew design proposals, considered what other community members and age groups may want and learned about environmental education and the value of planting trees and gardens.

The students’ design included playground equipment such as bucket swings, slides and spinners, as well as a turf field and a track, Mlo said. There also are lots of trees for shade and an outdoor classroom.

Students who spoke Wednesday said they liked that the new schoolyard would include trees for shade, safe places to play and room to run.

School officials will approve final plans. Mlo estimated the project could be completed by fall of 2025 and cost about $750,000.

Parents and other community leaders already have raised about $100,000 to help cover costs, City Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, said. Mlo said Trust for Public Land also is working on additional fundraising efforts.

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy said it would help create a pollinator habitat, plant shade trees and craft stormwater remediation projects if needed at the site, said Arthur DeMeo, senior director of community greenspace projects.

The conservancy also will help with upkeep of trees and plants at the schoolyard.

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