A Park to be Proud Of
If you've been to the town of Miguel Alemán, you'll know about the "Building Dreams" community center at the heart of the Trinidad Sánchez Leyva neighborhood. You've maybe even been inside, where literacy classes take place and kids receive healthy, nutritious meals.
If you visited before last summer, you would also have known about that big dusty lot just beyond the community center's doors. (In our 2023 short film This is Home, you can see kids riding bikes and running around one evening around dusk.)
Well, that dusty lot is now a gleaming park, complete with a playground, basketball court, bright lights, and a pristine new soccer field.
"This park has quickly become a central gathering place for families in the neighborhood," says Ana González, 1MISSION's program manager for the area. "More than a sports facility, it’s a space where hope, unity, and pride come alive."
This summer, the park has hosted local soccer tournaments, organized by local teens who proudly competed—and sometimes won—against more established teams, even as some of them played barefoot.
In late June, neighbors gathered in the park for a community fair featuring homemade goods from local artisans who participate in 1MISSION community development workshops. "It was a beautiful evening of family, celebration, and local talent all made possible by a place that now belongs to everyone," Ana says.
The park was made possible thanks to funds from the City of Hermosillo through a program called Presupuesto CRECES, an annual initiative giving neighborhoods within the municipality the ability to submit their project ideas and to rally support for them among local residents ahead of a city-wide vote. The community of Trinidad Sánchez Leyva has submitted phases of the park project two years in a row and won both times!
Local 1MISSION staff have been active throughout the process. But this story is about so much more than one organization’s efforts. This is a story about the leadership and initiative of ordinary residents—a story about what’s possible when neighbors come together to make their neighborhood a better place for everyone.
Neighbors here are proud of what their efforts have produced. They know this park is a treasure worth protecting. It is theirs to enjoy, to steward, and to share.
So next time you pay a visit to Miguel Alemán, be sure to set aside some extra time to enjoy the park. You may even be invited to join a game of basketball or soccer. But be forewarned: the local kids are probably better than you.
Thanks to Ana González and Raquel González for contributing photos to this story.