SPARK, Friends of Riverbank Park was founded as a group of community people fighting an effort of local government to sell the park to a private developer for a baseball stadium in 1994. After the battle was successfully waged the group stayed together to protect and maintain the park for the community and keep its Olmstead park legacy alive.
Now SPARK is working with partner groups like Greater Newark Conservancy (which began a Junior Ranger Program in the park over the summer of 2008), the NJ Historical Society, and the Newark Public Schools, to develop programs which will bring young people into the park to teach civics, science, and history, and work on community gardening projects. There are also plans to have a variety of cultural activities in the park, including a Neighborhood Arts Day in the spring.
