Buena Circle and Challenger Parks Advisory Council formed in 2025 to work with the Chicago Park District on parks and recreation issues for our parks and host community events.

Our mission is to:

• Promote ways for the community to better utilize the Chicago Park District’s programs and facilities at Buena Circle and Challenger Parks for parks and recreation purposes;

• Provide communication to the Park District on matters relating to parks and recreation, nature, events, facilities, and community feedback with regards to Buena Circle and Challenger Parks;

• Increase community awareness by engaging the Buena Circle and Challenger Parks’ community in the planning and implementation of the PAC;

• Provide the community with a vehicle through which information regarding Buena Circle and Challenger Parks can be shared; 

• Support nature within Buena Circle and Challenger Parks; and

• Assist in locating alternate funding sources to enhance the facilities at Buena Circle and Challenger Parks.

Executive Board

Nicholas Fadanelli

President

Sarah Dickey

Vice President

Nicole Edelman

Secretary

Sujay Shetty

Treasurer

Committee Leadership

Events Commitee

Chair: Margo Brookover

Vice Chair: Nicole Edelman

Outside of our monthly meetings our PAC's committees meet on a regular basis to conduct tactical work related to project execution. These committees include:

• • Nature and Beautification Committee: is responsible for projects related to beautifying the parks, facilitating nature and local wildlife, ensuring proper care of flora in the parks, sustainability, and other related activities. They are encouraged to coordinate with local organizations including but not limited to Graceland Cemetery, Lincoln Park Zoo Wildlife Institute, Morton Arboretum, Openlands, Chicago Park District, local universities, and other PACs

• • Events Committee: is responsible for hosting events for the local community in Buena Circle and Challenger Parks and coordinating/assisting other local organizations with their events in Buena Circle and Challenger Parks. These other organizations include but are not limited to Buena Park Neighbors, Friends of Brenneman, Uptown United, and the Chicago Park District.

• • Infrastructure Committee: is  responsible for projects related to maintaining and improving existing infrastructure in the parks, identifying needs for new infrastructure that meets community needs in the parks and working to get it built, and issues related to external infrastructure that impacts the parks. They shall work to solicit community feedback on infrastructure needs and solicit feedback from other local organizations with considerable stakes in said infrastructure in the parks.

• • Communications & Outreach Committee: is responsible for maintaining the PAC’s visibility in the community, keeping the community and key constituencies (local organizations, city officials, businesses) updated on PAC initiatives, and assist the Officers in building and maintaining good relationships with said key constituencies. They shall assist in keeping social media pages and PAC website up to date and add additional content to them. They shall work to advertise involvement in the PAC and grow PAC membership.

• • Fundraising Committee: works with all committees and the Treasurer to understand fundraising needs for the PAC as a whole and for specific committee projects. They shall coordinate with Committee Leadership and the Treasurer on fundraising activities.

If any of these committees sound interesting - check out our "Get Involved" page or reach out to BuenaCircleChallengerPAC@gmail.com to get involved!

Some of our PAC's goals for 2025 and 2026 are as follows:

Improve Challenger Park Path: The path in the northern section of Challenger Park could use some additional love and care. At minimum ordering and spreading woodchips across the path to create a clean look and better define the course of the path. Long term explore paving the path.

New Community Posting Board in Buena Circle Park: Challenger Park currently has 2 worn community posting boards, but there are none in Buena Circle Park. Installing at minimum a small community posting board to advertise PAC events, and long term a large community posting board for public use in Buena Circle Park.

Hosting more Community Oriented Events: Alongside partner organizations create and host more community events - such as concerts in the park - in our parks.

Mini-Market Pop Ups or small Farmers Market: Bring together neighbors in a unique setting to purchase locally made goods or grown food. Short term goal is a mini makers mart but long term is a small farmers market. 

Young Children Play Equipment in Buena Circle Playlot: For Our Earliest Learners explore funding and installing equipment in a protected space in our playlot just for them to learn and play in a safe communal setting.

Tree Care and Maintenance: Several trees in Challenger Park are suffering from improper care from CTA and others including several younger trees in Challenger Park. Continuing our efforts from the 2025 "Its Your Park Day" cleanup to help take care of these trees and educate CTA on better tree maintenance are our short term goals.

Bat Study: Our parks serve as a unique wildlife sanctuary alongside nearby Graceland Cemetery. The Lincoln Park Zoo Urban Wildlife Institute is conducting a Bat Study across Chicago - including in another Cemetery-Park paring at Rosehill Cemetery and the West Ridge Nature Park. Expanding that bat study to Challenger Park and Graceland Cemetery could unlock critical learnings on how anthropogenic noise (the L) impacts bat behavior.

Native Plant / Pollinator Garden Planting in Challenger Park: Work with the Chicago Park District and other stakeholders to explore unlocking part of the original promise of Challenger Park and increase planting of more native plants

Historical Signage: A local historian in our neighborhood is working with Uptown United to showcase the history of the Buena Park neighborhood! We are working with them specifically as it relates to Buena Circle and Challenger Parks with signs highlighting that history in our parks! 

Assist "Friends of Challenger Bark" in Dog Friendly Area Enhancement Proposal: Several dog owners who utilize the Dog Friendly Area in Challenger Park are spearheading an initiative to get several improvements to the dog park funded including better drainage and paving. Our role is to assist advocating for these improvements with the Chicago Park District and local officials and support our friends and partners as they see fit