About 40 Dorchester residents and local students gathered Wednesday morning to celebrate the opening of the Edson Street Connector, a public pathway built beside a longtime vacant lot.

The short, paved path connects Edson Street to Peacevale Road, providing access to TechBoston Academy.

Maude Hurd, who has lived on Edson Street for more than 40 years, said she was inspired to build the path when she received a notice that a local developer, OxbowUrban, would be building a home on the vacant lot, as well as seven others nearby. Children had long used the vacant lot as a shortcut to school.

“All this was vacant land when I lived here,’’ she said. “So I talked to the neighbors and told them about the development and we wanted to protect the pathway for the students and people going through here.’’

Hurd and her neighbors worked with the city and OxbowUrban to design a path with inlaid solar-powered lights. Oxbow agreed to donate a portion of sale proceeds from the new development to fund the $16,000 project.

“They paved this path at no cost to the organizations, they did everything and made sure that they put in lights . . . so that they have a safe space for the community to connect and cut through to get to all of the amenities of the neighborhood,’’ said Denisha McDonald, a real estate consultant for Oxbow.

The path will be publicly owned and maintained. Upkeep will be funded by local community members and businesses who purchase “Legacy Bricks,’’ which will be installed on either side of the path and can be engraved with names or other messages.

The bricks can be purchased for $25 to $100. This money will go towards cleaning the path as well as landscaping and snowplowing in the winter.

Mimi Ramos, the organizing director for New England United for Justice, said the path was a symbol of the community taking control of its future.

“The fight for Boston is about us remaining in our homes, remaining in our communities, and it takes all of us working together collectively to really make the types of changes that we want to see.’’

After a ribbon-cutting ceremony, several TechBoston Academy students and staff members unveiled the pathway’s new sign, which was designed and created by six visual art and design students as part of their senior year capstone project.

TechBoston coheadmaster Keith Love stressed how important it is for his students to use their skills outside of the classroom.

“We want to give them relevant opportunities to provide practical applications to their learning so what you’re doing in class can actually be done in the community,’’ he said.

The sign was displayed temporarily for the ceremony, and will be permanently installed after it is finished with anti-graffiti paint.

The ceremony also marked the launch of TechBoston’s Legacy Scholarship, a $500 scholarship for college-bound seniors that was donated by OxbowUrban. This year’s two recipients will be announced at TechBoston’s graduation on Thursday.

Sophia Eppolito can be reached at sophia.eppolito@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @SophiaEppolito.