Results: Over the last 24 years, we’ve built or improved 17,000+ playspaces, engaged more than 1.5 million community members and brought joy to over 10 million kids. As we look to the future, we’ll continue our efforts to build collective action and community opportunity, spark hope and enable kids to reach their full potential. And we won’t stop until we put an end to playspace inequity.
KABOOM! builds relationships with city officials, community leaders, and stakeholders –kids and parents alike –that have resulted in strong partnerships with agencies across the country. We aim to address the gap in access to quality playspaces caused by historic disinvestments and segregation. This includes conducting needs assessments to determine where those gaps exist.
One example of this is our partnership with the Baltimore City Public Schools System (BCPSS). KABOOM! has a proud history of partnering with communities and city leaders in Baltimore, building or improving 60 playspaces over the last 24 years. However, a recent needs assessment we conducted identified 31 Baltimore City elementary schools in need of new playgrounds, and enrollment data showed that these schools had more Black students and students receiving free and reduced price lunches compared to the BCPSS system as a whole. This assessment highlighted the racial inequities in quality playspace access across BCPSS. KABOOM! and BCPSS are actively building a coalition to fill the gaps identified in the needs assessment, and ensure that every kid going to public school in Baltimore City has access to a safe, high-quality place to play.
We envision an America where every kid can get the play they need to thrive. When we achieve playspace equity, kids will be able to play close to where they live and learn, and those playspaces will be high quality and designed to reflect the desires of the community.
Target demographics: Kids who don’t have access to play not only miss out on a key element of childhood but are also denied critical opportunities to build physical, social and emotional health. We team up with communities to build high quality playspaces that help give every kid the opportunity to thrive. Our goal is to end playspace inequity. For good.
Direct beneficiaries per year: In 2019, we built or improved 271 playspaces, provided 1,010,072 kids with great, safe places to play and engaged 27,600 volunteers.
Geographic areas served: KABOOM! is a national nonprofit that works to achieve playspace equity, the ability for every kid to have access to an incredible place to play.
Programs: For more than two decades, we’ve teamed up with bold, extraordinary partners and community members, starting with the kids themselves, to understand each neighborhood’s unique aspirations. Then we build incredible places to play, inspired by their design, courage and leadership.
This includes implementing the following strategies.
Our community playground projects generate tangible, achievable wins for communities that have experienced generations of disinvestment. Working in partnership with our corporate and philanthropic partners, we engage community organizations in a deliberate design and planning process that ensures the final playground reflects the history and preferences of the unique community.
We create spaces where everyone belongs. Many teens, especially in communities of color, must respond to and navigate challenges that force them to grow up too fast. All too often, they also lack access to positive outlets where they feel like they belong and can enjoy being active with friends. KABOOM! Adventure Courses and Multi-Sport Courts reignite the spark of youth with a versatile range of desirable play options, from traditional sports to obstacle courses. These playspaces engage, inspire and support this older age group, helping communities ensure kids of any age still get to play.
KABOOM! Play Everywhere innovations and installations bring play to unexpected, but everyday spaces like bus stops and parklets, making play easy and available for kids and families. While a playground can provide a joyful oasis for play, play must be available in other places to include play opportunities where kids, and their caregivers, are already spending their time.
And finally, through our Imagination Playground and Rigamajig play sets, KABOOM! provides innovative, mobile play sets in lieu of traditional playgrounds that can ignite the imaginations and creativity within all kids, as well as offer opportunities for STE(A)M learning.
