NDC Stories: Projects Making a Difference

A Safe Place to Play: the Playing Safe Initiative
In October of 2002, residents and community leaders in the Druid Heights neighborhood of Baltimore gathered to listen to Congressman Elijah Cummings and Jacqueline Cornish dedicate a new playground in their community.  However, a group of children were paying little attention.  Instead, they were engaged in the most important activity of the day – testing the new play equipment.  It was the first time for many of them that there was a safe playground in their neighborhood, and they were making the most of the opportunity (pictured to the right).

“The residents of Druid Heights wanted to rid the neighborhood of a blighted, drug infested playground and basketball court,” explains Kelly Little, Executive Director of the Druid Heights CDC.  “NDC led a group of neighborhood stakeholders in the planning and development of a vibrant new playground for the families of Druid Heights.  The great work of NDC has allowed the neighborhood residents and church to reclaim the site...”

NDC's role in helping community members get playgrounds built is echoed by Kelly Powers, a mother of three children who led efforts to create a new play space"Great Oaks & Little Acorns" at Garrett Heights Elementary (pictured to the right).  "NDC’s resources were incredibly and incalculably remarkable.  NDC’s collaboration with Garrett Heights volunteers brought us many lucks, including a budget eventually topping $350,000. Some of those funds were from large foundations and government funds; others came from the penny jars in each classroom."  She adds, " playground building is often compared to barn raising... The Great Oaks & Little Acorns Park was built through the efforts of hundreds, and each time I see the many children, teachers and parents who use their playground, I know the effort belongs to each one of them."

The previous examples are two of the ten playgrounds that were renovated or built as part of NDC’s Playing Safe initiative.  Playing Safe was a youth and community safety initiative of the Neighborhood Design Center in partnership with the Safe & Sound Campaign, volunteers from the local chapter of the International Facility Management Association, Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, BUILD, Civic Works, and local community-based organizations (Margaret Brent playground team - pictured to the right).  Begun in 1999 after the death / injury of a child on a playground, Playing Safe raised awareness, mobilized volunteers and community leaders, and increased resources to improve playgrounds throughout Baltimore, including:

Our successful efforts in raising awareness of unsafe playgrounds resulted in Mayor Martin O’Malley convening a Playground Task Force to develop a 5-year strategy for replacing and renovating all unsafe playgrounds in the city.  Since the completion of the Task Force in 2001, Baltimore has built or renovated over 100 playgrounds.

In 2001 Governor Parris Glendening used Playing Safe as a model for a State-wide program entitled "Community Parks and Playgrounds" which provided millions of dollars for new playgrounds across the State in the two years of its operation.

NDC, in partnership with Safe and Sound Youth Ambassadors,
Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Prevention, the International Facility Management Association (pictured to the right), students from Johns Hopkins University, and community leaders, surveyed 140+ playground sites in Baltimore.

Finally, NDC provided design and technical assistance to 10 playgrounds citywide (Druid Heights Community Playground plan pictured to the lower right), secured over $40,000 in-kind professional services, and raised close to $1 million to rebuild them:

Castle Street Playground: volunteer - Kevin Campion (Graham Landscape Architecture)
Druid Heights Community Playground: volunteers – David Locke and Tom Cenna (DMW)
Garrett Heights Elementary: volunteer – Tom Woolfolk (Whitney, Bailey, Cox & Magnani)
Harford Heights Elementary: volunteer – Chris Batten (J. Christopher Batten, Inc.)
James McHenry Elementary: volunteer - Tom Woolfolk (Whitney, Bailey, Cox & Magnani)
Margaret Brent Elementary: volunteers – John Rohde (Human & Rohde) and Ester Grossman (Custom Playgrounds)
Perkins Homes Playground: volunteer – Edwina Horn (STV, Inc.) and Evan Richardson (NDC) 
Robert Coleman Elementary: volunteer – Mary Porter (Baltimore Recreation & Parks)
Thomas Jefferson Elementary: volunteer – Jan Clark (Columbia Association)
Violetville Elementary: volunteer – Lisa Passeri (UMD Landscape Architecture student)

During the dedication ceremony at Druid Heights, speakers talked about the importance of the playground in the revitalization efforts of the neighborhood, the partnerships that it helped foster, and the resources that it leveraged.  However, what spoke most loudly that day were the actions of the children who understood the real value of the playground – it allowed them to be kids.

Acknowledgements
Thanks to the countless residents, community leaders, young people, and elected officials who believed that ALL children should have a safe place to play and worked hard to move this forward.  Thanks also to those who provided funding to Playing Safe and the ten playgrounds: Aaron & Lillie Straus Foundation, Marion I. and Henry J. Knott Foundation, William G. Baker Memorial Fund, State of Maryland (Governor's Supplemental Budget), Project Open Space, Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks, and Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development.

Articles

"Taking them to Task" Playground article from Park & Recreation Magazine