Playful City USA Recognizes Commitment to Creating Agenda for Play
On Tuesday, October 30, 2007, the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play announced that Atlanta has been chosen as one of only 31 founding members of the Playful City USA initiative. Playful City USA is a national recognition program that honors cities and towns across the nation for a vision, plan and commitment to creating an agenda for play. Atlanta was recognized for fulfilling a pledge to five specific commitments to play:
- Creating a local play commission or task force;
- Designing an annual action plan for play;
- Conducting a play space audit;
- Outlining a financial investment in play for the current fiscal year; and
- Proclaiming and celebrating an annual “play day.”
The purpose of Playful City USA is to inspire citizen action, encourage public private partnerships and honor cities who devote incremental dollars by creating play agendas with deep and lasting impact on public policy issues including childhood obesity, public safety, and quality of life issues. Through the collaborative support of corporate and community resources, these civically-grounded cities are inspiring and transforming lives; building strong and healthy communities, and fostering brighter futures.
“Atlanta reflects the hope, opportunity and possibility inherent in municipal collaborations anchored by a shared vision for play,” said Darell Hammond, Co-Founder and CEO of KaBOOM! “The innovative practices Atlanta Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs has adopted are a call-to-action for other municipalities across the country to rally behind proactive, city-wide agendas in support of broader physical activity and play.”
“This is an extraordinary honor and accomplishment for the City of Atlanta Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs because not so very long ago, our playgrounds receive a less than favorable rating by the Keenan Kids Foundation. Among the many attributes that are reflective of a great city, key among them are greenspaces and opportunities for children. When I think of all of the wonderful parks and recreational programming that the City of Atlanta has to offer, including two Boundless Playgrounds for children with special needs, today’s announcement further exemplifies the City’s commitment and dedication to making play spaces universally accessible and developmentally advantageous for all children. We are grateful for the collaboration with the Atlanta Task Force on Play and look forward to the support from all residents of Atlanta as we pursue this award.”
Dianne Harnell Cohen, Commissioner - Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs
KaBOOM! is a national nonprofit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. Now in its 12th year, KaBOOM! rallies communities to achieve better public policy, funding and public awareness for increased play opportunities nationwide; provides resources, including trainings, challenge grants, and publications for communities that wish to plan a new play space on their own; and brings together children, business and community interests for a select number of community play space builds each year. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago, Atlanta and San Mateo, Calif.
“As Mayor of this city, I am proud of the work we have done to provide children with play time and playspaces. It’s an honor to be named a Playful City USA, an award that showcases all the hard work of our city commissioners and parks and recreation staff.”
Mayor Shirley Franklin.