National Effort Cites City as a Leader in Making Play a Priority

Columbia has been recognized as one of 39 new communities across the nation to achieve the status of a “Playful City USA,” the non-profit organization KaBOOM! announced today. The city was one of three cited in Illinois and the only designee this year within the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Like other designees, such as Indianapolis and San Antonio, Columbia was selected for its dedication to play. Columbia used the Playful City USA application process to identify facilities, assess local resources, develop an action plan and create a citizen group—the Play Commission--to help direct activities. Excited about the opportunity to be nationally recognized, the Play Commission is using social network media such as a Facebook group and this blog to help gather public input and encourage involvement from the community.

“We’re excited about this prestigious designation and the serious work that the Play Commission is accomplishing to make our community a better place to live,” said Columbia Mayor Kevin Hutchinson. Support from local government is a key element for winning the Playful City designation.

Each of the 2009 Playful City USA communities demonstrated creative commitments to the cause of play in the areas of quantity, quality and access. Quality relates to the number of usable, open playspaces. Quality involves subjective factors that encourage repeated use and make playspaces engaging, exciting, interesting and fun. Access entails the ability to get to a playspace (roads, trails) and a lack of barriers to the playspace (cost, safety, traffic, locked gates, and equity).

“Our country is facing two monumental deficits: a lack of unstructured play among children and a lack of resources to address this very issue,” said Darell Hammond, KaBOOM! CEO and Co-founder. “Columbia took a stand and determined that the future of the community—its children—deserve a commitment to the cause of play. This is an investment in the future, and cities and towns across the country can replicate initiatives from this and other Playful City USA communities so that they too can bring play back into the lives of their children.”

KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. Since 1995, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct more than 1,600 new playgrounds, skate parks, sports fields and ice rinks across North America. KaBOOM! also offers a variety of resources, including an online community, free online trainings, grants, publications and the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play, which includes Playful City USA and Playmakers – a national network of individual advocates for play.

Need a Place to Play?

Are you new to Columbia and lacking information about local parks and playspaces? Are your kids driving you crazy this summer and you need a new place to let them run? Or, are you yearning to release your inner child?

The reasons to search for community playspaces are many and varied, but the way to get answers is through one great new venue--the Playspace Finder sponsored by KaBOOM! This website offers a searchable map where local playmakers and other community members can post locations and other information about places to play. All playspaces listed via this venue must be free of charge and accessible to the public.

Do you have a favorite playspace in Columbia and want to share it with others? The Playspace Finder also allows community members to rate each playspace. Individual ratings posted on the site are added to an aggregate score that provides an overall rating for each playspace.

Play Commission Adopts 2009-2010 Action Plan

Members of the Play Commission have finalized their “action plan for play,” a comprehensive list of meaningful action items to be completed between now and May 1, 2010. The goal of these items is to increase the quality of, quantity of and access to play opportunities within the Columbia community.

Items identified by the group include the following:

• Investigate opportunities for holiday/summer use of school district playspaces;
• Assist the school district with plans to redevelop the playspace at the Rapp St. school (a facility that will be converted this summer—once again—into an elementary school);
• Review current location of community playspaces and recommend additional sites;
• Initiate a planning process that better incorporates the needs of preschool kids;
• Identify and design a playspace for seniors;
• Add one or more pavilions adjacent to playspaces;
• Improve signage to Meadow Ridge playspace;
• Deploy a blog to attract community input on playspaces;
• Set up a Facebook page to build support/awareness.

The action plan includes dates for completion of each item and the Play Commission seeks input and assistance from the larger community during the process.

Report from the Play Commission's First Meeting

The Columbia Play Commission held its inaugural meeting yesterday evening and, following an enthusiastic kick-off by Mayor Kevin Hutchinson, progressed rapidly through their agenda during a whirlwind meeting.

The group elected John Traube, owner of Traube Tent & Awning, as Chair and Shannon Zarek, owner of Mokka Kaffeehaus, as Secretary. The election of a Vice President was postponed until the group’s next meeting.

After review and lively discussion, the Play Commission approved the draft Action Plan for Play, a roadmap for their activities during the next ten months.

Members of the Commission also determined to move the date for the community’s first Play Day to Saturday, September 19th. They will continue organizing this event in meetings that will be held bi-weekly, at least through the summer.

The next meeting of the Play Commission is scheduled for Wednesday evening, July 15th, beginning at 7:00 p.m in the Auditorium at Columbia City Hall.