On Saturday, April 19th, from 10am-12pm, NPC hosted our 2008 Playground Day event at West Sunset Playground. Community members gathered at West Sunset to learn about the Playground Initiative, and many also signed up to assess their neighborhood playgrounds. Special thanks to Supervisor Carmen Chu for her attendance and welcome comments!
Community involvement was crucial to the success of this citywide assessment project. Many thanks to everyone who participated in this effort: concerned parents, community members, neighborhood and park groups, and corporate and student volunteers. Special thanks to the staff of the Recreation and Parks Department, each of the City's District Supervisors Offices, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma's office, and the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, for your contributions!
Watch an ABC 7 interview with NPC Program Manager Meredith Thomas at West Sunset Playground, discussing the results of the 2008 Playground Report Card survey here.
BACKGROUND INFO
The playground assessment event was launched in February 2006, to raise awareness of and bring attention to the needs of San Francisco’s playgrounds. The assessment is based on a survey created by the National Program for Playground Safety. In that year, NPC in conjunction with RPD developed the survey tool and provided training to volunteers that signed up to conduct assessments in their own neighborhoods.
In 2007, NPC and RPD kicked-off a series of playground workdays, to resolve maintenance issues at the 30 city playgrounds that received a “D” or “F” grade in 2006. The kick-off event took place at Balboa Playground in April 2007, and the playground renovation was recently completed on March 4th, 2008.
Balboa Playground is an excellent example of a failing playground receiving support from a dedicated funder and the surrounding community to work in conjunction with NPC and RPD to turn an “F” grade into an “A.” It should be noted that while the Balboa Playground build was conducted more quickly than most, it took NPC and RPD months of preparation and coordination, financial and staff investments, and the sweat equity and fundraising efforts of the community to realize the renovation.
