Community: City of Flint
Population: 10,000+
#FlintKidsPlay is an initiative to restore the fun for children in parks across the City of Flint. With over 1,800 acres of parkland across 70 parks, it is important to City staff that in addition to maintaining the parks, they are also places people go for fun. Over the last three years, the City of Flint has worked with community partners and volunteers to install new playgrounds all over the city. Using strategic planning to place playgrounds in parks with the most children nearby, outdated equipment is replaced and the kids get to be a part of the whole process.
Replicability:
The playground builds in Flint are sponsored by the CS Mott Foundation and United Way. They are made possible by the strong partnership between many partners and the volunteers who actually make it happen. The community that rallies around these build days is the biggest part of what makes them possible. Any place that is interested in bringing Make and Impact Foundation to their community only needs volunteers and an agency eager to leverage partner relations.
Creativity and Originality:
Through Design Day – partners are able to garner input from some of the most important members of the community – the kids! On Design Day, Flint children get to design playgrounds and vote on their favorite ones. When the playgrounds are finally built, they include elements from what the kids wanted to see in their parks.
Community Impact:
Volunteers have contributed over $200,000 in donated labor to install over $260,000 in new playground equipment across ten parks with SIX new community playground builds planned for summer 2018 and a projected investment of over $350,000. The playground builds bring a renewed sense of community to Flint parks and its people. Coming together to build something that will last for years is a true demonstration of the work that is neighborhood transformation. We are investing in the forgotten neighborhoods of our city and the people are this biggest part of it.
