FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
() · Today, KaBOOM! announced it has been awarded a grant from Target Corporation to create 175 unique play spaces for kids across the U.S., and through the Play Everywhere Challenge, empower cities to turn every day spaces into play areas that encourage more families to get active and play together. KaBOOM!, the national non-profit dedicated to giving kids the childhood they deserve through play, will work with Target to increase access to play for more than 430,000 kids across the country. Over the next year, KaBOOM! and Target team members will help 26 low-income communities to design, plan and build new playgrounds through volunteer power, making it easier for kids to get balanced and active play in their neighborhoods. They will also provide 97 grants for the KaBOOM! signature play products, Imagination Playgrounds and Rigamajig, to select communities. These products empower kids to use their own imagination to build the playspaces of their dreams using a variety of large and small foam parts or wooden pieces. In addition, Target is a sponsor of the KaBOOM! Play Everywhere Challenge, a national competition designed to provide funding for ideas that empower cities to integrate play into everyday life and unexpected places – sidewalks, vacant lots, bus stops, open streets and beyond – to encourage more families to get active and play together. Through support from Target and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, winners of the Challenge will be granted a portion of $1 million to bring their ideas to life in their communities. “KaBOOM! and Target share a deep commitment to the well-being of kids,” said James Siegal, CEO of KaBOOM!. “Play is absolutely critical to developing happy, healthy and creative kids, and playspaces are essential anchors in communities that value and nurture kids and families. We are proud to partner with Target to ensure hundreds of thousands of kids get the childhood they deserve filled with play.” “At Target, we are committed to helping make wellness a way of life for our team members, guests and communities,” said Laysha Ward, chief corporate social responsibility officer, Target. “That’s why we are excited to partner with an impressive array of organizations who are already doing such important work to make an impact in the wellness space. Together, we will help remove barriers to wellness in our communities, working to increase the consumption of nutrient-dense food and physical activity of kids and families across the country.” The grant is part of Target’s ongoing efforts to help make wellness more affordable, accessible and inspirational for its team members, guests and communities. Target also is partnering closely with local leaders and organizations in communities around the country who are experts in youth wellness and actively working to close the wellness gap for children. These efforts are part of Target’s long history of giving 5 percent of its profit to communities, which today equals more than $4 million every week.
Today, KaBOOM! announced it has been awarded a grant from Target Corporation to create 175 unique play spaces for kids across the U.S., and through the Play Everywhere Challenge, empower cities to turn every day spaces into play areas that encourage more families to get active and play together.
KaBOOM!, the national non-profit dedicated to giving kids the childhood they deserve through play, will work with Target to increase access to play for more than 430,000 kids across the country. Over the next year, KaBOOM! and Target team members will help 26 low-income communities to design, plan and build new playgrounds through volunteer power, making it easier for kids to get balanced and active play in their neighborhoods. They will also provide 97 grants for the KaBOOM! signature play products, Imagination Playgrounds and Rigamajig, to select communities. These products empower kids to use their own imagination to build the playspaces of their dreams using a variety of large and small foam parts or wooden pieces.
In addition, Target is a sponsor of the KaBOOM! Play Everywhere Challenge, a national competition designed to provide funding for ideas that empower cities to integrate play into everyday life and unexpected places – sidewalks, vacant lots, bus stops, open streets and beyond – to encourage more families to get active and play together. Through support from Target and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, winners of the Challenge will be granted a portion of $1 million to bring their ideas to life in their communities.
“KaBOOM! and Target share a deep commitment to the well-being of kids,” said James Siegal, CEO of KaBOOM!. “Play is absolutely critical to developing happy, healthy and creative kids, and playspaces are essential anchors in communities that value and nurture kids and families. We are proud to partner with Target to ensure hundreds of thousands of kids get the childhood they deserve filled with play.”
“At Target, we are committed to helping make wellness a way of life for our team members, guests and communities,” said Laysha Ward, chief corporate social responsibility officer, Target. “That’s why we are excited to partner with an impressive array of organizations who are already doing such important work to make an impact in the wellness space. Together, we will help remove barriers to wellness in our communities, working to increase the consumption of nutrient-dense food and physical activity of kids and families across the country.”
The grant is part of Target’s ongoing efforts to help make wellness more affordable, accessible and inspirational for its team members, guests and communities. Target also is partnering closely with local leaders and organizations in communities around the country who are experts in youth wellness and actively working to close the wellness gap for children. These efforts are part of Target’s long history of giving 5 percent of its profit to communities, which today equals more than $4 million every week.
About KABOOM!KABOOM! is the national nonprofit committed to ending playspace inequity – the reality that quality places to play are not available to every child, especially in communities of color. Since 1996, KABOOM! has partnered with kids and communities to create or transform 17,000+ playspaces and ensure that nearly 12 million kids have equitable access to the crucial benefits and opportunities that playspaces offer. In 2022, KABOOM! launched the 25 in 5 Initiative to End Playspace Inequity, the $250 million plan to accelerate its mission in 25 high-priority locations over five years. Learn more at kaboom.org and join the conversation at twitter.com/kaboom, facebook.com/kaboom, instagram.com/kaboom and LinkedIn.