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Far too many kids lack adequate places to play due to the ongoing effects of systemic racism.
These inequities leave communities of color with less access to playspaces than their white counterparts, limiting their ability to fully experience the physical, social, and emotional benefits of play.
KABOOM! unites with communities, including partners like you, to build kid-designed playspaces that spark joy and foster a sense of belonging for communities of color without access to play where they live and learn.
Our mission: end playspace inequity for good.
By bringing together our remarkable, mission-driven partners, KABOOM! directs resources to communities that lack access to quality playspaces — engaging volunteers from our partners and these same communities to build kid-designed playspaces side-by-side. We ensure that communities guide the process, design the playspace, and determine the impact we'll achieve together.
KABOOM! fosters strong partnerships at the local, national, and regional levels across sectors — including with foundations, corporations, municipalities, city leaders, schools, parks, housing, youth and community serving organizations — to drive better outcomes for all of our kids.
Over the past 25 years, we have built or improved 17,000+ playspaces, engaged more than 1.5 million community members, and brought joy to 11.5 million kids.
Through partnership, we can make sustainable progress towards community-driven goals that improve the lives of kids.
Far too many kids have limited access to great places to play due to the ongoing effects of systemic racism. Help us achieve our mission to end playspace inequity.
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Playspaces promote healing and resiliency for kids facing stressful situations and disruptions to their everyday routines. In the wake of the pandemic or in the case of other disasters and crises, playspaces ensure that children have access to a powerful tool to cope with loss, uncertainty, and change.
Equitable access to play can help promote and improve early childhood development and educational outcomes. With our partners, we're changing the landscape of learning through outcome-focused playspace design.
The communities where kids live, learn, and play are a major factor in determining their health and well-being. We help address the need for equitable access to playspaces as a way to promote health for kids and communities.
KABOOM! has a diverse set of play options that allow us to offer the best option based on individual community needs and desires, including community-built playspaces, creative play products, Play Everywhere, and Build-it-Yourself playground grants. The leadership of kids and communities informs the design of every playspace. Contact us to learn more about our playspace options.
KABOOM! unites with communities to build kid-designed playspaces that are responsive, spark joy, and foster a sense of belonging for kids and adults.
KABOOM! offers innovative, mobile playspaces that help promote unstructured, creative play from classrooms, to the outdoors, to museums, and beyond.
KABOOM! encourages the transformation of everyday places — laundromats, sidewalks, or bus stops — into stimulating, creative outlets for play with community-informed designs.
KABOOM! supports communities to lead a self-guided planning process, assembling a playground using a community-informed engagement model.
At KABOOM!, our work centers around three commitments: racial equity, community, and PLAYce. These commitments were established with the first playground that we built over a quarter-century ago, and continue today.
To achieve our mission, we address the historic and current role of systemic racism in communities across the country that creates and perpetuates playspace inequity. Addressing racial inequity makes it possible to solve for other inequities that impact the lives of kids.
The power of community is what allows us to unify, heal, and rebuild. The voices of kids and community members are essential to creating responsive playspaces, while volunteerism builds lasting connections between partners and communities that has the power to bridge across sectors and backgrounds to create long-lasting relationships.
With our partners, we are able to implement programs that focus on increasing access to and a sense of belonging in places to play at the city, regional, and systems levels. Together, we are creating PLAYces intentionally designed to spark important health, resilience, and learning outcomes for kids.
KABOOM! is proud to have been evaluated and honored by the following institutions.
Let's Build Together
Call (202) 464-6422 or enter your contact details below and a member of our Partnership Development team will contact you to discuss how to invest in our mission.
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