PartnershipsHelp us build inspiring playspaces that spark opportunities for every kid to soar.
Play is the center of childhood, yet for too many kids, play is hard to come by.
Kids who don't have a place to play are missing out on a critical component of childhood and are denied important opportunities to build physical, social, and emotional health. KABOOM! teams up with bold, inspiring partners and community members to build incredible places to play. Since 1996, we've used this model to build and improve 17,000+ playspaces. We've engaged more than 1.5 million employee and community volunteers to bring joy to over 11 million kids. We won't stop until we put an end to playspace inequity. For good.
KABOOM! Impact Areas
Tap a subject below to learn more about each area of our work
Neighborhood Revitalization
Playspaces are catalysts for community change, increased neighborhood pride, and new social connections.
Disaster and Crisis Recovery
Playspaces offer resiliency and healing for kids and families in the wake of a disaster, crisis or tragedy.
Early Learning
Play promotes brain development, parent-child bonding, and improves overall wellbeing for kids ages 0-5.
Teen Engagement
Investing in teens demonstrates to them that they matter and are supported by caring adults.
Health Equity
We help address the need for equitable access to playspaces as a way to improve health outcomes.
Playspace Equity
Every kid should have access to incredible places to play.
Our Values
At KABOOM!, our work centers around our three core values: equity, community and PLAYce. We know there are too many disparities when it comes to the opportunities for kids to play in this country. To advance playspace equity, we must work to eliminate inequity in access to quality playspaces caused by historic disinvestment in communities, which has disproportionately affected kids and communities of color.
We believe that the community has to be at the center of this change. Our role is to assist community leadership, not to come into a community and tell them what they need, or to do for them. And it is imperative that kids — the play experts — are active participants in the design process.
Together with our partners, we want to create PLAYces for kids and families to feel welcome, to feel safe, and to have fun. These principals started with the first playground that we built decades ago and continue to this day.
Our Offerings
KABOOM! offers a diverse set of play solutions to meet the varying needs of both kids and communities, including Playgrounds, Adventure Courses, Multi-sport Courts, Play Everywhere grants, and Creative Play sets.
Our Partners
Neighborhood Revitalization
Playspaces are catalysts for community change, increased neighborhood pride, and new social connections.
Community-led playspace projects lead to community-level outcomes around social cohesion, community connection, neighborhood pride, and safety. KABOOM! works with communities to define what outcomes are most important to them and then engage residents and other stakeholders to build incredible places to play, inspired by their ideas, courage and leadership.
We work with municipal agencies to transform underused open spaces, parks and existing playgrounds into safe, fun and beautiful spaces for kids and their families to recreate and gather. We are forging multi-year partnerships with public housing systems, city planning departments, school districts, and other local government organizations.
Through our partnership with Baltimore Children and Youth Fund, we are helping transform play areas at schools and housing developments across Baltimore with community leadership and engagement, not only creating great places for kids to thrive, but revitalizing critical neighborhood spaces and increasing social connections.
Please call (202) 464-6420 or enter your contact details below and a member of our Partnerships team will contact you to discuss how you can become a partner in this critical work.
Disaster and Crisis Recovery
Playspaces offer resiliency and healing for kids and families in the wake of a disaster, crisis or tragedy.
KABOOM! aims to help reduce the impact of toxic stress in kids after a natural disaster or crisis, through play. Kids are exceptionally vulnerable to significant stress and grief during and after a natural disaster or emergency as they deal with lost homes, lost loved ones or lost routines. And kids who experience frequent or prolonged levels of toxic stress can have lifelong health consequences that disrupt or impair healthy child development. KABOOM! has the knowledge and experience to respond effectively to disasters and crises when families are in need. We work with communities, corporations and foundations to help rebuild — or create — much-needed places for kids to play in the wake of disasters and crises.
Through our work with the Rebuild Texas Fund providing play opportunities in communities impacted by Hurricane Harvey, we saw first-hand how creating and reopening play spaces with broad-based participation was a uniquely powerful way to build hope, boost momentum for other recovery efforts in the region, and promote resiliency.
Please call (202) 464-6420 or enter your contact details below and a member of our Partnerships team will contact you to discuss how you can support our Disaster Fund and become a partner in this critical work.
Early Learning
Play opportunities for kids 0–5 can help promote early development and education, including brain development, parent-child bonds and overall well-being in young kids. The lack of resources, particularly in communities with disparities, has led to lack of playspaces, making it harder to offer kids engaging moments that spark early learning.
KABOOM! is committed to promoting early learning by incorporating playful learning and brain-building elements into community playspaces. With communities and our current partnerships, we are working together to create more equitable access to play for kids to support long-term early learning and development. Providing communities with safe, purposeful playspaces that promote learning can give every kid the chance to thrive.
Call (202) 464-6420 or enter your contact details below and a member of our Partnerships team will contact you to discuss how you can become a partner.
Playspace Equity
Playspaces help disinvested communities create more equitable places for kids to play and thrive.
Play is the center of childhood. Yet for too many kids, play is hard to come by. Many communities nationwide have experienced decades of disinvestment that has led to inequitable access to play. These and other circumstances make it challenging for many kids to play and get the critical cognitive, social, emotional and physical benefits they need. By supporting the priorities of local communities, and guided by our core values of Equity, Community, and PLAYce, together we can provide spaces for children to be more physically active, families to gather, and communities to come together. We define playspace equity as every kid having access to quality playspaces. To advance playspace equity, we must work to eliminate inequity in access to quality playspaces caused by historic disinvestment in communities, which has disproportionately affected kids and communities of color.
The Colorado Health Foundation and KABOOM! are pursuing an expanded partnership approach that allows us to test new community centered solutions while better addressing inequity by being more responsive to communities and measuring the outcomes of our work with a focus on disaggregated data.
Please call (202) 464-6420 or press the button below and a member of our Partnerships team will contact you to discuss how you can become a partner in this critical work.
Teen Engagement
Investing in teens demonstrates to them that they matter and are supported by caring adults.
Today, many teens, especially in communities of color, are learning to respond to and navigate challenges that are forcing them to grow up too fast. These dynamics in the home and at school reveal the need for us to help provide positive outlets where teens feel like they belong and can enjoy being active with friends.
Investing in teens demonstrates to them that they matter and are supported by caring adults who want to ensure they are getting opportunities to engage and enjoy being kids for a bit longer.
Please call (202) 464-6420 or press the button below and a member of our Partnerships team will contact you to discuss how you can become a partner in this critical work.
Health Equity
There's a direct correlation between access to playspaces and positive health outcomes for kids. We work with partners and communities to help address the need for equitable access to playspaces as a way to improve health outcomes.
We also support communities by helping them to build their own capacity to address their most pressing community health concerns together, demonstrating that positive community change and improved health outcomes for kids is possible.
KABOOM! is committed to deepening our knowledge of the correlation between access to places to play and positive health outcomes for kids.
Please call (202) 464-6420 or press the button below and a member of our Partnerships team will contact you to discuss how you can become a partner in this critical work.