School choice continues to bring hope and partnerships to Atlanta communities. The resurgence of a playspace has brought joy to kids after months of closure. Students at Resurgence Hall in Atlanta are celebrating because they have a great new place to play.
For months, representatives from Resurgence Hall, Delta Air Lines and KABOOM!, the nonprofit organization focused on ending playspace inequity, have been working together to increase access to playspaces for local kids with the creation of a new, kid-designed playground that was installed on October 9th.
The playground will give kids an incredible place to play close to where they live and learn, an opportunity that is often hard to achieve.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented the Resurgence Hall community with numerous challenges –
from a global health crisis, to school closures and remote learning, and economic instability for many of our families. Many scholars have missed not only their friends but having a fun space to play outside.
With the option to return to campus in-person for the start of the 2020-2021 school year, our scholars are overjoyed to return to their classrooms and new teachers and classmates. The addition of a new playground to our campus will be an inspiring, creative, and safe space for scholars to truly play and enjoy being kids again!
Our scholars are thrilled for the upcoming playground! Amina Houston, a third grader in the Harvard college classroom says “I’m very excited for the slides because they are very fun and remind me of being at a waterpark. Instead of running on the grass like we have been, we will now have a playground to have fun together as a school.”
In August, kids from the community participated in a virtual Design Day where they creatively thought of ideas to create their dream playground. The new playground, which was designed with inspiration from their drawings, will provide hundreds of kids and their families in Atlanta with an incredible playspace that can spark hope and enable kids to reach their full potential.
KABOOM! knows that playspaces are essential to resilience, health and childhood, and the communities who have been hit the hardest by COVID-19 – communities facing challenges already, and communities of color – are the same communities who often lack access to parks and playspaces due to historic disinvestment.
The partners have teamed up to help end playspace inequity, creating a new place for kids to play that reflects the neighborhood’s unique needs and aspirations, and gives every kid the opportunity to experience the joys of childhood.
“We know disasters and crises often exacerbate the inequities that communities are already experiencing, and in many communities, kids won’t have a playground to go back to once the COVID-19 crisis is over,” says James Siegal, CEO of KABOOM!.
“We must stop the playspace inequities from becoming even deeper after we get through this pandemic, giving every kid the chance to play and just
enjoy being a kid.” , through its partnership with Delta, KABOOM! is committed to ending playspace inequity for kids, for communities, for good.
To ensure that playgrounds are able to open safely in every community, KABOOM! has issued important playground guidance that all communities, playground owner/operators and caregivers can follow. The guidance can be viewed or downloaded at kaboom.org/reopen.
The press release can be viewed here.
About Resurgence Hall
Resurgence Hall is a tuition-free public charter school serving scholars in southwest metro Atlanta. Resurgence Hall educates every K-8 student for success in high school, college, and life. Founded in 2016.
Jason has worked in education for over 15 years as a teacher, blogger and community advocate. He speaks and writes primarily about the need to improve education for Black boys, particularly increasing the number of Black male educators in schools. In addition to blogging here at EdLanta, Jason is also a featured writer at Education Post.