Palatine Park District awarded Healthy Play Action Grant
At the 2017 IAPD/IPRA Conference in Chicago this January, Palatine Park District was named one of 18 agencies in the state of Illinois to be awarded the 2016 Healthy Play Action Grant from GameTime, a PlayCore company.
The grant funds, which total $1.45 million, are part of an Illinois statewide initiative to promote healthy play with the Illinois Park and Recreation Association, GameTime and PlayCore.
The matching grant will be used to renovate Palatine Park District's playground at Oak Park, 455 N. Clark Drive, this summer.
"The proposed playground will incorporate a variety of the latest state-of-the-art components, which provide the six key play elements to promote healthy lifestyles," said Ed Tynczuk, superintendent of Parks and Planning for the Palatine Park District.
"This playground will be designed to accommodate children from the age of 5 to 12 and include play panels and musical components to facilitate learning development."
Kids Around the World, a nonprofit organization, will be removing the current playground at Oak Park and repurposing it in an underprivileged area to be determined by the organization.
Working with IPRA, GameTime developed the grant program to provide matching funds to assist parks throughout Illinois to create playground spaces that encourage best practice designs for active behavior.
"What made this program unique was the educational training and professional development provided by our parent company, PlayCore," said Robert Barron, senior vice president at GameTime. "These workshops throughout the state of Illinois equipped park and recreation professionals with the research and resources to create recreation spaces based on best practices, encourage children and families to be more active and increase the usage of community parks."
Each of the playgrounds that are funded by the matching grant will be designated as National Demonstration Sites and will contribute toward the publication of an authoritative report to highlight best practices and outcomes achieved.
Debbie Trueblood, executive director of IPRA, said, "IPRA is excited about this opportunity for our members throughout the state. Not only will the matching grant funds from GameTime help our members provide active play spaces for children and families today, these sites will provide a research component that will elevate the field of parks and recreation for the future."
"We are very excited to be the recipient of this grant and to potentially be part of national research on the trends of play and future design of playgrounds across the nation," said Mike Clark, executive director for Palatine Park District.
"With the possible property tax freeze legislation and hiatus with grant programs to assist parks and recreation, it is vitally important that we as a district seek all sources of revenue to continue to meet the needs of our residents."
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