Allen Field

I would like to see a running track that could be used for bikes, roller blades and runners, across the street from the park. Does anyone know if it would be possible to place one around the baseball field all the way up to the tennis courts and around?

Posted: May 29, 2010 at 05:15 PM

Fundraisers!

Here are two simple ways to help support Bring on Play! We are having a Pampered Chef fundraiser and two Rev's games fundraisers. Click on the files tab for more information!

Posted: May 20, 2010 at 11:02 AM

Mile Marker 3 Webinar

Fundraising is such an important part of this project. We have just finalized our playground design which will now allow us to really focus on fundraising. Luckily we are off to a good start, but we still have a significant amount to raise to reach our goal. We have applied for grants in the past as well as for this year's project, but it is important to continually seek out new opportunities. We also have a list of individuals and organizations that hadcontributed to our first build, but we need to continue to find ways to expand that list and get more people involved. One of the ways that we publicize our activities and events is through our City’s website as well as a Facebook page. We have over 100 fans!

Posted: April 15, 2010 at 01:45 PM

Mile Marker 2 Webinar

Establishing sub-committees is one of the most important parts of a committee. Since this our second community build, we have already established several of the committees recommended by KaBoom, but there are certainly a few areas that we should look into creating an additional sub-committee to ensure that we aren’t missing any details. This would also really help to make sure that a majority of the work is not falling on one person’s or committee’s shoulders. It is also a great way for individuals to be able to organize and focus their efforts to make a more meaningful impact on the project.

Posted: April 15, 2010 at 01:27 PM

KaBoom! Toolkit

Members of our committee have used the Kaboom! Toolkit over the past two years in our initial build specifically with the ideas for involving children in design day. We have repeated those efforts for our second community build project. We involve children in voting for a design, giving them another opportunity to get involved and feel ownership in the project. We have also found many of the other toolkit recommendations helpful such as “Community Involvement” and “Fundraising”. Thank you so much for all of the valuable information!

Posted: April 15, 2010 at 01:14 PM

Mile Marker 1 Webinar

This webinar gave a very nice overview of the importance of a neighborhood playspace in terms of childhood health and development as well as for the benefit of the community. While we have already decided on a design, it was interesting to learn about the different types of play equipment, wood vs. plastic/metal. This information will be helpful in talking to others about our project and why it is important that they support our efforts.

Posted: April 15, 2010 at 01:04 PM

Allen Park - Playground Design

CITY OF YORK / BOP – BRING ON PLAY – ALLEN PARK

The BOP Committee, “Bring on Play” was founded in 2008 with the goal of making the City of York a playful city and to assist the City with the development of new and safe playgrounds. The BOP Committee was formed and chaired by Adrienne Brenner and made up of members of the community interested in supporting positive and healthy play for children including Wellspan, YMCA of York and York County, Susan Byrnes Health Education Center, York City Bureau of Health, York City Bureau of Recreation and Parks and the United Way Secure Corps volunteers. The committee’s first goal was to raise awareness of the importance of safe and accessible play spaces for children and families. To this end, BOP applied for and received the Playful City USA status from Kaboom! a national non-profit group that promotes play throughout the United States. The committee then turned its focus to its first playground Lincoln Park. As BOP completed the Lincoln Park project the committee reorganized and Emmy Sasala was chosen as the Chairperson for 2009 / 2010. BOP also selected Allen Park as the next park to focus their efforts to bring on play.

Allen Park is a 13 acres park located at Hay and Sherman Streets in the northeast section of the City of York. In addition to the playground, Allen Park is home to two regulation Little League fields and the home fields for the York City Little League program. The park also has a full size football field used by local youth leagues.
The plan for Allen Park is to create a premier playground that will accommodate children from ages two to five and five to twelve and that will be open and available to all residents. The benefit to the community of the Allen Park project is to provide safe and quality playground equipment that will encourage children to play. The project will also include upgrades to basketball courts and the installation of a new picnic pavilion to provide space for families to enjoy time together in a park setting. The total budget for the 2010 playground is $160,000.00.

The children of the neighborhood helped to design the playground for all children of the City. A design day was held at a local elementary school where children submitted design ideas and drawings of their ideal playground. This was followed by a vote day where children had a chance to vote for their favorite playground design.

The City of York and the Allen Park neighborhood consists of low to moderate income families with an average family income of approximately $35,000.00. Over ninety percent of the students that attend the York City Schools are eligible for free or reduced lunch. The new playground when constructed will accommodate over one hundred children at a time and we anticipate use of the park to increase dramatically. Total daily use of the playground is estimated at between three hundred to five hundred children.

Posted: April 09, 2010 at 09:44 AM