Inner City Kids Get a New Place to Play

By Eric Mears, R.G., vice president, Brown and Caldwell

An army of well-organized volunteers worked through the weekend to assemble three acres of new slides, swing sets and playground structures.

Brown and Caldwell, a national, full service environmental engineering and consulting firm, teamed with the Real Gift Foundation, a local charity assisting children of homeless families, to improve conditions at several inner city schools in Phoenix, Ariz. Brown and Caldwell and the Real Gift Foundation recently completed a project for the children attending the Solano Elementary School in Phoenix. The majority of those students come from homeless or poor families.

Brown and Caldwell underwrites an annual charity golf tournament that has generated over $250,000 for children’s charities and frequently works with the Real Gift Foundation to complete important projects that benefit the growing number of homeless and underprivileged children in Arizona.

Early efforts were focused on Solano School, with over 80 percent of the students living at or below the poverty line. The play equipment was largely outdated, in growing disrepair and did not meet current standards. Some of the equipment was installed during the school construction in the 1950s!

The Solano Elementary had recently received state and federal grant money to improve conditions, but rapidly escalating construction costs threatened planned upgrades to the playground. The school district asked the Real Gift Foundation (RGF) for help. According to Conde Rogers of the RGF, “We knew that without help from volunteers and outside donations, existing funding would not cover even half of the needed equipment.”

The ribbon-cutting for the finished playground was conducted on the following Monday for the teachers and students of the Solano School.

It Made Perfect Sense

Working with the school district, the RGF encouraged the playground supplier (Dave Bang and Associates) to substantially discount the Playworld Systems equipment and donate their oversight during construction. Brown and Caldwell donated $30,000 to help make up a budget shortfall and recruited a talented group of contractors and members of the Arizona Rock Products Association to donate labor, equipment and materials to demolish and dispose the old equipment and pour an approximate 3,500 sq. ft. concrete sports court. “It made perfect sense to use our industry relationships and the proceeds from our charity golf tourney to build something special for these kids” said Eric Mears, vice president and co-chair of the Brown and Caldwell Invitational.

The first through third graders were first to experience the new playground.

An Army of Volunteers

Over 75 volunteers from the school, Brown and Caldwell and the RGF donated one weekend to install the equipment. Employees of Dave Bang and Associates laid out the equipment footings and directed the groups of volunteers to construct and erect the equipment. Conde Rogers remarked, “It was amazing to see this army of volunteers construct this elaborate playground in just one weekend.”