A primary goal of Playful City USA is to encourage cities and towns to share ideas, concepts and programs in an effort to increase play opportunities for children. The 217 Playful City USA communities are now eligible for $20,000 playground construction grants and $15,000 and $30,000 dedicated towards creating joint use agreements via Let's Play, a community partnership.

 
Photo Credits: Courtesy of SofSURFACES

Congratulations to the 217 communities who have earned recognition as a 2013 Playful City USA community! The program received a record number of applications this year. Hailing from 43 states, the 217 Playful City USA honorees range in size from seven-time honorees such as San Francisco and Spartanburg, S.C., to first-time recipient Ellsworth, Kan. (population: 3,100). These communities are making a commitment to play and physical activity by developing unique local action plans to increase the quantity and quality of play in their community.

In the seventh year of the annual program, 16 Playful City USA communities received recognition for the seventh consecutive year, while 23 earned honors for the sixth time, 25 for the fifth time, 29 for the fourth time, 41 for the third time, 46 for the second time. KaBOOM! recognized 37 communities with their first Playful City USA designation.

These cities are leaders in creating policies, programming, and infrastructure that increases opportunities for kids to play. Ninety percent of cities reported having a parks or play commission dedicated to helping strengthen play in their city. Another encouraging sign is that 78 percent of cities reported recess policies that ensure children of the community get time to play in school. About 56 percent of cities run an Adopt-A-Park program and over half of cities have other policies dedicated to increasing access to play.

For more information on the KaBOOM! Playful City USA program, including Let's Play grants and applications for 2014, visit www.playfulcityusa.org.