October 22, 2025 • 30 mins
So much depends on your ZIP code, even children’s access to play. But an effort is growing to ensure the playground is where all kids can have fun, learn and heal.
“It's where they learn, it's where they build connection, it's where they really establish their identity as a human being in this world,” says Lysa Ratliff, CEO for KABOOM! “And yet, there's extreme disparities in our parks and our schools and our cities and who has access to what.”
In this sponsored episode, Ratliff explains how KABOOM! is working in cities such as Baltimore, Oakland and Uvalde in Texas to safeguard a generation’s childhood and sense of belonging.KABOOM! is a national nonprofit organization known for building thousands of playgrounds over the past 30 years. Today, the organization is scaling up through its “25 in 5 Initiative” — a plan to partner with 25 cities over five years to end playspace inequity and close the “nature gap” that leaves millions of kids, especially in communities of color, without access to safe, quality green spaces.
Ratliff highlights how data, partnerships and community-led design can end inequity.“We're trying to answer a very big question,” says Ratliff. “How can we make sure that every single kid in this country has a chance to grow up in a world that sees them, that values them, that gives them a sense of freedom and belonging and ultimately protects their childhood by any means?”
Municipal partners interested in joining the 25 in 5 Initiative can complete an interest survey.
“It's where they learn, it's where they build connection, it's where they really establish their identity as a human being in this world,” says Lysa Ratliff, CEO for KABOOM! “And yet, there's extreme disparities in our parks and our schools and our cities and who has access to what.”
In this sponsored episode, Ratliff explains how KABOOM! is working in cities such as Baltimore, Oakland and Uvalde in Texas to safeguard a generation’s childhood and sense of belonging.KABOOM! is a national nonprofit organization known for building thousands of playgrounds over the past 30 years. Today, the organization is scaling up through its “25 in 5 Initiative” — a plan to partner with 25 cities over five years to end playspace inequity and close the “nature gap” that leaves millions of kids, especially in communities of color, without access to safe, quality green spaces.
Ratliff highlights how data, partnerships and community-led design can end inequity.“We're trying to answer a very big question,” says Ratliff. “How can we make sure that every single kid in this country has a chance to grow up in a world that sees them, that values them, that gives them a sense of freedom and belonging and ultimately protects their childhood by any means?”
Municipal partners interested in joining the 25 in 5 Initiative can complete an interest survey.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Strawt media.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That's where they learn, it's where they've built connection, it's
where they really establish their identity as a human being
in this world. And yet there's extreme disparities in our
parks and our schools, in our cities in who has
access to what.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
This is Lucas Grinley from Next City show about change
makers and their stories. Truth is, there are solutions to
the problems of pressing people in cities. If you're listening,
I hope it's because you want to spread good ideas
from one city to the next city. Children make up
twenty two percent of our country's population and today we're
partnering on this sponsored episode with Kaboom, an organization that
says we should be designing cities with those kids in mind.
(00:51):
So today we're focusing on the children. We're joined by
Lisa Ratliffe, CEO of Kaboom. They are a national nonprofit
known for helping build playground for thirty years. She explains
how Kaboom is scaling up to solve problems like play
based inequity and im sure all our kids have the
childhood they deserve. Kaboom is looking for partners across cities
as they use data to identify where investment is needed most.
(01:14):
Then they work alongside communities to co design news spaces.
It's an approach that's already transforming neighborhoods in Oakland, Baltimore,
and Uvalde, Texas. We're going to hear more about each
of those, but first I wanted to ask Lisa about
everything our kids are facing these days. There's a lot
to worry about.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I have a lot of concerns about what our kids
are facing right now, and it's complex, and it's complicated,
and it's also urgent for us. We're trying to answer
a very big question. So how can we make sure
that every single kid in this country has a chance
to grow up in a world that sees them, that
values them, that gives them a sense of freedom and belonging,
(02:01):
and ultimately protects their childhood by any means. And we're
doing that because of the rapid change that we're seeing
in the world. I love technology. I love what it's
doing for us, but the exposure that our children have
had to devices and to the world that exists within
(02:26):
those devices is very dangerous. Times are uncertain, adults are
dealing with what I would argue are the most complicated
issues that I've seen in my lifetime. And at the
same time, while we're solving adult problems, we need to
make sure that at the center of our solutions our children.
(02:48):
In two ways, one putting a protective bubble around their
childhood and making sure that their childhood does all of
the things that it should and it needs to give
them the tools that they will need to become our
future leaders. And so while we solve adult problems, we
also need to make sure that we're doing that in
a way that cares first for our kids, that allows
(03:10):
us to say, you know, we cannot see eye to
eye on some things, but what we will always make
sure that we demonstrate and showcase for our children is
a world that cares about them. We're not there right now,
and that is deeply concerning to us as an organization
that fights for the right of childhood, fights for the
right of play, and it exists to make sure that
(03:33):
communities are coming together to prioritize great places for kids
to be able to play.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
In neighborhoods with a higher portion of families of color,
seventy five percent lacked nearby green space compared to one
hundred forty percent for white families. So tell us about
how that affects people, and then how is Kaboom working
to address the inequity and just access to nature.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
So you know, big picture, there's about twenty seven million
American children that lack access to a quality playspas or park.
And when you dig into that, communities of color are
three times more likely to not have access to nature.
And when they do, there's the parks are overcrowded, they
(04:20):
are half the size, there's five times as many people
on them. We have we have some real disparities here.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, disparity not only in access, but also in quality
of the experience.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Absolutely quality. We have replaced playgrounds from when I was
a child in the seventies, those same blaze spaces that
oftentimes are out of commission so you'll see swings with
caution tape wrapped around them so they're unusable. So they're
just basically teasing the child that you know play once
lived here, but it's unsafe for you to be able
(04:53):
to play here. Now. That is not okay for a five, ten,
even fifteen year old who wants the world to see
them and to be prioritizing their space and sense of
belonging in it. And so we are going to better
understand where spaces don't exist for our kids that should exist,
(05:14):
and we are going to prioritize and center all of
our resources to make sure that we're solving those not
one at a time, but all at a time. It's
very unlikely that those play spaces are going to be
invested in or replaced without intervention and support and pulling
resources together to solve the problem. One school, one municipality,
(05:38):
one school district, does not have all of the resources
they need to solve the problem within all of their schools.
They're dealing with buildings and what's happening inside the schools.
And yet, when you look at it from a kid's perspective,
their number one priority is to be able to play.
That's where they learn, it's where they've built connection, it's
where they really establish their identity as a human being
(06:02):
in this world. And yet there's extreme disparities in our parks,
in our schools, in our cities, in who has access
to what it's what we are focused on at KABOOM
is making sure that those disparities go away. And what's
true for one is true for all.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
What Lisa's pointing out is a problem that cannot be
fixed alone. After the break, how Kaboom's partnerships are transforming
cities from Oakland's redesigned schoolyards to Baltimore's play equity movement
into Yovalde, Texas, where playgrounds helped a community heal Welcome back. Today,
(06:42):
we're looking at what happens when cities start prioritizing their
youngest residents, and we're talking with Lisa Ratliffe, CEO of
Kaboom about the importance of access to safe green spaces
in our children's health, learning, and their sense of belonging.
The pandemic really transformed our urgency around access to outdoor space.
In the twenty five and five Initiative to End place
Based Inequity is Kaboom's plan to accelerate the end of
(07:05):
place based in equity by partnering with twenty five different
municipal systems across the United States. I want to ask
you about a couple examples where it is a partnership
and it's been data driven. One that comes to mind
is Oakland, where you're working with heat Learn play Right
(07:27):
and you're reinvigorating playground as part of like a whole
bunch of work that you Learn Play is doing. And
I heard the CEO of You Learn Place say, you know,
it takes a village when improving the lives of children.
I guess that's kind of what you're seeing in Oakland, right,
Is this an example of what you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yes, Oakland is a prototype for us. So we've historically
worked in Oakland for years and you know, doing one
off projects for most of our history. And then you know,
we started to have more intentional conversations and incomes, Eat
Learn Play, which you know you mentioned Chris and his quote,
who really is clear on this intersection of what kids
(08:08):
need that you know, their learning environment is important, having
food in their bellies is important, and having very beautiful,
rich play spaces is critical to their development. And so
collectively we have been able to quite literally move from
building you twenty two hundred square foot play spaces, you know,
(08:31):
plant a couple of trees designed by the kids, to
renovating entire school yards. So I'm talking like ten fifteen
twenty thousand square foot spaces where we're removing blacktop, we're
cooling the play environment, we're building outdoor classrooms, we are
(08:52):
really understanding what the needs are of each of the
schools we're working in by looking at you know, how
do you bring the indoor learning experience outside and how
do you look at your outdoor space as an asset
for your teachers and for your school and for your
children and families. And you know, Chris and I just
(09:13):
keep saying, you know, we're just getting started. You've got
a system that is absolutely ready and willing to figure
it out, and you've got a partner Eat Learn Play
behind Meat Learned Play is stef and Aisha Curry, who
are just absolutely committed to the youth and families of Oakland, saying,
(09:35):
you know what we're going to We're going to break
some rules. We're going to go out of the box.
We're going to think big. We're not going to have
a deficit mindset. And they work with several other nonprofits,
not j just Kabooms. So oftentimes when we're working outside,
there's another partner restoring a library inside. That's the prototype, Like,
that's the vision for how we come together to solve
(09:57):
the problems, to address the ecosystem of needs that our
kids have.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Hey, everybody at Franklin Elementary School, right here in our
hometown of Oakland, California. We know that this year has
been a very difficult and different year, and you've had
to make some adjustments like never before.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
This is NBA star Steph Curry from the Golden State
Warriors announcing the new playspase and the video message recorded
during the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And we've heard from so many kids and families about
how you're managing during these difficult times and how much
you can't wait to be able to play again. We
also heard about your schoolyard standing here right now, and
how this court was in pretty bad shape and how
your playground wasn't cutting it. So I came here to
check it out for myself and I have to say,
(10:46):
unfortunately that I do agree it needs improvements and we
can do better than this. So today I'm excited to
share an announcement with you. Early next year, Franklin Elementary
School is getting a brand new playground, core and school garden.
Our Eat Learned Play Foundation is teaming up with CarMax Foundation, Kaboom,
(11:08):
Oakland Unified School District and Franklin Elementary to ensure that
when you're back in school that you have an amazing
new playground in a schoolyard to return to.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Well, let me ask you about one other one, the
first twenty five and five initiative city. I believe it's Baltimore, right,
So you also say that Baltimore is an example of
a whole city approach, which I'm curious what that means,
and like, how does it work in Baltimore for people
who are listening, who are in cities. What's the best
way to kind of go about this?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So it's work, I will say that. And we don't
run from the work. So it's not like, oh, you know,
I'm going to meet with this person and we're going
to solve the problem overnight. It's we're going to find
the right people to sit down at the table and
we're going to start talking about our challenges, understanding our challenges,
and making a joint commitment to figuring it out as
long as it takes. And that's pretty much what's happened
(12:08):
in Baltimore. They were a first twenty five and five
partner because they taught us something. They taught us how
to go into city leadership and into a municipality and
our first question to be, how can we help you
achieve your goals, And though we had been asking a
good question before, Hey, let's build a playground together, what
(12:29):
do you want that to look like? The better question
to ask is how do you need help? What are
you trying to do for your students? What are you
trying to do for your kids? So you start there,
and then you bring in Mayor Scott in Baltimore is
a leader who believes in investing in youth and recreation
spaces and is prioritizing how do we solve this problem
(12:52):
for our young people in partnership with others. You bring
in an organization like parks and people who also works
with community to deliver play solutions. And then you bring
in the parks department that says, oh, you know, well,
the kids that attend the school live in this community.
We're working to address these parks, and the school is
(13:13):
working to transform the schoolyards. Let's layer on the data
and let's make sure that we are prioritizing together so
ultimately we're servicing the needs of kids and families at
a much faster rate because we're not overlapping or duplicating efforts.
We're being more coordinated and collaborative, and that's that's how
(13:34):
we're working in most of the twenty five and five cities.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
So we have the work with the Learned Play Foundation
in Oakland, we have the whole city approach in Baltimore.
But I also have to mention the public private partnership
in Prince George's County. Also in Maryland, where I was like,
can this step be right? It says Kabooms Playgrounds led
to a two hundred and twenty three percent increase in use, right,
which is a huge amount. So how did that partnership about,
(14:00):
How is it different from the others.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, so that's really in our backyard. So that's our
neighboring county, Prince Georgie's County, And so we've been doing
some geo fencing around play s bases, ones that they've
put in and then ones that they have done in
partnership with us, and they've experienced a phenomenal increase. I
think it's like sixty some odd percent increase in usage
(14:26):
with the ones that they drop into the ground, but
with Kaboom it's a two hundred and twenty three percent
increase in usage, which is extraordinary. We were we're still
testing all of this out and We've done it in
Uvalde and we're going to test one other city. But
what an incredible shift, and so we've been really trying
(14:47):
to unpack what's behind that and what we suspect is
our model, Like our model is highly engaging. We bring
community to the table. Community recognizes that this is their asset,
that there doesig that it's not being done to them,
it's being done with them under their guidance and vision.
Because you literally have people coming out, parents, their kids,
(15:10):
families to help us design and build kind of energy
and momentum around that, and then coming back to build
it with us. That's their space. We you know, we're
there to support and facilitate making it happen, but that's
their space. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I was going to ask you about the case for
code design, but that's absolutely the case. When you have
sixty percent on one hand and two hundred and twenty
three percent on the other hand, you can just see
it in the numbers. That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, We're we suspected it all along. We've known that
it's something we've talked about, but to have the data, yeah,
it's a big deal and it helps us in talking
to our other municipal partners and you know sixty percent
is something to be proud of as well, Like, that's
what we want. We want to build infrastructure that our
communities and families are using. They're using it, but to
(15:56):
know that such a significant increase is possible, it's magic
for us. It's exactly what we want to see happen.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
After the break. One of the most moving examples of
Kaboom's work. It's the case you heard Lisa mention of Yvaldi,
Texas and healing after a school shooting. Welcome back. Today,
we're talking with Lisa Ratliffe, CEO of Kaboom, about what
(16:27):
it means to design cities with children in mind. We've
heard about the lack of access to safegreen spaces known
as the nature gap, and we visited some specific examples
in Opland in Baltimore where Kaboom has used data and
partnerships to close that gap as part of its twenty
five and five initiative. Now the story of Yvaldi, Texas,
where Kaboom helped build space for kids to learn, connect
(16:49):
and heal. I have to ask you about Yvaldi because
I mean, when we're talking about passing on traumatic kids
and talk extress and dealing with everything that adults are
going through in terms of stressors, but with kids. I mean,
Evaldi's got to be an incredible example of that. Can
(17:10):
you share with folks what happened there and what was
it like there?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah? I mean I think we all know about the
so tragic shooting at rod Elementary twenty one people lost
their lives because of that, and you know, we we
have historically worked in places that either you know, some
natural or other kind of disaster or tragedy happens. We
(17:39):
have historically worked in places like that because we know
how play can not only be a remedy, but the
process of coming together to heal and unify around our
kids and to do something tangible is very healing. And
so in Uvaldi we got a call from the Duke
(17:59):
and Duchess of Sussex who said, I guess the Duchess
had been out in Uvaldi for a visit and a
principal there, Coach Sandoval, had shared with her, like, you know,
what we really need for a little bit of healing
is some play spaces. We need our young people to
know that their space for them and that there's a
(18:22):
path for them to find joy. And when we went there,
we recognized, in a community of sixteen thousand people with
a high population of kids, the majority of their play
spaces were outdated and had passed their life cycle. And
so when we were looking at it, we were saying,
you know, if we could just build sixteen seventeen play spaces,
(18:44):
we could actually change the landscape here. And so we
started with the one at Esperanza Park and we worked
with the families who lost their children, and we worked
with the leadership in Uvaldi to make that a real
special moment to honor not just the children, but the
(19:06):
grief that those families were going through, and just really
creating a space that allowed the kids that you know,
there's a lot of the families have other children, but
really creating a space where young people and adults who
were dealing with such heavy pain could come and experience
(19:27):
and provide some joy and community with each other. I
think we've built twelve place spaces there now. So the
more we did with the community, the more they wanted
to do. And I think if we build about five
more play spaces, we will have achieved place space equity
in Uvalde. Not if when we address those needs we
(19:50):
will have achieved place based equity in Uvaldi, and so
we're proud of that. But I think more important the
relationships and and what we've learned through those relationships have
been something that has been extraordinarily special for Kaboom. And
to watch and witness and be a part of community
(20:12):
healing in a way that is just just I don't
even have the words for it.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Here's some of what members of the Uvalde community had
to say about the work.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
I told her there's a lot of things that are
happening in kids' homes and it's not even going to
get easier with everything that's happening right now. One thing
that I do know is that when kids are on playgrounds,
they're happy. I said, can you help me figure out
how to do this? And that's when she said that
there was a company called Kaboom.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I don't think I understood the magnitude of what was
going on or what was going to happen. This is
something that our community is never seen before. They been
changing stuff and it's making me more happy than focused
on everything. Next.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, the data that we talk about a lot is
important in maybe proving to others that this works. But
when you're on the ground experiencing something like that, you
must have moments when it's really clear to you that
you're having an impact.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yeah, yeah, that's what you know. Yeah, the data. I'm
glad you said that because the data is important because
you know, when when you're talking about fifty six percent
of schools only providing twenty minutes of recess, it's like, yeah, okay,
that's that's seems like something doesn't seem right like about that,
But when you dig into it and you're like, oh,
(21:36):
there's human beings here, there's young people, and I think
our biggest like urgency and are called to getting this
right and doing everything we can while we can is
because you're only four or five, six, seven, ten years
old once. If you try and figure things out over
the next five years, you've lost that childhood and that
(22:00):
childhood is such a fundamental part of adulthood of who
a person becomes as an adult, and you don't get
a do over. And so, yeah, there's this important data
that speaks to the gravity of the situation. But behind it,
what we're really talking about is people who we can
(22:22):
do better to solve the problems and invest in their experiences,
their life so that they can become highly functioning caregivers
of us in the future. You know, I talk about
the exposure that our kids have to just tragic things
(22:46):
in life and things that are quite traumatizing, and it
is unprecedented, you know, being able to scroll through a
phone and see things that most people wouldn't even really
see in their day to day That becoming the rewiring
of someone's psyche and their brain, especially a five year old,
or a six year old, or a ten year old,
(23:08):
even a fifteen or thirty year old, is a problem.
And common sense tells us that we don't want to
raise children who are over exposed. We want to raise
children who enjoy the full magic of childhood and see
adults that care about them and love them deeply. And
yet we are in a situation where over forty percent
(23:32):
of our young people have been diagnosed with a mental
health issue. We are in a situation where kids at
two years old, like forty percent of our kids at
two years old have a device, a tablet or a
phone that they have access to, and that number, the
(23:52):
amount of time they're spending on their screens triples in
communities of color, and so we can't ignore that we
won't talk about, you know, how important it is to
play outside. And throughout our our three decades, it's you know,
each decade has been a little bit different. It's been
you know, physical health and physical activity. Now we're in
(24:13):
a space where it's all of the above. It's physical,
it's mental, it's social. It's really like just the essence
of childhood being on the line, and these children are
going to be our future leaders and adults who know
that we have to solve problems are so tempted to
(24:36):
ignore how important it is to also protect childhood at
the same time is an issue that it's where at
crisis state. We are no longer like the writing on
the wall. We are there where we have to act
urgently and collectively to solve this problem for our kids.
And the last thing I'll say here is leaving us
(24:58):
on a positive note that I am really excited to
be a part of the community that Kaboom has been
working with. And by community, I mean the park systems
and park leaders that we're working with, the city leaders
that we're working with across the country, you know, from
Oakland to Saint Paul to Baltimore to Atlanta to Rochester
(25:22):
to Fort Worth to Uvaldi, Texas. We have started to
foster these really important partnerships that say we're going to
work differently. We are going to pull our resources together.
We're going to let the data give us a pathway
to solving these problems. We are not going to slow
walk this. We are going to move with urgency to
(25:46):
not just solve the problem and make sure all kids
have access to great park space and play spaces, but
to do it in a way that is innovative in
our thinking. Giving them increased access to nature, increased access
to multi generational space. Really being able to respond to
what's that public space, what that park space can do
(26:08):
to drive toward critical outcomes has been so exciting for
us because we can prove that this problem is solvable.
It's no longer one at a time where we're building
replacing one park, or doing building in one park. It's
now one system at a time, one city at a time,
(26:29):
one amazing park partner at a time. And the thousands
of kids and community members that are able to benefit
from that kind of partnership and that kind of thinking
has been a gift for us to be a part
of that. The time is now for us to partner
in these ways, and we're so glad it's happening.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
If someone is listening to this and they know they
have playspace in equity in a city where they're living
right now, they might not have the data yet to
prove it, but they can feel it. What should they
be doing? What would you suggest that they do to
be involved with Kaboom or just to solve this broadly?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, so the different layers at an individual level, Kaboom
we work nationally. Come check out our website, Come volunteer
with us. We always need helping hands, and in a
lot of the places I'm describing, you know, we're building
five ten play spaces a year, so you can come
and come back and really help lead. Bring your talents
(27:33):
to our work. If you are a leader, like in
a municipal system or leading a city or a peer organization,
or you have any kind of professional interests in this,
I think there's a lot of things you can do.
I mean, come to our website, there's a lot of
data you can also reach out to us. But our
initial step into a data informed approach was just kind
(27:55):
of looking at census data and looking at public data.
Have a commitment to really packing and understanding what's really
going on here, because not only do you create a roadmap,
but you create an asset that whether you're talking to
a funder or you are talking to an elected official
(28:15):
trying to help get the resources to prioritize a solution
in this space. So really pay attention to the data
and invest the time and having a strong understanding of
what's happening around here. Who are the other people who
are doing this work, and how do I work alongside
with them? None of us need to try and do
any of this work alone. And then I think, mostly
(28:39):
you know what I would really want to leave people
with is recognizing in everything that they're trying to solve,
there's a little kid looking at about us, hoping that
they see love, enjoy, and big people coming together to
pay attention to them and to care enough about them
(29:03):
to design our world and their lives like they live here.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
It is achievable. Thanks for all you're doing, Lisa, and
thanks to Kabooms Lucas. We hope you enjoyed this episode
(29:29):
of Next City, a show about change makers and their stories.
Together we can spread good ideas from one city to
the next city. Thank you for listening this week, and
thanks to Kaboom for partnering with us on this sponsored episode.
Thank you to our guest Lisa Ratliffe, CEO of Kaboom.
Their website is kaboom dot org. That's kabom dot org.
Our audio producer is Silvana Alcala. Our show producers Maggie Bowles,
(29:53):
our executive producers Ryan Tillotson, and I'm Lucas Gridley, executive
director for Next City. We'd love to hear any feedback
from our listeners. Please feel free to email us at
info atnexcity dot org and if you haven't already, subscribed
to the show on Apple, Spotify, Good Pods, or anywhere
you listen to your podcasts.
Strawt media.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That's where they learn, it's where they've built connection, it's
where they really establish their identity as a human being
in this world. And yet there's extreme disparities in our
parks and our schools, in our cities in who has
access to what.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
This is Lucas Grinley from Next City show about change
makers and their stories. Truth is, there are solutions to
the problems of pressing people in cities. If you're listening,
I hope it's because you want to spread good ideas
from one city to the next city. Children make up
twenty two percent of our country's population and today we're
partnering on this sponsored episode with Kaboom, an organization that
says we should be designing cities with those kids in mind.
(00:51):
So today we're focusing on the children. We're joined by
Lisa Ratliffe, CEO of Kaboom. They are a national nonprofit
known for helping build playground for thirty years. She explains
how Kaboom is scaling up to solve problems like play
based inequity and im sure all our kids have the
childhood they deserve. Kaboom is looking for partners across cities
as they use data to identify where investment is needed most.
(01:14):
Then they work alongside communities to co design news spaces.
It's an approach that's already transforming neighborhoods in Oakland, Baltimore,
and Uvalde, Texas. We're going to hear more about each
of those, but first I wanted to ask Lisa about
everything our kids are facing these days. There's a lot
to worry about.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I have a lot of concerns about what our kids
are facing right now, and it's complex, and it's complicated,
and it's also urgent for us. We're trying to answer
a very big question. So how can we make sure
that every single kid in this country has a chance
to grow up in a world that sees them, that
values them, that gives them a sense of freedom and belonging,
(02:01):
and ultimately protects their childhood by any means. And we're
doing that because of the rapid change that we're seeing
in the world. I love technology. I love what it's
doing for us, but the exposure that our children have
had to devices and to the world that exists within
(02:26):
those devices is very dangerous. Times are uncertain, adults are
dealing with what I would argue are the most complicated
issues that I've seen in my lifetime. And at the
same time, while we're solving adult problems, we need to
make sure that at the center of our solutions our children.
(02:48):
In two ways, one putting a protective bubble around their
childhood and making sure that their childhood does all of
the things that it should and it needs to give
them the tools that they will need to become our
future leaders. And so while we solve adult problems, we
also need to make sure that we're doing that in
a way that cares first for our kids, that allows
(03:10):
us to say, you know, we cannot see eye to
eye on some things, but what we will always make
sure that we demonstrate and showcase for our children is
a world that cares about them. We're not there right now,
and that is deeply concerning to us as an organization
that fights for the right of childhood, fights for the
right of play, and it exists to make sure that
(03:33):
communities are coming together to prioritize great places for kids
to be able to play.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
In neighborhoods with a higher portion of families of color,
seventy five percent lacked nearby green space compared to one
hundred forty percent for white families. So tell us about
how that affects people, and then how is Kaboom working
to address the inequity and just access to nature.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
So you know, big picture, there's about twenty seven million
American children that lack access to a quality playspas or park.
And when you dig into that, communities of color are
three times more likely to not have access to nature.
And when they do, there's the parks are overcrowded, they
(04:20):
are half the size, there's five times as many people
on them. We have we have some real disparities here.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, disparity not only in access, but also in quality
of the experience.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Absolutely quality. We have replaced playgrounds from when I was
a child in the seventies, those same blaze spaces that
oftentimes are out of commission so you'll see swings with
caution tape wrapped around them so they're unusable. So they're
just basically teasing the child that you know play once
lived here, but it's unsafe for you to be able
(04:53):
to play here. Now. That is not okay for a five, ten,
even fifteen year old who wants the world to see
them and to be prioritizing their space and sense of
belonging in it. And so we are going to better
understand where spaces don't exist for our kids that should exist,
(05:14):
and we are going to prioritize and center all of
our resources to make sure that we're solving those not
one at a time, but all at a time. It's
very unlikely that those play spaces are going to be
invested in or replaced without intervention and support and pulling
resources together to solve the problem. One school, one municipality,
(05:38):
one school district, does not have all of the resources
they need to solve the problem within all of their schools.
They're dealing with buildings and what's happening inside the schools.
And yet, when you look at it from a kid's perspective,
their number one priority is to be able to play.
That's where they learn, it's where they've built connection, it's
where they really establish their identity as a human being
(06:02):
in this world. And yet there's extreme disparities in our parks,
in our schools, in our cities, in who has access
to what it's what we are focused on at KABOOM
is making sure that those disparities go away. And what's
true for one is true for all.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
What Lisa's pointing out is a problem that cannot be
fixed alone. After the break, how Kaboom's partnerships are transforming
cities from Oakland's redesigned schoolyards to Baltimore's play equity movement
into Yovalde, Texas, where playgrounds helped a community heal Welcome back. Today,
(06:42):
we're looking at what happens when cities start prioritizing their
youngest residents, and we're talking with Lisa Ratliffe, CEO of
Kaboom about the importance of access to safe green spaces
in our children's health, learning, and their sense of belonging.
The pandemic really transformed our urgency around access to outdoor space.
In the twenty five and five Initiative to End place
Based Inequity is Kaboom's plan to accelerate the end of
(07:05):
place based in equity by partnering with twenty five different
municipal systems across the United States. I want to ask
you about a couple examples where it is a partnership
and it's been data driven. One that comes to mind
is Oakland, where you're working with heat Learn play Right
(07:27):
and you're reinvigorating playground as part of like a whole
bunch of work that you Learn Play is doing. And
I heard the CEO of You Learn Place say, you know,
it takes a village when improving the lives of children.
I guess that's kind of what you're seeing in Oakland, right,
Is this an example of what you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yes, Oakland is a prototype for us. So we've historically
worked in Oakland for years and you know, doing one
off projects for most of our history. And then you know,
we started to have more intentional conversations and incomes, Eat
Learn Play, which you know you mentioned Chris and his quote,
who really is clear on this intersection of what kids
(08:08):
need that you know, their learning environment is important, having
food in their bellies is important, and having very beautiful,
rich play spaces is critical to their development. And so
collectively we have been able to quite literally move from
building you twenty two hundred square foot play spaces, you know,
(08:31):
plant a couple of trees designed by the kids, to
renovating entire school yards. So I'm talking like ten fifteen
twenty thousand square foot spaces where we're removing blacktop, we're
cooling the play environment, we're building outdoor classrooms, we are
(08:52):
really understanding what the needs are of each of the
schools we're working in by looking at you know, how
do you bring the indoor learning experience outside and how
do you look at your outdoor space as an asset
for your teachers and for your school and for your
children and families. And you know, Chris and I just
(09:13):
keep saying, you know, we're just getting started. You've got
a system that is absolutely ready and willing to figure
it out, and you've got a partner Eat Learn Play
behind Meat Learned Play is stef and Aisha Curry, who
are just absolutely committed to the youth and families of Oakland, saying,
(09:35):
you know what we're going to We're going to break
some rules. We're going to go out of the box.
We're going to think big. We're not going to have
a deficit mindset. And they work with several other nonprofits,
not j just Kabooms. So oftentimes when we're working outside,
there's another partner restoring a library inside. That's the prototype, Like,
that's the vision for how we come together to solve
(09:57):
the problems, to address the ecosystem of needs that our
kids have.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Hey, everybody at Franklin Elementary School, right here in our
hometown of Oakland, California. We know that this year has
been a very difficult and different year, and you've had
to make some adjustments like never before.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
This is NBA star Steph Curry from the Golden State
Warriors announcing the new playspase and the video message recorded
during the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And we've heard from so many kids and families about
how you're managing during these difficult times and how much
you can't wait to be able to play again. We
also heard about your schoolyard standing here right now, and
how this court was in pretty bad shape and how
your playground wasn't cutting it. So I came here to
check it out for myself and I have to say,
(10:46):
unfortunately that I do agree it needs improvements and we
can do better than this. So today I'm excited to
share an announcement with you. Early next year, Franklin Elementary
School is getting a brand new playground, core and school garden.
Our Eat Learned Play Foundation is teaming up with CarMax Foundation, Kaboom,
(11:08):
Oakland Unified School District and Franklin Elementary to ensure that
when you're back in school that you have an amazing
new playground in a schoolyard to return to.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Well, let me ask you about one other one, the
first twenty five and five initiative city. I believe it's Baltimore, right,
So you also say that Baltimore is an example of
a whole city approach, which I'm curious what that means,
and like, how does it work in Baltimore for people
who are listening, who are in cities. What's the best
way to kind of go about this?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So it's work, I will say that. And we don't
run from the work. So it's not like, oh, you know,
I'm going to meet with this person and we're going
to solve the problem overnight. It's we're going to find
the right people to sit down at the table and
we're going to start talking about our challenges, understanding our challenges,
and making a joint commitment to figuring it out as
long as it takes. And that's pretty much what's happened
(12:08):
in Baltimore. They were a first twenty five and five
partner because they taught us something. They taught us how
to go into city leadership and into a municipality and
our first question to be, how can we help you
achieve your goals, And though we had been asking a
good question before, Hey, let's build a playground together, what
(12:29):
do you want that to look like? The better question
to ask is how do you need help? What are
you trying to do for your students? What are you
trying to do for your kids? So you start there,
and then you bring in Mayor Scott in Baltimore is
a leader who believes in investing in youth and recreation
spaces and is prioritizing how do we solve this problem
(12:52):
for our young people in partnership with others. You bring
in an organization like parks and people who also works
with community to deliver play solutions. And then you bring
in the parks department that says, oh, you know, well,
the kids that attend the school live in this community.
We're working to address these parks, and the school is
(13:13):
working to transform the schoolyards. Let's layer on the data
and let's make sure that we are prioritizing together so
ultimately we're servicing the needs of kids and families at
a much faster rate because we're not overlapping or duplicating efforts.
We're being more coordinated and collaborative, and that's that's how
(13:34):
we're working in most of the twenty five and five cities.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
So we have the work with the Learned Play Foundation
in Oakland, we have the whole city approach in Baltimore.
But I also have to mention the public private partnership
in Prince George's County. Also in Maryland, where I was like,
can this step be right? It says Kabooms Playgrounds led
to a two hundred and twenty three percent increase in use, right,
which is a huge amount. So how did that partnership about,
(14:00):
How is it different from the others.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, so that's really in our backyard. So that's our
neighboring county, Prince Georgie's County, And so we've been doing
some geo fencing around play s bases, ones that they've
put in and then ones that they have done in
partnership with us, and they've experienced a phenomenal increase. I
think it's like sixty some odd percent increase in usage
(14:26):
with the ones that they drop into the ground, but
with Kaboom it's a two hundred and twenty three percent
increase in usage, which is extraordinary. We were we're still
testing all of this out and We've done it in
Uvalde and we're going to test one other city. But
what an incredible shift, and so we've been really trying
(14:47):
to unpack what's behind that and what we suspect is
our model, Like our model is highly engaging. We bring
community to the table. Community recognizes that this is their asset,
that there doesig that it's not being done to them,
it's being done with them under their guidance and vision.
Because you literally have people coming out, parents, their kids,
(15:10):
families to help us design and build kind of energy
and momentum around that, and then coming back to build
it with us. That's their space. We you know, we're
there to support and facilitate making it happen, but that's
their space. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I was going to ask you about the case for
code design, but that's absolutely the case. When you have
sixty percent on one hand and two hundred and twenty
three percent on the other hand, you can just see
it in the numbers. That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, We're we suspected it all along. We've known that
it's something we've talked about, but to have the data, yeah,
it's a big deal and it helps us in talking
to our other municipal partners and you know sixty percent
is something to be proud of as well, Like, that's
what we want. We want to build infrastructure that our
communities and families are using. They're using it, but to
(15:56):
know that such a significant increase is possible, it's magic
for us. It's exactly what we want to see happen.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
After the break. One of the most moving examples of
Kaboom's work. It's the case you heard Lisa mention of Yvaldi,
Texas and healing after a school shooting. Welcome back. Today,
we're talking with Lisa Ratliffe, CEO of Kaboom, about what
(16:27):
it means to design cities with children in mind. We've
heard about the lack of access to safegreen spaces known
as the nature gap, and we visited some specific examples
in Opland in Baltimore where Kaboom has used data and
partnerships to close that gap as part of its twenty
five and five initiative. Now the story of Yvaldi, Texas,
where Kaboom helped build space for kids to learn, connect
(16:49):
and heal. I have to ask you about Yvaldi because
I mean, when we're talking about passing on traumatic kids
and talk extress and dealing with everything that adults are
going through in terms of stressors, but with kids. I mean,
Evaldi's got to be an incredible example of that. Can
(17:10):
you share with folks what happened there and what was
it like there?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah? I mean I think we all know about the
so tragic shooting at rod Elementary twenty one people lost
their lives because of that, and you know, we we
have historically worked in places that either you know, some
natural or other kind of disaster or tragedy happens. We
(17:39):
have historically worked in places like that because we know
how play can not only be a remedy, but the
process of coming together to heal and unify around our
kids and to do something tangible is very healing. And
so in Uvaldi we got a call from the Duke
(17:59):
and Duchess of Sussex who said, I guess the Duchess
had been out in Uvaldi for a visit and a
principal there, Coach Sandoval, had shared with her, like, you know,
what we really need for a little bit of healing
is some play spaces. We need our young people to
know that their space for them and that there's a
(18:22):
path for them to find joy. And when we went there,
we recognized, in a community of sixteen thousand people with
a high population of kids, the majority of their play
spaces were outdated and had passed their life cycle. And
so when we were looking at it, we were saying,
you know, if we could just build sixteen seventeen play spaces,
(18:44):
we could actually change the landscape here. And so we
started with the one at Esperanza Park and we worked
with the families who lost their children, and we worked
with the leadership in Uvaldi to make that a real
special moment to honor not just the children, but the
(19:06):
grief that those families were going through, and just really
creating a space that allowed the kids that you know,
there's a lot of the families have other children, but
really creating a space where young people and adults who
were dealing with such heavy pain could come and experience
(19:27):
and provide some joy and community with each other. I
think we've built twelve place spaces there now. So the
more we did with the community, the more they wanted
to do. And I think if we build about five
more play spaces, we will have achieved place space equity
in Uvalde. Not if when we address those needs we
(19:50):
will have achieved place based equity in Uvaldi, and so
we're proud of that. But I think more important the
relationships and and what we've learned through those relationships have
been something that has been extraordinarily special for Kaboom. And
to watch and witness and be a part of community
(20:12):
healing in a way that is just just I don't
even have the words for it.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Here's some of what members of the Uvalde community had
to say about the work.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
I told her there's a lot of things that are
happening in kids' homes and it's not even going to
get easier with everything that's happening right now. One thing
that I do know is that when kids are on playgrounds,
they're happy. I said, can you help me figure out
how to do this? And that's when she said that
there was a company called Kaboom.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I don't think I understood the magnitude of what was
going on or what was going to happen. This is
something that our community is never seen before. They been
changing stuff and it's making me more happy than focused
on everything. Next.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, the data that we talk about a lot is
important in maybe proving to others that this works. But
when you're on the ground experiencing something like that, you
must have moments when it's really clear to you that
you're having an impact.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yeah, yeah, that's what you know. Yeah, the data. I'm
glad you said that because the data is important because
you know, when when you're talking about fifty six percent
of schools only providing twenty minutes of recess, it's like, yeah, okay,
that's that's seems like something doesn't seem right like about that,
But when you dig into it and you're like, oh,
(21:36):
there's human beings here, there's young people, and I think
our biggest like urgency and are called to getting this
right and doing everything we can while we can is
because you're only four or five, six, seven, ten years
old once. If you try and figure things out over
the next five years, you've lost that childhood and that
(22:00):
childhood is such a fundamental part of adulthood of who
a person becomes as an adult, and you don't get
a do over. And so, yeah, there's this important data
that speaks to the gravity of the situation. But behind it,
what we're really talking about is people who we can
(22:22):
do better to solve the problems and invest in their experiences,
their life so that they can become highly functioning caregivers
of us in the future. You know, I talk about
the exposure that our kids have to just tragic things
(22:46):
in life and things that are quite traumatizing, and it
is unprecedented, you know, being able to scroll through a
phone and see things that most people wouldn't even really
see in their day to day That becoming the rewiring
of someone's psyche and their brain, especially a five year old,
or a six year old, or a ten year old,
(23:08):
even a fifteen or thirty year old, is a problem.
And common sense tells us that we don't want to
raise children who are over exposed. We want to raise
children who enjoy the full magic of childhood and see
adults that care about them and love them deeply. And
yet we are in a situation where over forty percent
(23:32):
of our young people have been diagnosed with a mental
health issue. We are in a situation where kids at
two years old, like forty percent of our kids at
two years old have a device, a tablet or a
phone that they have access to, and that number, the
(23:52):
amount of time they're spending on their screens triples in
communities of color, and so we can't ignore that we
won't talk about, you know, how important it is to
play outside. And throughout our our three decades, it's you know,
each decade has been a little bit different. It's been
you know, physical health and physical activity. Now we're in
(24:13):
a space where it's all of the above. It's physical,
it's mental, it's social. It's really like just the essence
of childhood being on the line, and these children are
going to be our future leaders and adults who know
that we have to solve problems are so tempted to
(24:36):
ignore how important it is to also protect childhood at
the same time is an issue that it's where at
crisis state. We are no longer like the writing on
the wall. We are there where we have to act
urgently and collectively to solve this problem for our kids.
And the last thing I'll say here is leaving us
(24:58):
on a positive note that I am really excited to
be a part of the community that Kaboom has been
working with. And by community, I mean the park systems
and park leaders that we're working with, the city leaders
that we're working with across the country, you know, from
Oakland to Saint Paul to Baltimore to Atlanta to Rochester
(25:22):
to Fort Worth to Uvaldi, Texas. We have started to
foster these really important partnerships that say we're going to
work differently. We are going to pull our resources together.
We're going to let the data give us a pathway
to solving these problems. We are not going to slow
walk this. We are going to move with urgency to
(25:46):
not just solve the problem and make sure all kids
have access to great park space and play spaces, but
to do it in a way that is innovative in
our thinking. Giving them increased access to nature, increased access
to multi generational space. Really being able to respond to
what's that public space, what that park space can do
(26:08):
to drive toward critical outcomes has been so exciting for
us because we can prove that this problem is solvable.
It's no longer one at a time where we're building
replacing one park, or doing building in one park. It's
now one system at a time, one city at a time,
(26:29):
one amazing park partner at a time. And the thousands
of kids and community members that are able to benefit
from that kind of partnership and that kind of thinking
has been a gift for us to be a part
of that. The time is now for us to partner
in these ways, and we're so glad it's happening.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
If someone is listening to this and they know they
have playspace in equity in a city where they're living
right now, they might not have the data yet to
prove it, but they can feel it. What should they
be doing? What would you suggest that they do to
be involved with Kaboom or just to solve this broadly?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, so the different layers at an individual level, Kaboom
we work nationally. Come check out our website, Come volunteer
with us. We always need helping hands, and in a
lot of the places I'm describing, you know, we're building
five ten play spaces a year, so you can come
and come back and really help lead. Bring your talents
(27:33):
to our work. If you are a leader, like in
a municipal system or leading a city or a peer organization,
or you have any kind of professional interests in this,
I think there's a lot of things you can do.
I mean, come to our website, there's a lot of
data you can also reach out to us. But our
initial step into a data informed approach was just kind
(27:55):
of looking at census data and looking at public data.
Have a commitment to really packing and understanding what's really
going on here, because not only do you create a roadmap,
but you create an asset that whether you're talking to
a funder or you are talking to an elected official
(28:15):
trying to help get the resources to prioritize a solution
in this space. So really pay attention to the data
and invest the time and having a strong understanding of
what's happening around here. Who are the other people who
are doing this work, and how do I work alongside
with them? None of us need to try and do
any of this work alone. And then I think, mostly
(28:39):
you know what I would really want to leave people
with is recognizing in everything that they're trying to solve,
there's a little kid looking at about us, hoping that
they see love, enjoy, and big people coming together to
pay attention to them and to care enough about them
(29:03):
to design our world and their lives like they live here.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
It is achievable. Thanks for all you're doing, Lisa, and
thanks to Kabooms Lucas. We hope you enjoyed this episode
(29:29):
of Next City, a show about change makers and their stories.
Together we can spread good ideas from one city to
the next city. Thank you for listening this week, and
thanks to Kaboom for partnering with us on this sponsored episode.
Thank you to our guest Lisa Ratliffe, CEO of Kaboom.
Their website is kaboom dot org. That's kabom dot org.
Our audio producer is Silvana Alcala. Our show producers Maggie Bowles,
(29:53):
our executive producers Ryan Tillotson, and I'm Lucas Gridley, executive
director for Next City. We'd love to hear any feedback
from our listeners. Please feel free to email us at
info atnexcity dot org and if you haven't already, subscribed
to the show on Apple, Spotify, Good Pods, or anywhere
you listen to your podcasts.
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