Does your southeast Michigan community have an idea for a creative public space that encourages active play of people of all ages? Do you think you could come up with such an idea? If you can yes to either of those questions, then the Play Everywhere Challenge could be for your community.

Supported by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and presented by KaBOOM!, the Play Everywhere Challenge is a community-focused design competition to develop new ideas for bringing play to unexpected but everyday spaces, making play easy and available for kids and families. As part of the Challenge, grantees will be selected in Southeast Michigan and Western New York to receive a combined total of $1 million in prize funds. The application period opened Monday, Jan. 14. Go here for details and here for the official challenge rules.

You may have read or heard about a recent grant the Michigan Municipal League Foundation received from Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation at the end of last year to help out in Hamtramck (read more about that here). This Play Everywhere Challenge is another amazing project being supported by the Wilson Foundation. The Michigan Municipal League is helping spread the word to our League members.

This is the second year of the challenge. Previous challenge winners were in the League member communities of Allen Park, Port Huron, and Romulus as well as in other areas in Macomb County, St. Clair County, Washtenaw County, and Wayne County.   View all the past projects here.

Here is the Play Everywhere Challenge timeline:

• The Play Everywhere Challenge Idea form opened Monday, Jan. 14
• Early Bird idea form Deadline: February 15
• Final idea form Deadline: March 22
• June – winners announced
• July 15, 2019 – June 30, 2020: implementation

Here are additional details:

The Play Everywhere Challenge, supported by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation through its Built to Play initiative, will create more opportunities for free, unstructured, unplanned play. Together, we are ensuring all kids, no matter where they come from or where they live, get the active play they need to thrive.

WHY PLAY EVERYWHERE?

All kids need play to grow up happy, healthy and resilient. But many families struggle to find the time to incorporate play into their daily routines, and adequate, convenient playspaces can be hard to come by. According to a 2017 Aspen Institute report, only 13 percent of youth in Southeast Michigan and 16 percent in Western New York are getting the one hour of daily physical activity, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kids know that play can happen anywhere: at the grocery store, in a waiting room or on the way to school. The Play Everywhere Challenge asks grantees to engage kids and families in designing unique playspaces that excite curiosity and make kids say “I want to play there!” The Challenge will help families integrate play into everyday life and reach the kids who have limitless potential but are often overlooked with few options for active play.

TAKE ACTION

• Share your great idea for getting kids and families playing everywhere by submitting an Idea Form at kaboom.org.
• Check-out past Play Everywhere projects by visiting org/builttoplay.