Empowering parents and caregivers to keep playgrounds fun and safe for kids by creating powerful micro communities
Leader
Sarah Baker
Location
535 Classon Avenue, 506 BROOKLYN, NY 11238
We see an opportunity to strengthen communities, working together to keep playgrounds fun and safe for kids, while also building broader community ties by working with neighborhood organizations helping people impacted by addiction and other issues.
The Playground Collective empowers parents and caregivers to be the change they want to see in their community through four tools:
Actions
Obtain fiscal sponsorship - March
Gain initial product feedback by rolling it out in 3 Bed Stuy playgrounds - March
Build target list of advisors - March
Improve design of the website - March
Produce awareness campaign visual assets - March / April
Community outreach - March / April
Marketing campaign for awareness visual assets - April / May
Playgrounds are a vital driver for social mobility, enabling children to meet all the kids in their neighbourhood while getting exercise and fresh air. For parents and caregivers, playgrounds offer a space to connect with each other and build local support networks.
The Playground Collective empowers parents and caregivers to keep playgrounds fun and safe for kids by connecting them with each other, creating powerful micro communities. Unlike the outdated low-tech ‘friends of’ group model, The Playground Collective is scaled to support these communities as they campaign to address common challenges playgrounds face (for example, discarded hard drug equipment), helping them meaningfully advocate for resources, support and activities from local governments, non profits, and others.
The first campaign of The Playground Collective will be tackling hard drug equipment in Brooklyn playgrounds.
The Playground Collective was founded in October 2023 following numerous findings of hard drug paraphernalia in Brooklyn’s playgrounds.
In a two-week exercise, 120 small but potentially dangerous hard drug containers, known as 'trash cans' were found in a single Brooklyn playground, and many more were reported in other neighboring playgrounds.
‘Trash cans’ found in playgrounds are used for multiple drugs, including heroin, cocaine, and crack cocaine. Fentanyl, and increasingly Xylazine are almost always now added to these drugs to cheaply increase potency.
It is highly unlikely that empty trash cans will harm people. But due to the tiny amount of fentanyl needed to kill, there is still a risk.
Many parents and caregivers did not know what drug containers look like, what to do if they find them, who to ask for help, and felt powerless for anything to get better. But because parents collected evidence of an issue, they were able to effectively advocate for improvements to playground safety, connect with each other, and with organizations in their community working to support those impacted by addiction.