The Playground Initiative is a joint venture of the Neighborhood Parks Council and the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. It focuses specifically on upgrading playgrounds which were identified as "failing" in the 2008 NPC Playground Report Card. Failed playgrounds are play spaces that are unsafe for our children to use.
Playground Initiative
Playground Report Card 2008
Spring was an exciting season for the Playground Initiative, as we completed our goal of evaluating each and every RPD playground in San Francisco. The data forms the basis for the 2008 Playground Report Card, released in July.
SolarCity Partnership Gives Money To Playgrounds
Most of you may have heard the good news that the ten-year solar incentive program passed out of the Board of Supervisors on June 11, 2008--the subsidy is now law, but SF funds are going quickly, and the federal subsidy may end in December unless renewed by Congress! (Click here to read the press release.) 
You can now support NPC by installing solar energy in your home or at your commercial building through SolarCity (www.solarcity.com, 888-765-2489). For every system that is installed, SolarCity will donate $100 to NPC’s Playground Initiative. Be sure to say that you are part of the NPC Coalition when you call for an appointment. Visit http://www.solarcity.com/neighborhoodparks for more information.
Playground Initiative Successes
PLAYGROUND INITIATIVE PROGRESS TO DATE
NPC’s program staff were busy this summer organizing and overseeing 5 different park playground cleanup days. We are currently planning approximately 5 more for the fall months--more details coming soon.
The Playground Initiative recently received a grant of $5000 from SF Beautiful to buy sand for upcoming playground workdays. Their generosity will allow us to provide clean, sanitized, arsenic free sand at several of the failed playground locations that we are working on this year. We are grateful for their support!
Our goal is to upgrade all the of failed playgrounds identified in the 2008 Report Card over the next two years, and hopefully attract donors to provide a full makeover of each of them – none are scheduled for renovation in the 2008 park bond. For the list of the failed playgrounds, click here.
San Francisco Named One of 67 “Playful City USA” Communities by Kaboom!
To ensure that their children are active and healthy, San Francisco was one of 67 communities across the country that has taken innovative approaches to make play a priority. Despite mounting budget issues, communities large and small, urban and rural, in the red and in the black, have created initiatives to increase both the quantity and quality of play and playgrounds, as well as increasing access to existing opportunities to play.
Balboa Playground Rebuilt
On Tuesday, March 4, 2008 more than 475 adults and 100 children descended upon Balboa Park in the Mission Terrace neighborhood for a community build day. Click here for a special ABC News video report.
Playground Safety
This page assembles links to various websites which highlight safety issues in playgrounds.
The Dirty Dozen: 12 Playground Safety Hazards, a video presented by the National Recreation and Park Association
The Dirty Dozen: 12 Playground Safety Hazards, a video presented by the National Recreation and Park Association
