The image above of Clement Park Inclusive Playground is courtesy of Landscape Structures Inc.
July Resiliency Conversation: Highlighting the Colorado Inclusive Playground Project
Strengthening resilience requires strong partnerships, and the Colorado Resiliency Office serves a key role in convening state agencies around strategic resilience action. Additionally, these partnerships thrive on the ability to promote and build awareness of incredible resiliency work happening across the state. Therefore, we seek to share stories such as this one shared by our partners at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Collaboration Results in Online Mapping Tool to Identify Inclusive Playgrounds
The Built Environment, Environmental Public Health Tracking, and the Maternal and Child programs at CDPHE worked together in partnership with parents with children with special health care needs to create a statewide online mapping tool that includes inclusive playgrounds across Colorado. This tool aims to geographically identify areas across the state that have access to play spaces for all ages and abilities and elevate the need for more inclusive parks and community spaces that go above and beyond ADA standards. You can learn more about the project by contacting Bradyn Nicholson, Built Environment Coordinator at CDPHE.
Clement Park Inclusive Playground as a Local Example of an Inclusive Playground Project
The Foothills Park & Recreation District celebrated the grand opening of Clement Park’s first inclusive playground on August 8, 2019. Located in Jefferson County, Clement Park is directly adjacent to a wide variety of community destinations such as the Columbine High School, Columbine Library, and shopping centers which allows easy access for those traveling in the area and helps encourage people across the lifespan to enjoy the vast recreational amenities it provides. A major goal of the project was to ensure the playground supported all types of abilities within the same areas and mitigated separation from others. Foothills Park & Recreation District worked with parent advocates throughout the planning and design process which helped increase staff's understanding and knowledge of a more diverse set of lived experiences and helped create a more inclusive playground that reflected the needs of all children being served. Most importantly, this engagement process sparked a greater conversation on future parks and recreation planning and efforts to create more inclusive playgrounds across the District.
In addition to being an example of a project that improves accessibility and equity in direct partnership with local community members, this park includes a number of resiliency components including the installation of new energy efficient lighting for security lights, parking lot lights, and pathway lights and improved water quality in the lake through a new aeration system. Learn more about the Clement Park Inclusive Playground Project, which serves as an example of what is possible when governmental partners and community members collaborate to achieve a common goal.
To learn more about how state agencies are working together to strengthen resiliency across Colorado, and how the Colorado Resiliency Action is facilitating strategic action, please visit the Colorado Resiliency Office's website.