Brewers players, coaches and Brewers Wives along with hundreds of Milwaukee community volunteers will team up with KaBOOM! organizers on Thursday, June 26th to build a new playground for Our Next Generation, a community non-profit that provides academic support and enrichment programs for kindergarten through high school students located on 35th and Lisbon.
Working with KaBOOM!, a national non-profit promoting balanced and active play for kids, Brewers Community Foundation identified Our Next Generation as a community in need of a safe, inspiring space for children to experience the active outdoor play that is essential to help them thrive. “Active, creative outdoor play is so important for kids to grow up happy and healthy,” says Robert Dunn, President and CEO of Our Next Generation. “We’re so grateful to the Brewers for making sure the kids in our neighborhood get those same opportunities.”
The new playground will provide more than 850 children in central Milwaukee with a safe place to play. The design of the playground is based on children’s drawings created at a special design event in April. Using these drawings and designs as an inspirational template, 250 volunteers will build a custom one-of-a-kind playground in six hours or less.
The playground build is part of the Brewer’s Beyond the Diamond initiative, an annual series of community outreach events that take place during the baseball season. “We are excited to partner with Our Next Generation and invest in the kids they serve by helping them build a brand new playground. Recreation is a cornerstone of the Brewers Community Foundation’s mission and this is a great example of how we are investing in the future of Milwaukee,” says Cecelia Gore, Executive Director of Brewers Community Foundation.
Mobilizing a network of local organizations like Washington Park Partners, Safe and Sound, and Habitat for Humanity, Our Next Generation is engaging with local residents and youth to promote investment in their new play space and to make Build Day a truly community event. The District Three Milwaukee Police Department will also be involved with the playground construction, as part of an ongoing effort funded by a Federal grant from Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program to repair relationships with community members in the Washington Park Neighborhood. Police officers will be present on Build Day to connect with young people through S.T.O.P (Students Talking it Over with Police) programing, and to roll up their sleeves as build volunteers alongside community members.
More information about this exciting community event can be found online at www.tinyurl.com/ongbuild.
- Our Next Generation announces new president and CEO La Toya Sykes - October 23, 2014
- Our Next Generation hosts first annual Lisbon Street block party - July 21, 2014
- Brewers, KaBOOM! partner with Our Next Generation to build new playground - June 16, 2014
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