Since 1996, the Trust for Public Land (TPL) has built playgrounds at schools throughout New York City, including Harlem. In Harlem, they've worked at Future Leaders Institute (134 W. 122nd Street), P.S. 180 Hugo Newman (370 W. 120th Street), P.S. 076 A Philip Randolph (220 W. 121st Street), and  J.H.S. 90 Julia de Burgos Junior High School/Academy of Environmental Science Secondary High School (410 E. 100th Street). Read more about these fun and beautiful community spaces in this interview with Maddalena Polletta and Mary Alice Lee below-then you should visit them to see how great they are!

Mary Alice Lee and Maddalena Polletta work hard to build playgrounds at New York City school yards through the Trust for Public Land (TPL), but sometimes they face difficulties during the process. In this article, they talk about some of the challenges and how they get past them.

Mary Alice Lee and Maddalena Polletta from the Trust for Public Land (TPL) work with schools throughout New York City to build new playgrounds. The process of creating the playgrounds involves the students and staff at the school as well as parents and community members in order to build the best playgrounds possible.  It takes three months to design the playground, three months for drawings and approvals, and four to six months to construct the playground.  After a year of hard work, the students from the design team, the school, and the community are able to have fun on the playgrounds! Read more below!

Mary Alice Lee and Maddalena Polletta work at the Trust for Public Land (TPL), which protects land and open space throughout the United States, including New York City. In this article, Mary Alice and Maddalena tell us about how schools are selected for the NYC Playground Program, which provides the design expertise and resources to help communities transforms basic schoolyards into fun, exciting playgrounds. Read more below!

Mary Alice Lee has her Master's degree in urban planning. Her primary interest is the creation of parks.  She worked at the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation before joining the Trust for Public Land (TPL) in 2024. Now, she is the director of the NYC Playground Program. She is able to combine her interests in community outreach and urban planning to create parks and playgrounds that entire communities can enjoy. Because Mary Alice grew up in New York City with a limited school yard, she understands how important it is for kids here to have safe, fun, beautiful places to play. Read more about TPL and what programs they have in New York City below!