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!

Q: How do you decide where to build playgrounds?

Mary Alice: There are a number of ways that the Trust for Public Land (TPL) picks schools and communities where we build playgrounds and schoolyards.  Sometimes, we use a tool called Geographic Information System (GIS) that creates maps of neighborhoods and helps us see which neighborhoods or zip codes need the most open space.  Then, we look into schools in those neighborhoods to see if any of them have the guidelines we are looking for, such as wanting to work with the community to build a playground. Other times, schools approach us with interest in creating a new program. Whether we contact a school or they reach out to us, they all must fill out an application explaining why they want a playground in their schoolyard. This helps them figure out what they are looking for.  It also helps us decide if they would be a good school to work with.

Q: What do you look for in a school?

Mary Alice: We want the schools who participate in our program to be able to answer several questions, such as: Are the students interested in having a playground? Do they want a playground that will be open to both the school and community? Are they interested in partnering with the community during the design process? How many kids in the school and in the neighborhood would be able to use the playground?

Maddalena: We also really like working with schools that already have ties to the community, such as to community-based organizations. It's important that the schools have good communication with the members of the community. They need to stay open to community involvement and include them throughout the planning process. The school members and the neighbors work together to design a playground that tries to fit everyone's needs.

Q: How do students at the school help design the playgrounds?

Maddalena: We work directly with the students to figure out exactly what they want to include in their playground. And, even students who aren't on the design team give us their suggestions. They come running up to us with their ideas. There is usually a bulletin board at the front of the school so that the entire school can know about the process.

Mary: The teachers are interested in telling us their opinions as well. They know what's going on in the schoolyard because they get to see how children use it at recess every day. It's really great to have so much input.

Q: How is the community involved in designing the playgrounds?

Maddalena: We present the designs to the community at community board meetings and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meetings. People at these meetings are able to tell us what they think of the designs and what they do and don't like.

Mary Alice: A lot of times we encourage people from the design team, especially the afterschool kids, to present to the community. It's their design so we want them to be the ones to show it to community members.

Q: Why is it important to include the both school and community in the design process?

Maddalena: The more people involved in the creation of the design, the better the playground will be.  There is a long design process that involves students, teachers, parents, and neighbors because it directly relates to stewardship and care of the playground after it is built. All these people will have ownership over the playground because they helped create it.

If your local school is interested in having a new playground, Mary Alice and Maddalena would be happy to talk to them about the program and application process. Since the program is looking for schools that are connected to the community, there are a lot of opportunities to get involved in your neighborhood. TPL would be happy to work on more sites in Harlem because it's a great neighborhood that needs more open space! Email Mary Alice at maryalice.lee@tpl.org or Maddalena at Maddalena.Polletta@tpl.org for more information!

Read more from Mary Alice Lee and Maddalena Polletta by clicking the links below:

• How the Trust for Public Land protects open land in NYC
• How the Trust for Public Land builds playgrounds at NYC schools
• Why it's difficult to build fun, exciting playgrounds in NYC

To listen to our interview with Mary Alice Lee and Maddalena Polletta, click here for our podcast page.

Harlem Word is a series of interviews with Harlem health experts, written by HHPC and reviewed by our Health Advisory Board.