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OAKLAND SCHOOLYARDS INITIATIVE: Fitness Structures

Oakland Schoolyards Initiative

As we have revitalized schoolyards from barren and dangerous places into active, green and healthy spaces, we have failed to develop and build play structures that meet the needs of our schoolchildren. To help reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity, our schools need structures that are physically challenging, safe, beautiful and low cost. Hopefully these can be built by community volunteers and be approved by the District and review agencies. They should work like a Marine Corps Obstacle Course, look like a Henry Moore's sculpture and cost a lot less than Kompan playgrounds. Pilot project designs for 5 to 12 year olds for elementary schools and another configuration for middle schools would be ideal. Construction can occur at one or more of our school sites. Play structures that are endemic to schoolyards look like chutes and ladders built by plumbers to satisfy risk managers not children. They are boring and do not provide for vigorous exercise. Typically, children wait a while to climb a few steps then slide down and repeat. None of the innovative playground designs address the fitness issue. Neither KaBOOM’s formulaic structures nor the community-build groups’ innovations provide strenuous activity that is fun as well as healthful. Girls particularly need upper body exercise that schoolyard games do not provide. We believe that the design talent available through Architecture for Humanity and modest funding can develop and build a prototype fitness structure that can be replicated in all of our renovated schoolyards and in other districts. The epidemic of childhood obesity is a serious problem that needs to be addressed in many ways. We hope that this proposal will succeed for our schoolchildren.

Stadium Project: A Home of their Own

Add Some Color and Simpson University

The ultimate goal of this project is to make baseball more affordable for local youth, make it easier for youth teams to schedule events, and provide teams a safe environment that will give them the opportunity to expand their programs. A critical component of this project is the construction of a full-size baseball field on Simpson University's campus using components from a donated baseball stadium. The field will be home to Add Some Color's youth program, Simpson University athletes, and various community based youth sports organizations. The current inventory of fields in and around the Redding area does not begin to meet immediate or long-term needs for local youth programs. As youth baseball programs struggle to find affordable, safe fields, they do not have the resources to expand their programs. Sadly, the county's only full-size baseball field available without charge is located in a community with high crime and substance abuse rates. Youth who use this and other city fields are regularly exposed to tobacco and alcohol products. With nearly 12 percent of Shasta County youth between the ages of 12-17 already smoking (compared to 7.6 percent in the state of California), more needs to be done to provide these youth with recreational facilities free from tobacco and alcohol use. By building the new stadium on Simpson University's campus, local youth programs, such as Add Some Color, will have a safe, smoke and alcohol-free, well-maintained field on which to practice, play and host tournaments at little to no cost to them. The new field will save youth baseball programs significant field rental costs and allow them to expand their programs, especially to under-served or low-income youth.

From Community Games to empowerment in Kaningo

Community Empowerment Support Organisation (CESO)

Kaningo is in the western area of Freetown with an estimated population of about 10,000 people. 60% of them are youth and 30% of the youth are not attending school nor in any job-training scheme. They resort to gambling, robbery or serve as unskilled labourers. A CESO study of the Kaningo community revealed that they are faced with numerous developmental problems such as education, poverty, recreation, teenage pregnancy, gender-based violence and other reproductive health issues. Notwithstanding these challenges, access to sporting activities and youth friendly services in Kaningo remain a far-fetched dream. This project will be a pilot intervention designed to assess the effectiveness of selected strategies, inextricably combined in order to increase access to and utilisation of educational, recreational and sporting activities in the Kaningo community. CESO is currently organising football and athletics competitions for in and out of school youths in the community and it environs. These activities will bring young people together and will serve as publicity to sensitise the youth to exercise patience in life and bring them together so they can feel responsibility within society. Overall objectives of the project are to promote participation of young people in community development and in the identification, development and management of programmes that affect them. There is also a need to increase young people’s access to comprehensive sporting activities, youth friendly and gender sensitive information in Kaningo

GameChangers:

Your Idea. Our Support. What's the issue?

We have the funding support and the design network to build innovative facilities for groups using sports to impact the lives of others. Enter your project today.

We are looking to fund groups and individuals we call GAMECHANGERS. They broaden the idea of play. For them it is not about winning a game, it is about using the game to change lives. They use sports to address community issues, raise awareness and create real social change.

If you are using any sport as a way to break barriers, improve education, increase access to health or one of many other social catalysts and are looking to build a facility for your initiative - we want your ideas. Enter today.

Round 1 Project: Mahiga High Rainwater Court

The Mahiga Hope Rainwater Court in rural Kenya is the latest recipient of GAMECHANGERS funding. Architecture For Humanity Design Fellow Greg Elsner is working with The Nobelity Project and the St. Joseph Mahiga Hope School to design and build a full-court basketball court with an integrated rainwater collection and UV purification system.

See the latest design progress here.

Round 1 Project: Skateistan

Architecture for Humanity and Nike are proud to announce the first recipient of the GAMECHANGERS funding to Skateistan, Afghanistan’s first co-educational skateboarding school. Skateistan works with young boys and girls between 5 - 17 years from all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. With funding assistance from a range of funding sources, Skateistan is undertaking the construction of Kabul’s first indoor skate park at Ghazi Stadium.

Learn more about Skateistan's new park.

What's Your Pitch?

If we like your project, we put our money where our mouth is. We want to support the design and development of as many innovative structures for the worlds' best GAMECHANGERS.

Now you are thinking that the 'usual suspects' will probably end up being selected. Wrong. Just like you, we feel that lot of grants are written to satisfy the donor not the end user. We think this limits creativity, causing the more creative proposals to get overlooked.

We want to fund as many groups as possible. So if you are pragmatic in your proposal, chances are you've got a pretty good shot at being selected.

Also we want to build only sustainable and well designed solutions. So if selected we will partner you with a professional design team from Architecture for Humanity who will design and build a facility to suit your needs.

Environmental Windsurfing Activists to West African Amputee Football Teams

We're not making this stuff up. We've already met both groups. There is no idea too bold or world changing that we won't review. We not going to fund some feel good afternoon fun run, we are looking for folks who are beating the system, changing the game and creating a real difference on the ground. If your running or starting a project that is going to make us sit upright....submit it today.

Grant writers need not apply

Tell us why we should build for you. It is real is simple. Tell us about your program, how it is a GAMECHANGER, what you want to do and throw up a couple of images to show you've got an awesome project. We review it, we like it, we build it. We'll be reviewing projects on a rolling basis over three rounds ending April 15, July 15, and October 15, 2009.