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Sign Now: Make Schoolyards Safe for Kids!

Kids should not have to play in vacant lots. With school back in session for most students, we are working in full swing to create or finish Community Schoolyards™ projects across the country—turning concrete schoolyards into vibrant parks for kids and nearby communities.

Tell your members of Congress to support converting concrete schoolyards into vibrant parks!

One such schoolyard belongs to Chiloquin Elementary School along the banks of the Sprague and Williamson Rivers in Oregon.

Residents of Chiloquin have a strong sense of community but few public spaces to come together. And until recently, Chiloquin Elementary’s schoolyard—which serves over 180 students who all qualify for free lunch—stood largely vacant.

At Chiloquin, what started with students’ imagination has blossomed into a public space that connects the entire community to the joys and benefits of the outdoors.

We worked closely with partners and the Chiloquin community to develop and implement their vision of a vibrant, green, and welcoming schoolyard. Involvement from students and the community was integral to designing the new space, which includes walking paths, a covered basketball court, an outdoor classroom, artwork, and a restored meadow.

Today, the revitalized schoolyard is also open to the community after school and on weekends.

We’re continuing the movement to transform asphalt playgrounds across the country into vibrant green spaces that improve community health and resilience.

Urge your members of Congress to support the transformation of our nation’s concrete schoolyards into vibrant parks today!

By taking action, you will receive important updates about our work and how you can help Trust for Public Land protect public land and parks for people.

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RE: Turn asphalt schoolyards into vibrant parks

To [Decision Maker],

With school back in session, I'm writing to urge you to lead the call in Congress to fund Community Schoolyards projects today.

Your support will help turn our nation's concrete schoolyards into vibrant parks for kids and nearby communities. Transforming these desolate spaces into community parks will bring significant health and educational benefits not just to students, but also to the communities they serve - helping close the park equity gap we see in the U.S. today.

Equitable access to the outdoors is essential for healthy, happy people and communities. But not everyone in America has access to a quality park. In fact,
- 100 million people in America - including 28 million kids - don't have a park close to home;
- in our biggest cities, communities of color have access to 44 percent less park space than majority white communities;
- communities with less park space are hotter in summer, have worse air quality, and are more susceptible to catastrophic flooding; and
- people without parks close to home get less exercise. Lack of access to parks is associated with higher rates of heart disease, stroke, and obesity.

Thankfully, there's a common-sense, cost-effective solution in almost every community: the local schoolyard. If every public schoolyard in America functioned as a shared outdoor space, 20 million more people - kids and adults - would have access to a park within a 10-minute walk of home.

For these reasons, I strongly urge you to support Community Schoolyards projects. Together, we can close our nation's park equity gap - one schoolyard transformation at a time.

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