Creating Community Schoolyards™

How to Create a Community Schoolyard: Connect

Steps 1-4

STEP 1: The Project Kickoff

STEP 1A: Build the Project Kickoff Team

Your project kickoff is an opportunity to build your team and agree on key items like the scope and target budget.

Creating a community schoolyard requires a strong team comprising school leaders, parents, teachers, students, and community members. Team members should bring diverse perspectives to the project. Ideally, you can identify team members from the following groups:

School district representative
The school district representative will provide guidance on school design, construction requirements, and legal agreements you may need to enter. Remember, your schoolyard is typically school district property, so you must follow school district rules.

School leadership
The school principal, vice-principal/ assistant principal, or lead teacher will provide guidance on the best ways to engage staff and students during design and stewardship. They will also provide guidance on the final design elements, aka “program,” for the site. Include the building engineer or head custodian in early discussions to understand the daily maintenance protocols, such as whether deliveries go through the yard, and any other challenges that could arise.

Key teachers
Include a couple of key teachers, especially those who have a strong interest in gardening, the arts, and hands-on learning science. Key teachers will be long-term champions of the schoolyard and will be the best teachers to practice outdoor education. A physical education teacher is a great addition to the team and someone to check in with during the design process if they are not on the team. Two to five teachers are recommended.

School garden coordinator
Some schools already have raised beds or gardening areas that they use for teaching or that the community helps care for. These areas can be expanded and improved during the renovation process. The parent or teacher who leads the garden efforts is an important voice in the design process and plays a key role in helping to organize stewardship of the growing areas once the renovation is complete.

Parent champions
Oftentimes, parents are best positioned to lead schoolyard-greening efforts, especially if they have a background in design, community engagement, fundraising, law, or education. Parents often have more volunteer time to help shepherd the project than teachers or other school district staff.

Nonprofit partner
If possible, bring in a nonprofit partner to help support the project. The partner could be one that is skilled in creating Community Schoolyards or aligned with the outcomes you seek to create. For example, the Healthy Schools Campaign’s Space to Grow program in Chicago works on every phase of schoolyard transformation, including design, fundraising, stewardship, and activation.

Community partner
Often, schools have existing partnerships with community-based social service organizations that already provide after-school recreational and academic programming for students and parents. Such organizations are invested in supporting the health of the families they serve and are key collaborators in the fundraising, outreach, advocacy, design, and activation phases of the project.

After-school providers
Bring in staff from afterschool programs or a local camp that uses the school campus to help program the schoolyard during out-of-school time. They can also support outreach, stewardship, and activation.

STEP 1B: Hold the Project Kickoff Meeting

The project kickoff meeting is an important opportunity to gather your team together, make introductions, and decide how the project will move forward. Over the course of the meeting, your project team should come to an agreement on the following items:

Assign roles and responsibilities

After completing Step 1A, you should have a good understanding of why you chose each team member based on their skills and expertise. During the project kickoff meeting, make these roles and responsibilities explicit so that each team member understands what is expected of them and what they should expect of the other team members.

Team members should fill the following roles:

Community schoolyard lead.
The lead will bring everyone together and make sure all steps are moving forward in a timely manner. Successful leads can be a parent, teacher, or nonprofit partner. The lead will be responsible for building the team, making sure that your structure is ready to solicit funds, and confirming that school district requirements are being met during the design and construction phase.
Chief fundraiser.
The fundraiser will apply for grants and solicit private gifts and should be aware of school district policies regarding capital and financial donations.
Schoolyard designer.
If one of your parents is a designer, architect, landscape architect, or civil engineer, your project can benefit from their experience in place-making. Recruit them to join your team or bring them in from your community. Some nonprofit partners like The Trust for Public Land bring community-based design experience and can help navigate multiple steps of the process. A parent who is a site contractor can be tapped to better understand pavement removal, excavation, and landscape installation costs.
Engagement coordinator.
The engagement coordinator makes sure that the community, school, and staff are engaged during the design process and stewardship. The engagement coordinator may manage the email list, website, or other forms of digital and in-person outreach.

Develop a preliminary budget
Developing a detailed budget will come later in the process, in STEP 12. However, having a rough early budget figure in mind is still important, since it will help you to make sure that the design options you are considering are realistic. A rough figure will also give you a target to shoot for as you approach funders.

STEP 2: Seek Early Approval from the School District, City, and Key Partners

Remember, your schoolyard is school district property, so you must receive written permission from the school district, and possibly from the municipal council (or equivalent), in order to advance the project. Some school districts are aware of the multiple benefits to community health and the educational setting that come from Community Schoolyards. These school districts may be able to provide additional support. In other cases, you may have to educate your school district about these benefits.

Important requests to bring before your school district at this phase include the following:

Ask the school district for approval for you to move forward with STEP 3 through STEP 10 and promise to go back to the school district for approval at STEP 12, to approve the concept plan and budget.

Ask the school district to assign a staff member to stay connected with your team during the course of
the project.

Ask your school district for a financial commitment to the project. Some school districts have prioritized open space investments and are able to provide a capital commitment and/or support design services.

Advocate for your schoolyard to be open to the public after school hours to maximize the community use and benefit of this space. This can be formalized through a shared-use agreement between the school district and the city. Community members bring tremendous support for your schoolyard. They can be champions for your school, they can help raise funds during the campaign, and after construction they can help care for and activate the schoolyard during the summer and school breaks.

Request design standards from the school district if they exist, and understand the level of environmental due diligence required for projects that involve excavation.

Getting early buy-in from your school district is a crucial step in making your community schoolyard a reality. © AMBER GARRETT

STEP 3: Create a Fundraising Packet

After you have approval of your concept, you are ready to prepare the fundraising packet. The fundraising packet will likely include the following:

Project narrative
Put together a high-level narrative about your project that describes the features as well as the need.

Financial assessment
Prepare a funding section that includes your budget, how much you have in hand, how much you expect to receive, and how much you need.

Photos
Select one or two choice photos of the existing schoolyard that show the need.

Letter of support from the school district
See STEP 13.

Concept images
Since fundraising needs to start early in the process, you will probably not have design graphics to share. Adding photos from other successful community schoolyard projects can at least give funders a sense of the types of improvements to be made.

Rendering
Later in the process, work with your designer to create one or more renderings. This can be a colored 2-D or 3-D drawing that shows the beauty of the new schoolyard. This may include perspective sketches, mockups, or images of new features from existing installations.

LEFT: Including a “before” photo of the existing conditions can help demonstrate the project’s need to potential funders. Later, you can use these photos in before-and-after shots to show the transformation. © JULIETH RIVERA, TROY FARMER; RIGHT: Your fundraising packet will evolve as the project progresses.
Adding a rendering later in the process can help funders see the potential of the schoolyard and, when coupled with a current photo, can show the dramatic transformation that is possible. This community schoolyard project at Alexander Adaire School in Philadelphia was a community-led design process, implemented by The Trust for Public Land, School District of Philadelphia and Philadelphia Water Department. This concept design and the rendering were carried out by local community member, Ian Smith Design Group, working on a pro-bono basis.
© RENDERING BY KIRK FROMM

STEP 4: Fundraise

To ensure a full spectrum of support, try to secure funds for the design, construction, and stewardship of your schoolyard. Seek out public funding opportunities through federal, state, and local grants. Research private foundations that are active in your city and prepare a case for support. Your school district may be able to guide you to funding opportunities. Fundraising in partnership with other school nonprofits is a great strategy for widening support. Hold events such as dinners and auctions to support your schoolyard. You can also set up an online funding platform, such as GoFundMe or a Classy campaign. You may be able to fundraise in stages. For example, you may choose to fundraise for the participatory design and conceptual plan phase first, and later you can use the beautiful rendering to inspire partners and help attract construction funding. Have fun fundraising!