Transforming Schoolyards
Over 28 million kids in America don’t have a park within a 10-minute walk of home. A solution is hiding in plain sight: schoolyards. Support Our Work
With help from our partners and supporters, we’ve created 350 community schoolyards and continue to lead the movement to transform our nation’s asphalt playgrounds into vibrant green spaces that are improving student education outcomes and community health and climate resilience.
Parks are essential for healthy, equitable communities. And almost 20 million people without park access, including kids and their families, live within a 10-minute walk of a public school.
That’s why we’ve been partnering with communities and school administrators to open schoolyards to the public after school hours and transform them from blacktops into vibrant play spaces, connecting students and neighbors alike to the benefits of the outdoors.
If all schoolyards were transformed and opened to the community after hours, 80 million people would have access to a new park within a 10-minute walk of home.
Along with promoting better mental and physical well-being, cleaner air, and climate change resilience, creating more community schoolyards can deliver a host of educational benefits.
Our research shows that right now, white communities still have an advantage over Black, Hispanic, Latinx, Asian, Native American, and other communities of color in the quality of outdoor learning spaces and park access.
Our work is helping to ensure the amazing benefits of community schoolyards are available for all future generations.
In September 2022, Nike announced the creation of their Community Climate Resilience Program, a targeted program that helps provide access to more green spaces and parks, increasing sports participation in the communities that need it most. The program funds projects that advance a critical goal: build climate resilience in communities disproportionately impacted by climate threats. Its method: creating and cultivating healthy, active, and resilient public greenspaces.
Trust for Public Land received the program’s inaugural grant to fund U.S.-based projects advancing climate resilience and access to sport in communities disproportionally impacted by climate threats.
Nike’s support is strengthening community resilience through climate-smart park and schoolyard solutions in four low-income, underserved neighborhoods across New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. These high-quality green spaces also provide health, equity, and community benefits.
Community schoolyards advance health, climate, equity, and educational outcomes in students and their communities. They are an evidence-based initiative that works to address some of society’s greatest inequities.
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Education Benefits
Students benefit when we swap asphalt deserts for trees, gardens, and updated play equipment. According to teachers and school administration, attendance, behavior, and test scores all improve after schoolyard renovations.
Our Mission Is to Make Community Schoolyards a Standard Practice
Take action now and ask your elected officials to provide funding that will transform our nation’s asphalt schoolyards into vibrant parks for kids and their communities, regardless of zip code.
Explore some of our community schoolyards to learn more about the impact of this important work.
