About Playworks San Francisco

San Francisco team (click image to enlarge)

This year Playworks San Francisco has expanded into South San Francisco and opened more schools in Marin County. With 26 school partnerships, a new office in SOMA, and lots of veteran program coordinators on the team, we are gearing up for our best year yet!

We continue to forge strong connections with the SF community through a corporate engagement program that has successfully integrated over 700 employees into our recess program, providing positive role models to thousands of kids. That's over 3,211 hours of volunteering!

Our Playworks coaches will provide over 42,500 hours of direct service to schools in San Francisco, modeling respect, inclusion, healthy community, and healthy play in the current year. We hold weekly leadership workshop classes for our Junior Coaches, where 4th and 5th grade students are offered training on leadership, conflict resolution, and game management. This equates to over 600 leadership workshop hours.

Impact:

“Playworks gives students something to look forward to. A school community that is looking for real positive change should check out Playworks. It just works!”
Nina, Teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary School

"Having volunteered a couple of times with Playworks has been a lot of fun. Playworks group events help you get to know the people in your group a lot better and help you understand what to do, why and how to ensure that games are played safely and in an encouraging manner. In addition, the schools that playworks supports are in need of your help and small things like building bikes or painting the playground could have an enormous difference. Playworks will also let you interact with the kids and once you see the smiles on their faces or their reactions, you will find a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment. Give it a try and share your experience with others."
Pratik, Salesforce.com Volunteer

"These are my leaders at school Junior Coaches....Their job is to help solve problems.....Well, because they are respectful to other students and take their jobs seriously. An example is lets say someone got out of line and they demanded to get their spot back, so then right at that moment a Junior Coach comes and say, 'I'm sorry but you lost your spot.'"
Barry, a junior coach at Bahia Vista

The Effectiveness of Playworks:

More than any other organization in the country, Playworks has demonstrated first-hand the difference that inclusive play makes for a positive school climate and learning environment. Surveys of principals and teachers in Playworks' schools reveal:

• 89 percent of principals at first year school report students were more engaged in school since having the program;
• 88 percent of staff said that the transition time from recess to classroom instruction has decreased;
• 88 percent of school staff report that Playworks increased the level of cooperation among students in the classroom;
• 86 percent reported that bullying or name calling during recess has decreased;
• 24.42 hours on average of reclaimed class time annually for every teacher in Playworks schools due to smoother transitions from recess;
• 96 percent of principals and teachers requested that Playworks return to their school this year.