{"id":2723,"date":"2023-05-15T17:06:32","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T21:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/?p=2723"},"modified":"2025-02-18T15:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T20:21:11","slug":"lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play"},"content":{"rendered":"
I am so thrilled to continue my journey with the Playworks Michigan team after joining as Executive Director in November 2022.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h5>\n

\"photo<\/p>\n

After only a few months I have had the opportunity to experience firsthand the outstanding passion of Playworks Coaches, Site Coordinators, program staff, board, and volunteers, who are the heart of this organization.\u00a0 Through conversations with our school partners, I have gained valuable insight into the challenges they currently face and the vital impact that Playworks programming is making in their schools. In the coming months, I look forward to connecting with, and listening to the many community partners, school staff, school administrators, and donors whose support makes our work possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"photoMy passion for the Playworks mission is both professional and personal. I still recall my time as an elementary school kid, playing on the playground at John F. Kennedy Elementary School. Looking back, I now realize how important that time was, as it taught me valuable communication skills, promoted physical activity, and provided countless benefits. It is disheartening to think that some students today do not have access to the same recess opportunities I was given over 20 years ago. Something MUST be done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Together, let\u2019s continue to create play environments where every child can join in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/span><\/p>\n

Vincent Kirkwood
\n<\/span>Executive Director
\n<\/span>Playworks Michigan<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am so thrilled to continue my journey with the Playworks Michigan team after joining as Executive Director in November 2022.\u00a0 After only a few months I have had the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":2724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"region":[],"class_list":["post-2723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLet\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play - Michigan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A letter from Executive Director Vincent Kirkwood about the future of play in Michigan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A letter from Executive Director, Vincent Kirkwod\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Michigan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-15T21:06:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-18T20:21:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-speaking-2-scaled-e1684183618393.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1497\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jglasser\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"A letter from Executive Director, Vincent Kirkwod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-speaking-2-scaled-e1684183618393.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jglasser\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jglasser\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b\"},\"headline\":\"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-15T21:06:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-18T20:21:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/\"},\"wordCount\":223,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-Speaking.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Updates\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/\",\"name\":\"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play - Michigan\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-Speaking.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-15T21:06:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-18T20:21:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b\"},\"description\":\"A letter from Executive Director Vincent Kirkwood about the future of play in Michigan.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-Speaking.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-Speaking.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":426,\"caption\":\"Vincent speaking to students\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/\",\"name\":\"Michigan\",\"description\":\"Just another Playworks site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b\",\"name\":\"jglasser\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47a9e59fa3b6679c126980c73405a01456eb8b2203b0d9ba5075dcdcdd053322?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47a9e59fa3b6679c126980c73405a01456eb8b2203b0d9ba5075dcdcdd053322?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jglasser\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/author\/jglasser\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play - Michigan","description":"A letter from Executive Director Vincent Kirkwood about the future of play in Michigan.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play","og_description":"A letter from Executive Director, Vincent Kirkwod","og_url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/","og_site_name":"Michigan","article_published_time":"2023-05-15T21:06:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-18T20:21:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1497,"url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-speaking-2-scaled-e1684183618393.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jglasser","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play","twitter_description":"A letter from Executive Director, Vincent Kirkwod","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-speaking-2-scaled-e1684183618393.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jglasser","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/"},"author":{"name":"jglasser","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b"},"headline":"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play","datePublished":"2023-05-15T21:06:32+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-18T20:21:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/"},"wordCount":223,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-Speaking.jpg","articleSection":["Updates"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/","url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/","name":"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play - Michigan","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-Speaking.jpg","datePublished":"2023-05-15T21:06:32+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-18T20:21:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b"},"description":"A letter from Executive Director Vincent Kirkwood about the future of play in Michigan.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-Speaking.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2023\/05\/Vince-Speaking.jpg","width":640,"height":426,"caption":"Vincent speaking to students"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/2023\/05\/15\/lets-create-a-brighter-future-through-play\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Let\u2019s Create a Brighter Future Through Play"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/","name":"Michigan","description":"Just another Playworks site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b","name":"jglasser","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47a9e59fa3b6679c126980c73405a01456eb8b2203b0d9ba5075dcdcdd053322?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47a9e59fa3b6679c126980c73405a01456eb8b2203b0d9ba5075dcdcdd053322?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jglasser"},"url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/author\/jglasser\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2723"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3263,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions\/3263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2723"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/michigan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=2723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}