Stories of Play

With the advent of Playworks’ 20th Anniversary and our aim of reaching 3.5 million kids in 7,000 schools by 2020, I am launching a new blog that I am calling "Bringing out the Best." The idea is to highlight amazing work by Playworks’ partners to bring out the best in our communities through play. I am…

When Alicia, a Sports4Kids coach, came to Urban Promise Academy back in 2006, Jaziela was a quiet, reserved, and insecure sixth grader. She decided to become a junior coach because other kids were doing it – she “just wanted to be part of the crew.” Little did she know that her relationship with Alicia, and…

When Playworks—then Sports4Kids—coach Max Langaard arrived at Manzanita school, Matthew Bailey was a shy third-grader. At home, he’d try to stay out of everyone’s way, and at school, he rarely spoke up during class. But Coach Max saw him differently. He saw leadership potential in Matthew and encouraged him to sign-up to be a junior coach. Under Coach Max’s…

It was May of 2011, and I sat across from my father in a French restaurant in Dupont Circle. “You know Abby,” he said carefully, “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” Months earlier, we were on a plane coming back from Scotland, home to the University of Edinburgh where I had…

Recently, Playworks Southern California Coach Janelle Matthews shared her story at Mercedes-Benz USA National Dealer Body. Attending the event was Edwin Moses, former track and field Olympian and chairman of Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Edwin met Janelle and later wrote a piece for The Huffington Post about Janelle's story, calling for more positive youth mentors like her. "Janelle…

There are many reasons why Playworks is important to me. I believe that it is important to have acts of kindness everywhere a person goes. Helping others is an important act of kindness. It seems like there is so much negativity going on in our world that the amount of kindness seems to be limited.…

Recess is the most overlooked time of the school day. And at many low-income elementary schools across the country, teachers and principals see that conflict often starts on the playground, and can find its way back into the classroom. With so much pressure on schools to demonstrate student academic performance, recess is often seen as…

For the 20th anniversary of AmeriCorps, Playworks and AmeriCorps Alums honored three of our AmeriCorps alums. This award was given to outstanding AmeriCorps alums who continue to model the values of AmeriCorps after their year of service, by strengthening communities, taking action, seeking common ground and persevering. Meet our second honoree Alleysha Mullen. I began…

For the 20th anniversary of AmeriCorps, Playworks and AmeriCorps Alums honored three of our AmeriCorps alums. This award was given to outstanding AmeriCorps alums who continue to model the values of AmeriCorps after their year of service, by strengthening communities, taking action, seeking common ground and persevering. Meet the first of our honorees Tiffany Johansen,…