Volunteers Work to Improve Bronx Kids’ Lives & Futures with New Playground

More than 200 volunteers from Delta Air Lines, DreamYard Project, Bronx Pro Group organizers from KaBOOM!, and the community worked together to give local kids a new playground on Saturday, July 23, according to a press release.

Volunteers built the play area in just one day on Washington Ave. near E. 166th St. in Morrisania. This new playground—based on children’s drawings created at a special event in May—will provide more than 1,000 local kids with a brand new, accessible place to play.

“Three months ago, we had a design day here and kids drew their ideal playground — what they like, swings, slides and all that,” said Tad Hutcheson, vice president of community affairs for Delta. “Some of those drawings included pools and roller coasters.”

KaBOOM! then used the kids’ drawings to develop the playground design off common elements, like a spiral slide next to swings with colorful bricks lining the ground.

DreamYard collaborates with Bronx youth, families and schools to build pathways to equity and opportunity through the arts. Through partnerships with 45 public schools in the Bronx, DreamYard Prep High School, and the DreamYard Art Center, they work with over 10,000 young people each year, from pre-K through high school graduation.