NYC School Community Playgrounds are Going Green

The Trust for Public Land and New York Road Runners has announced a new partnership to fund the transformation of New York City public school playgrounds into state-of-the-art, green, community playgrounds.

To launch the partnership, New York Road Runners contributed an initial $1 million to help fund the design and construction of playgrounds at three school campuses: CS 154 in Harlem, Manhattan; PS 120 in Flushing, Queens; and the Piagentini and Jones Educational Complex, which houses three schools on a shared campus in Throgs Neck, Bronx (PS 392, IS 467, and IS 371).

These three projects will be completed by the end of 2017, with NYRR funding playground development in all five boroughs over the next few years. More than 215,000 students are served nationally through NYRR’s free youth running programs and events, including 115,000 in New York City’s five boroughs.

“New York Road Runners is thrilled to launch this partnership with The Trust for Public Land and we look forward to building many new playgrounds that students in our free NYRR Mighty Milers program, as well as children from the surrounding community, can enjoy for years to come,” said Michael Capiraso, NYRR President and CEO in a press release. “Every child deserves the opportunity to play and run in safe, fun, and highly functional community environments." 

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The playgrounds will include green infrastructure elements—a staple of The Trust for Public Land’s work. Some of the features include specialized plantings and shade trees as well as porous pavement and permeable pavers. There will also be a new synthetic turf field that promotes infiltration. These elements will help reduce storm runoff that can flood streets and overwhelm sewer systems.