By Jeannie Fanning
April 16, 2012

There are more than 20,000 parks within the nation’s 85 largest cities, according to the Trust for Public Land’s city park facts. What we do with city park resources to make them vital for citizens is a responsibility that is becoming more exciting with the advent of new options, and program resources for recreation and play.

Take for example the play space recently installed in Germantown, Tennessee, appropriately named “Everybody’s Treehouse.” The community in Germantown leveraged their partnership with PlayCore and GameTime to provide an environment that would bring the community together. The community playground provided children of all abilities an opportunity to play and interact with one another while setting an example for other communities across the country.

Riverdale Park was an ideal, though somewhat challenging site, utilized by the nearby Riverdale Elementary School, Baptist Rehabilitation Germantown hospital, and residential neighbors. This was a highly visible area where families and individuals gather, and an ideal location to encourage joint use by a variety of citizens and groups. GameTime, with input from key community stakeholders, designed and built a tree-themed playground based on PlayCore’s Me2 Inclusive Play Program then naturalized the space using their NatureGrounds Program, creating a unique learning environment that is as fun as it is educational.

Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy was grateful for the dedication of GameTime and PlayCore to building communities and enriching childhood through play and called the project “a playground that will delight and challenge youngsters [and the adults in their lives] for years to come in our community.”

Not only did “Everybody’s Treehouse” contribute to Germantown’s community-building goals, it was also a major contributor in winning the coveted City Livability Outstanding Achievement Award in 2011. Awarded at The U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting, the award recognizes leadership in developing and implementing programs that improve the quality of life in America’s cities, focusing on the leadership, creativity, and innovation demonstrated by the mayors of those cities. The award and the playground that helped win the award are examples of how a well-planned play environment can bring community groups together and positively affect the lives of people of all ages and abilities.

Goldsworthy graciously shared some of the credit for the award with GameTime and PlayCore by saying, “Everybody’s Tree House would simply not have happened without your vision and leadership. The design, extraordinary fulfillment and exhaustive persistence enabled so much of this playground.”

GameTime and PlayCore Play Environments are available through the U.S. Communities program. Through the U.S. Communities program, cities and counties can access the best overall supplier government pricing while eliminating the need to go through a formal bid process, making the procurement process much simpler!

U.S. Communities is the leading national government purchasing cooperative, providing world class government procurement resources and solutions to local and state government agencies, school districts higher education institutes, and nonprofits looking for the best overall supplier government pricing. It combines the potential cooperative purchasing power of up to 90,000 public agencies, so cities are able to access the best overall supplier government pricing through negotiated contracts at the best possible rate.

GameTime and PlayCore can also provide cities with research that helps them specifically. The Power of Urban Play is a resource guidebook that considers the viewpoints and work of more than 40 urban park and recreation leaders. This resource helps identify the important role of play in urban communities, define the trends and unique characteristics of urban playgrounds, and recognize the best practices for developing and maintaining wholesome play environments as community assets. In addition, GameTime offers all of its customer’s resource guides on maintenance and supervision, to help them ensure their play space remains a vital part of the urban environment, and provides citizens with an active space to play, be together, and stay healthy!

For more information about how GameTime and PlayCore can work with your city through the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance, contact Jeff Bean with the Conference of Mayors at 202-446-8140 or Jeannie Fanning at 240-393-9672. You can also contact GameTime directly by visiting the website www.gametime.com or send e-mail to info@gametime.com with the subject line “City play.”