TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND |

Community Schoolyards Initiative

Usa

Community Schoolyards boost student mental health, enhance the physical activity of students and residents, improve educational outcomes and development, bolster economic development, improve community cohesion and can infiltrate storm water, remove air pollution and reduce urban heat islands. Additionally, schoolyards in lower income communities are largely asphalt and unshaded and schools in low-income communities cannot provide their students with the same access to learning resources like outdoor learning labs and educational gardens. That’s why Trust for Public Land (TPL) sees Community Schoolyards as an unprecedented opportunity to enhance public health, address inequities and improve climate resilience for students and neighborhoods. With The VF Foundation support, TPL is transforming schoolyards into vibrant recreation spaces that are open and accessible to everyone so that all can benefit from the power of nature in close-tohome spaces that meet their community’s unique needs. With funding, TPL’s CORE Fellows and Youth Teams completed park inventories in Denver’s Westwood and Montbello neighborhoods to identify priority park spaces for improvement. It also advanced community-driven designs for Amedee Bregy Elementary in Philadelphia and Bronx Latin School in New York.

$600,000