Rigamajig at FP national conference.
Family Promise, the leading national nonprofit helping families experiencing homelessness and low-income families, is proud to partner with KaBOOM!, the national nonprofit dedicated to giving all kids the childhood they deserve, filled with balanced and active play so they can thrive. The partnership will focus on creating opportunities for Family Promise Affiliates to bring KaBOOM! play products into their communities across the country.
Play is essential to children, not just for the joy it brings, but for its impact on cognitive and social development. Yet many children in low-income communities, and especially children faced with housing insecurity, have little access to play. This innovative partnership will ensure that children in Family Promise Affiliates can have increased access to the engaging and normative play elements that KaBOOM! provides.
“Our organizations share a mission to improve the lives of children,” says Family Promise CEO Claas Ehlers. “Partnering brings us together in that cause and also provides our Affiliates with a way to engage additional volunteers. We have always made sure that children can play—it is part of the normative environment Family Promise strives for—but working with KaBOOM! allows us to provide a consistent option throughout a family’s stay in our program to impact the lives of their children.”
The two organizations will work together to increase opportunities to play in their communities, as well as engage local funders and other community resources to support efforts moving forward.
“We are thrilled to partner with Family Promise to make a commitment to increasing creative play opportunities for kids – especially those living in low-income communities and affected by homelessness,” said Bruce Bowman, President of Play Product Initiatives at KaBOOM!. “Play isn’t just about “fun” or a “nice to have” – it’s an essential part of childhood, and a critical part of helping kids grow up happy, healthy and resilient. Through this partnership, we want to create more opportunities for kids who are often overlooked to have equitable chances to play and thrive.”
Family Promise and KaBOOM! will collaborate on a national webinar for Affiliates, focusing on how Affiliates can leverage the partnership locally, as well as on identifying partners for funding and support at the national level. The Affinity Program will also entitle all Affiliates to purchase KaBOOM! products at a 10% member discount.
Imagination Playground.
The discount will apply to all KaBOOM! products. Imagination Playground™ empowers kids to build and rebuild the playspace of their dreams using a collection of blue foam blocks with no limits to their creativity. Rigamajig™, a collection of wooden planks, wheels, pulleys, nuts, bolts and rope, allows children to follow their curiosity through play while learning 21st century skills and STE(A)M learning.
About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving all kids – especially those living in poverty – the childhood they deserve through great, safe places to play. KaBOOM! inspires communities to make play the easy choice and works to drive the national discussion about the importance of PLAYces. KaBOOM! has collaborated with partners to build or restore more than 17,000 playspaces, engaged more than 1.5 million volunteers and served over 9 million kids. To learn why play matters for all kids, visit kaboom.org and join the conversation at twitter.com/kaboom, facebook.com/kaboom and Instagram/kaboom. #playmatters #PLAYceforKids
