Playworks New England programming has continued to expand across New England as we enhance our service models, partnerships, and the ways in which we serve our communities.
Your investment in our mission has allowed us to deepen this work and to bring safe and healthy play to thousands of youth across our region, and we are thrilled to present you with our 2022-23 Mid Year Report.
From our humble beginnings as Playworks Boston in 2006, we have grown to serve all six New England states thanks to the commitment of dedicated corporate partners, schools, and other champions of play. In addition to expanding our footprint across the whole region, our program models have adapted to best fit the needs of schools, districts, and communities.
Mid-year highlights:
- Hearing what it’s like to be Coach Molly for a day. In the fall, we spent a day with Coach Molly at the Robert Frost School in Lawrence, MA. From hearing the games she taught in her first month of school to what her favorite part of being a Playworks Coach is, spending time with Coach Molly was an absolute blast!
- Expanding opportunities for play with the Women’s Sports Foundation and the Red Sox Foundation. We are so thankful for dedicated community partners and nonprofits alike who help us bring safe and healthy play to youth in our region. In November, we hosted a Girls Basketball Extravaganza with the Women’s Sports Foundation focused on teaching basketball skills and keeping girls playing, and a Play Ball Field Day event with the Red Sox Foundation, bringing the joy of baseball to our students.
- Adding dedicated team members to the New England team. This fall was full of hiring for us: learn more about our Coaches, Erica Sandelin (our new Program Director), and Renee Gaudette (our new Executive Director). Each individual joins our staff from diverse paths, but one thing everyone has in common is their unrelenting commitment to youth development and play.
- Building skills in the most natural way we know how: through play. In our new blog series, Building Skills Through Play, we’ve explored community building at recess, developing youth leaders on the playground, and increasing adult engagement at recess. Be sure to follow along as we continue to learn and grow together!
Thank you for another incredible start to the year. We are looking forward to a spring full of joy and play with dedicated corporate partners, schools, teachers and educators, parents and families, students, and other champions of play by our side.
Our full Mid Year Report is available for download here. To learn more or find a time to see Playworks programming in action, please contact Leah Kelly at leah.kelly@playworks.org.
