This school year, Playworks Southern California proudly celebrates 15 years of bringing safe, healthy play to kids every day.
We invite you to celebrate the milestones, team, partners, and stories that have shaped our region. Join us in sharing as we storytell around 15 of our key moments, showcasing our impact through the transformative power of play.
Together, we’ll inspire to reach every kid in Southern California, ensuring they experience the social, emotional, and physical benefits of play for the next 15 years and beyond.
15 Key Moments
2009 – Let’s Play LA
Playworks office in LA launched thanks to Robert Wood Johnson funding.
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2010 – Leadership Spotlight
Michelle Serrano, our first SoCal Program Director joins the team and now is VP of Ops for CA (18 years in the game).
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2011 – A Journey from Service to Leadership
Luciano Mondolo (current SoCal Associate Director of Program) was celebrated as California Volunteers AmeriCorps member of the year for the entire state! Service has always been a big part of our regions success.
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2012 – Power of Partnership
Mattel partnership helps deepen impact on LA and Playworks across the country.
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2013 – New Chapter, New Name
Playworks LA is officially renamed to Playworks Southern California to increased impact and expansion to more SoCal communities (ie. Orange County).
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2014 – Direct Services Innovation
Playworks pilots TeamUp, a new service providing an on-site coordinator to teach, model, and empower a sustainable recess program in order to reach more kids and schools.
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2015 – Amplifying the Power of Play
Our work and impact are deeply connected to the support of our generous network of partners, including the LA Dodgers Foundation, Lakers Youth Foundation, LA Kings Care Foundation, LA84 Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, New Balance, Disney, General Mills, SoCal Green Foundation, SoCal United Healthcare and DPR Construction, among others. Thanks for amplifying the power of play!
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2016 – Pro goes Regional
Professional development services (better known as “Pro”), aimed at providing consultative services and training to adults, was integrated from a national to a regional level and allowed for an even greater impact and reach of schools.
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2017 – Pilot Expansion
School district level services were piloted for the first time regionally in Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District- 20 elementary schools approximately 10,250 students!!
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2018 – Stronger Together
Playworks’ first ever District Wide Pro Contract at Glendale Unified School District secured, piloting our ‘Train the trainer model’ was piloted and successfully implemented across 20 elementary schools.
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2019 – Empowering More Schools
Playworks secured a regional and national multi-year grant commitment from the Leonard Hill Charitable Trust in support of services within Partnership for Los Angeles schools and to pilot a new service called Tag Team. This service is a year-long certification program that builds capacity for out-of-school-time partners to run a recess service at schools in their community. To date, the Trust has granted over $2M in support of the power of play.
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2020 – Evolving Forward
In response to the pandemic, Playworks launched Play at Home to provide schools and families with virtual recess, printable playbooks, and other ways to continue to enjoy the benefits of play from the safety of home. In addition to PlayworksU, Playworks expanded digital service offerings, adding Keep Playing as a digital service, providing weekly curated content to assist educators and families to bring play to every child’s day.
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2021 – Back to School IRL
Playworks supported school communities transition back to in-person settings in the middle of the school year, impacting 98 schools and 58,500 students through direct and professional development services in Southern California.
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2022 – Play on the Move
In partnership with The Play Equity Fund and LA County Department of Parks and Recreation, Playworks is highlighted as a Super Bowl LVI Legacy grantee to implement the first year of ‘Park on the Move’ – a play-based Mobile Recreation Program aimed at increasing access to safe and healthy play.
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2023 – Play it Forward
Playworks launches Play It Forward 2028, an organization and regional effort aimed at creating a five-year vision for our future impact.
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2024 – Launching to 15 Years and Beyond
Playworks Southern California celebrates 15 years of impact – reaching over 690,000 students through the power of play in Southern California – and invites our communities to be a part of the next 15 years and beyond!
Join Us to Celebrate
