King County Play Equity Coalition is a network of organizations dedicated to challenging and changing systems to shift power and center physical activity as a key part of health and youth development.
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SEPTEMBER 2023 NEWS
Included in this newsletter:
Recap: Quarterly Coalition meeting September 28
Coalition Play Day and Fundraiser Recap
Announcing the Seattle Alliance
Kirkland Free Play Program
Submit Public Comment re: Memorial Stadium
Action Team Updates
RECAP
For those of you who were not able to attend our quarterly meeting yesterday at UW Othello Commons, we had an awesome time gathering and talking about the future of the coalition and the future of our work.
We welcomed new coalition members and reviewed our member database NEON to kick things off, we then spent the bulk of our meeting discussing how to build an equitable non-profit within existing non-profit frameworks. The coalition members in attendance helped us to have a generative and exploratory conversation about what does and doesn’t work when it comes to building nonprofit structures. We closed the meeting out by talking about new directions for our Advocacy Action Team. You can read more about the Advocacy Action Team in the Action Team Updates below.
Huge thanks to all coalition members who were present both virtually and in-person! We are excited to keep working towards building the coalition in line with our mission and values.
Free Play is field time set aside for the community to enjoy passive, drop-in, and informal play outdoors. Free Play space is intended to be welcoming and to safely benefit multiple community members from a variety of households/neighborhoods at the same time. The Program is perfect for personal, casual, spontaneous use, like a mom and son tossing a ball, friends playing Ultimate Frisbee, or a family enjoying kickball.
Memorial Stadium Renovation – The proposal to renovate Memorial Stadium may be put on hold if the Stadium is deemed a city landmark. This would be unfortunate as thousands of Seattle Public School student athletes and other youth users would then not benefit from an upgraded, more accessible, retrofitted, safe space for sports. If you feel strongly about the importance of a Memorial Stadium renovation please submit written comments by end of day today.
Written comments should be submitted by 5:00 pm on September 29, 2023 (TODAY) via email: erin.doherty@seattle.gov or via US Mail: Dept. of Neighborhoods, Landmarks Preservation Board, P.O. Box 94649, Seattle WA 98124-4649
The Advocacy Action Team is getting ready to tackle a new topic. Come be a part of the group and help us decide what policies and funding the sector most needs to advance play equity!
STIPENDS AVAILABLE. Meetings every other Wednesday, 8:45-9:45am (virtual); next meeting October 4; contact juliem4@uw.edu to join!
ALL WELCOME.
The Outdoor Recreation Action Team has been working collectively to prepare for a busy upcoming month.
2023 Thrive Outside Day will be happening on Friday October 20th from 9am-12pm.
We are inviting anybody involved in outdoor recreation and/or education to join us as we workshop out outreach efforts.
We have four or five potential areas of focus and will spend our first meeting checking in, and assessing the possibilities for our group. The first meeting will take place early November, if you are interested, please contact monika@kcplayequity.org.
We are about to launch the 3rd cohort for YAT. This year we are expanding our team from 11 members to 15. This is because we are partnering with the Seattle Mariners to incorporate youth leadership into their baseball and softball equity initiatives.
Part of the YAT will form a sub youth council of baseball and softball youth players who will meet with the Seattle Mariners to inform and drive their equity initiatives – with the goal that all youth in our region have access to baseball and softball regardless of income, race, cultural background, or ability.
On the Coalition side of YAT, this year, the cohort will be focused on creating a social media campaign as part of a multi-part series of the YAT’s youth-led research project. The social media campaign will be the third part to their work: The first cohort conducted a youth-led participatory action research project, the second cohort analyzed the research results and created recommendations for how predominantly white sports can be more inclusive or and welcoming to youth of color, and the third cohort will create messaging while spreading awareness on the importance their findings and how to create safer, more welcoming spaces for youth in sports.
The Shared Learning Action Team completed the first of three workshop/trainings that we established can support racial equity within the organizations in the cohort.
On September 5th, in partnership with the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sports, we offered a free Trauma Informed Coach Training with a focus on understanding and correcting bias.
Our next in the series will be a panel on organizational structure and racial equity within those structures.
The adidas Breaking Barriers Academy provides training on gender equity and inclusion to break barriers for girls and women in sports. This content evolved in part out of the Gender Equity Toolkit very similar to what this group used in their work last year.
Don’t forget to join and participate in our SLACK channel. We have channels for COVID-related information, school-based, population-specific, and other channels to interact with.
