ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Play ROCs PARKing Day, an international day of play. celebrated on Friday the importance of safe and accessible play spaces. The point is to reclaim, re-purpose and revitalize public spaces by turning them into play areas for kids.
"We actually worked with residents to create plans to ask where kids were playing and what we could do to make it better, and what we found by doing those plans and working with neighborhoods is that 82 percent of our kids don't actually play in our parks and playgrounds and while parks and playgrounds are really important, they're playing in vacant lots and the street. They're playing at community organizations like the library today," said Jenn Beideman, The HealthiKids Coalition.
The Play ROCs Campaign is working to share the community's vision of what a safe place to play looks like. The campaign will take the input and ask lawmakers to consider city designs with kids in mind.