Awardees for the Department of Neighborhood’s Large Projects Fund were celebrated at City Hall on Monday. Among the twelve recipients was Robin Wise Lofstrom to represent her Salmon Bay School Playground Renovation project.

Large Projects Fund awards are designed to support community members in building community relationships around a project and can be as large as $100,000. As a requirement, projects should demonstrate capacity to build a stronger and healthier community. They also should provide a public benefit and be free and open to all members of the public, emphasize self-help, with project ideas initiated, planned and implemented by the neighbors and community members who will themselves be impacted by the project; and match the requested monetary amount.

Lofstrom and the Friends of Salmon Bay were awarded $100,000 for renovating the Salmon Bay School playground into an autism spectrum disorder-friendly playspace which also serves the needs of younger children, enhance the site so that it is a neighborhood asset, and educate the public about the importance of early intervention for children with ASD.

"I cannot tell you how proud I am to be part of a city that believes in the power of neighborhood and grassroots activists. I’m so grateful to the Department of Neighborhoods, and touched by the obvious love and pride that our project manager, Laurie Ames, exemplifies; she loves her job, and well she should," Lofstrom said.

The $100,000 award will help Friends of Salmon Bay pay for the construction of the foundation of the project, which includes playground surfacing, constructing the star planter, irrigation, asphalt, and pouring concrete.

Lofstrom said they will seek other sources of funding to pay for the equipment itself.
 
"I feel proud on so many levels.  We can finish this project by relying on the generosity, creativity, inspiration, and perspiration of people, rather than relying on corporate sponsors who expect a reciprocal endorsement of their products.  A public school, funded by taxpayers, is no place for marketers to have their day.  This represents an intrinsic value of our school, where we try to keep commercialism at bay.  I think it’s a neighborhood philosophy, too," she said.
 
Lofstrom said the completion of this project will allow more families to find a positive place for their children to play, bringing together larger groups of people who will not be divided by ability. 

"For families with ASD, I think our playground will help to alleviate the crushing isolation that often comes with raising a child who avoids busy, bright, exposed, loud, overwhelming playgrounds.  We can bring together larger and more diverse groups of people, turning strangers into neighbors.  We will be able to look upon a beautiful and unique space that is pleasant to see and fun to play in, and a place of pride in a community which they themselves have designed and built and funded."
 
In addition to the the Large Projects Fund award, the Friends of Salmon Bay were also awarded a $20,000 Small & Simple grant.

That funding will be used to pay for the design development and construction document phase. 

Lofstrom said to celebrate, the Friends of Salmon Bay are hosting an event titled "Let's Play Salmon Bay". Slated to be held on site of the new playground on October 8th, the event is " a big celebration of play, of children, and of the project, not a fundraising mechanism", said Lofstrom.

For more information about the Salmon Bay School Playgound renovation, visit http://sites.google.com/site/letsplaysalmonbay/