The kids at Galiano Community School love their vibrant new playground, thanks to BCAA Play Here, a multi-year initiative to invest in play spaces across the province. Just listen to the excited voices and laughter as they climb, swing, slide, play games and make lasting memories. The new play space brings the entire community together.
It wasn’t always that way. Their old playground was dilapidated. The monkey bar paint was peeling, the tire swing was unsafe and had to be removed, and the entire wooden structure was rickety and unstable.
Last year, the Galiano Island community submitted their nomination for Galiano Community School to BCAA Play Here, highlighting their need for a better play space and how it would impact the community. Working together, the entire community got behind the nomination after becoming 1 of 10 finalists and shared their story with everyone they knew, asking family, friends and British Columbians to vote for their playground project. And now, children and families living in this small island community are having fun and spending time together in a safe environment.
Galiano Island was one of four B.C. communities that received revitalizations worth up to $100,000 from BCAA Play Here.
Great play spaces are an important part of a fun and educational childhood and BCAA wants to give B.C. kids better places to play. Your community could be next. For a chance to win a play space makeover, all you have to do is nominate a deserving play area in your community to BCAA Play Here by April 15, 2018.
Play areas can include parks or playgrounds, a community garden, a music room, or an after-school study area – any space in your community, indoors or outdoors, where kids can go to have fun and develop valuable life skills. The contest is open to all communities – urban or rural, big or small.
Just go to BCAAPlayHere.com to make the nomination. Here are a few tips to make your nomination stand out:
- Be descriptive.Clearly highlight what the need is and the impact a revitalized play space would have on your community.
- Be visual and creative.Photos and short videos are impactful and great ways to tell your story.
The nomination period runs from March 27 to April 15.
After the nominations are shortlisted to 10 finalists by a panel of judges, an online public vote will decide the three winners. Last year, over 425,000 votes were cast by British Columbians to decide which of the finalists would receive $100,000 play space revitalizations.
Online public voting takes place from May 28 to June 17. Winning projects will be announced on June 21.
What happens next? BCAA will work closely with each winning community from beginning to end on designs and plans for their project. Then, BCAA will deliver the community the play space of their dreams — a vibrant play space, customized to suit the size and characteristics of the area and complement the surrounding environment.
“BCAA recognizes that play spaces aren’t just for kids, they’re for entire communities to enjoy and a place to bring people together,” says Shawn Pettipas, BCAA’s director of Community Engagement. “Through BCAA Play Here, our focus is to keep kids safe in our communities but also provide play space revitalizations that will have the most positive impact for everyone in the community.”
To make a BCAA Play Here nomination for your community, visit BCAAPlayHere.com.
