Bernheim’s Children at Play Network (CAPN) launched a new year-long effort called Seeds for Urban Play to bring the benefits of outdoor play to more children in urban neighborhoods of Louisville. With generous support from Brown-Forman the CAPN staff will work with educators and staff of New Directions Housing Corporation and ChooseWell Communities to create trained teams of free play facilitators and provide them with the materials they will need to host their own free play events in a number of Louisville neighborhoods where access to healthy outdoor play is often limited.
This marks an important transition for the Children at Play Network that was founded five years ago through funding from PNC Bank. This is the first project of the Network focused on training teams of people to increase their capacity to offer outdoor play as often as they are able. That is important because it is through play that children build a lifetime of passion, interest and wonder. If you remove quality free play from the lives of children they are less likely to thrive. Bernheim believes that it is through play that we begin building the next generation of environmental stewards.
New Directions Housing Corporation develops and maintains affordable housing in Jefferson County and southern Indiana. ChooseWell Communities’ Project Thrive provides family centered support to parents early in addiction recovery, who commit to raising their young children in safe, healthy and drug-free homes. We are delighted to be working with their talented staff, families and children.