Long an abandoned place, broken equipment, forgotten by the City, graffiti, drugs, the tension of violence, Pop's playground was in need of help.
Residents imagined a different story. Neighbors began meeting weekly to conduct cleanups. Cleanups grew into painting and graffiti removal.
Soon, this dedicated group became known as the Friends of Pops. Partnering with the New Kensington Community Develepment Corporation (NKCDC) and applying for grants for summer art programs, movie nights, and other special events-- these efforts have been sucessful and brought a new positive life to the playground and its surrounding community.
Recently, the playground started two capital projects for under-utilized portions of the playground bringing about the Pops Skate Space and Pops Dogs.
The Philadelphia Department of Recreation has shown support of these efforts. While not officially returning the playground to city care, they will provide maintenance and support in the future -- including, hiring a part time staff member for the playground.
These are exciting times for the playground and community! We invite you to come and see all the new projects, experience the renewed enthusiasm, and join in the fun.
Check out the new website @ http://www.popsplayground.org
You can still help by joining our efforts! Volunteer for cleanups (announced here), become part of the playground committee, and tell a friend!
Friends of Pop's join in the City Wide Cleanup
Who I'd like to meet: ..
Community & Neighborhood Activists, playground enthusiasts, neighbors, community organizations, political representatives, anyone who cares about the state of our communities playgrounds!
we are having a beef and beer for Pop's Playground November 8th which seems far away but tickets are 1/4 sold all ready!! THIS IS GOING TO BE A GOOD TIME! Join VFW hall # 22 ( one of the oldest VFW halls in the country) FRanklin's Paine and Friend of POP's for a night of awesokme food, all the beer you can drink,(and a full bar) Dancing, raffles and all sorts of Serious fun! YOU WOULD BE CRAZY TO MISS IT! $20 a person! Tickets are moving fast don't be left out !!!
Great pics Tina! As we were coming home last night, I saw that there were a bunch of bottles and bags strewn around the monkey bars area. I picked all of them up and tossed. It makes me think about a WPA era type campaign. There were all these silk screen posters printed up. They were really neat looking, great graphics - things like environmental protection, hygene, anti-littering, etc. I think I can pick them up pretty cheap if we can figure out how to hang them.
ALL RIGHT YA'LL IT IS SO ON !! I bet I can get more of my friends to add the playground than you can!! And I have 9 already and I am not counting any one from the hood so lets see!!! =) Lets go for a 100 friends this week to celebrate the up coming article about what an awesome playground we have in the spirit this week!!! HOORAY and UP with play grounds!!=)
over 12 giant garbage bags filled with leaves and trash picked up....all the poop picked up....HORRAY...thank you kind volunteers for helping me get clean. Right afterwards a few kids and their parents came and played and as a playground I was super happy to be clean and not have broken glass or moldy wet leaves scattered about...GREAT SUCCESS!
Community & Neighborhood Activists, playground enthusiasts, neighbors, community organizations, political representatives, anyone who cares about the state of our communities playgrounds!
