The Boston Schoolyard Initiative (BSI) began with the goal to renovate, revive, and rehabilitate Boston’s school playgrounds.
Recognizing the need for community engagement on this project to make it a reality, they decided to bring city agencies, community groups, and private donors together. At The Lynch Foundation, we felt a strong kinship with this initiative. Community connection and collaboration are at the heart of The Lynch Foundation. We could clearly see these values reflected in the shared goals and strategic collaboration that BSI cultivated.
Since it was founded in 1995, BSI’s unique public-private partnership model has successfully reclaimed 130 acres of space. Now, those areas are dedicated to investing in our youth, allowing them to learn and play in safe and interactive spaces.
In those 130 acres, BSI:
- Planted 200 trees
- Installed 100 plant beds
- Built 75 play structures
- Created 32 outdoor classrooms
Partnering With The Lynch Foundation
Thus, The Lynch Foundation made a multi-year commitment to BSI in its final stages. This allowed them to complete an additional 29 schoolyard revitalization projects.
The importance of this initiative goes beyond those physical structures, though. The Lynch Foundation & BSI Partnership implemented actionable change. Not only that, but it also informed the broader community about the need for preservation of recreational spaces in our city.
This allowed the goals of the initiative to continue long after the projects were completed
Indeed, once BSI successfully achieved its goals by the end of 2013, the 18-year-old nonprofit celebrated an extraordinary accomplishment and evolved the initiative to a volunteer-led organization to continue the deeper goal of the project:
Preservation, Connection, and Dedication to our youth.
Visit the Boston Schoolyard Initiative site for more information