Mission Statement, Goals, and Objectives of the Organization:
The mission of Kids’ Park Lafayette is to provide a safe, accessible, learning and recreational environment to people of ALL ages and ALL abilities. This requires the natural inclusion of disabled kids, adults and elderly into this accessible environment.
In addition to an accessible playground, our goal is to enhance the accessible Sensory Botanical Garden on the grounds of Lafayette Elementary School which will stimulate the senses through use of flowers and plants (sight and smell), musical instruments, chimes, and seed pods (hearing), textured plants (touch), and edible herbs (taste). The objective of this organization is to provide an accessible site for outdoor educational opportunities where people of all ages and all abilities can literally “grow together”, free of charge.
Description of Service, Constituency Served, and Number of People Served:
After the 2002 completion of Kids’ Park-Phase One, Boulder County’s first wheelchair accessible kindergarten/pre-school playground, a separate and larger effort resulted into Kids’ Park - Phase II. This resulted into an upper grade level playground complete with an adjacent, accessible, botanical garden. This garden was designed with an outdoor classroom to provide for a safe, accessible, milti-sensory, intergenerational learning environment. All facilities were built as a result of a community build model from donations and all volunteer hours.
Since Phase Two’s community-build construction date in September of 2005, Kids’ Park, in conjunction with another non-profit agency, Project YES, has been providing a free Service Learning Summer Camp for 30 elementary aged school children. The Summer Camp has run from Noon to 4:00 pm, Monday to Thursday for a five week duration. (The Summer camp was suspended during the BVSD Bond construction of 2008). There are plans to resume the Service Learning Summer Camp in 2011. The Summer Camp’s participants have reflected the targeted population we strive to serve. These first through fifth grade students reflect a cross section of the Lafayette community. There are students that come from low income, single parent families, English as a 2nd language families, kids with disabilities and kids of color.
It is important to note that Kids’ Park II has been in operation for less than five years and is proud that is able to provide services on the park’s completed areas. It is hoped that with additional site work and educational programming, it would enable Kids’ Park Lafayette to extend it’s service delivery to it’s complete targeted population that would include Seniors and disabled adults, including parents. Kids’ Park recognizes that providing a safe, supportive social environment is most important to all of the targeted groups. For most of the targeted participants, this could be the only place that would offer this type of safe, structured and, much needed, social interaction.
In addition to Lafayette Elementary’s talented and gifted program, it has diverse multicultural environment. This includes students with disabilities. LES has become a destination school for children with multiple-intensive special needs. According to latest demographics, 15.6% of the total student population participates in special education. In addition to the student population, this site will also serve the special needs of those within the community. “Imagine!”, a Community Centered Board, reports that 163 people in Lafayette have a disability or require service. In adjacent communities, there are 431 people in Boulder, 601 in Longmont, 97 in Louisville, 168 in Broomfield, and 58 people in Erie with similar circumstances. In total, there 906 households in Boulder County with children under 21 who are participants in the center’s programs, along with 522 households with people over 21. All of these people are welcome to use the park’s recreational and educational facilities.
The park is also intended to be multi-generational. This will allow for a broader base of the community to be involved in the education and development of children and other garden participants. For one example, in the “farm area” of the botanic garden, it is envisioned to have special planters that will allow for wheelchair users and seniors to participate in planting classes offered. This can be done in conjunction with outside agencies invited to support this type of program. The Lafayette Senior Center estimates that there are 2,700 people in the Lafayette community over the age of 60. These people would be able to take part in outdoor classes, as both participants and instructors, and possibly could as mentors to the children.
High school, middle school and college students are also be welcomed to participate in the park’s educational activities, thus providing greater generational continuity, while offering a good role model and/or mentoring opportunities.
Lafayette Elementary, like other area schools, has it’s share of challenges. Last year 23.7% of the students received free and reduced-rate lunches.
Kids’ Park Lafayette’s Motto:
“Build A Dream – Make A Difference – Have Some Fun”
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