|
KaBOOM! is an American non-profit organization that helps communities build playgrounds for children. ==History== Darell Hammond and Dawn Hutchison founded KaBOOM! in 1996. They were inspired to start KaBOOM! after reading a story in ''The Washington Post'' about two local children who suffocated while playing in an abandoned car because they had nowhere else to play. Hammond had previously helped build several playgrounds for other charitable organizations. Hammond was also partially inspired by his upbringing in the Mooseheart Child City & School, a group home in Mooseheart, Illinois. Hammond previously studied under Dr. John Kretzmann, director of the Assets Based Community Development Institute in the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The institute, which focuses on mobilizing struggling communities using resources already at hand, served as a community-build model for KaBOOM! Hammond was also influenced by his participation in the Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago engagements of City Year, an AmeriCorps program seeking to build democracy through citizen service and social entrepreneurship.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Our Story )〕 Hammond and his friend Dawn Hutchison built their first KaBOOM! community playground in October 1995. The two were contacted by Youth Service America to plan a day of service. Although not yet operating under the KaBOOM! name, they chose to build a playground at Livingston Manor in southeast Washington, D.C. The playground build lasted five days and involved more than 500 volunteers. Inspired by the build, Hammond and Hutchison incorporated KaBOOM! in April 1996.〔 Kimberly-Clark, the corporation behind paper-based consumer products like Kleenex, chose to serve as KaBOOM!'s first funding partner as a way of celebrating their 125th anniversary. Kimberly-Clark partnered with KaBOOM! to build 38 playgrounds in 1997. Hutchison left KaBOOM! that year.〔 In 1997, KaBOOM! launched the "Let Us Play" campaign, which sought to build, renovate or provide assistance to develop 1,000 community-built playgrounds by the year 2000. Vice President Al Gore and General Colin Powell helped launch the program. By 1999, KaBOOM! had 50 funding partners and was building more than 50 playgrounds a year. KaBOOM! launched Operation Playground in December 2005, an initiative to build 100 playgrounds in the Gulf Coast areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.〔("KaBOOM! builds playground: West Elementary site took a day." ), Coleman, Leigh. ''The Sun Herald'', December 2005 . Retrieved November 24, 2009.〕 In 2003, KaBOOM! began building skateparks under the Eskal8 name. However, this program was discontinued in 2009 when the equipment manufacturer contracted by the organization discontinued the line of products that KaBOOM! volunteers could use. In 2004, KaBOOM! started offering toolkits, training packages and other forms technical assistance to communities seeking to build playgrounds without the charity's direct oversight. Darell Hammond also made the charity's project handbooks, best practices and guidelines available for free on the organization's website.〔 In 2007, the organization formed the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play, a program focused specifically on rallying individuals and governments to the KaBOOM! cause.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「KaBOOM! (non-profit organization)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|