Playground Project by Civic Design Center

Civic Design Center, Nashville TN

Playground Project This case study explores the journey, failures and ultimate success of Playground Project in transforming the Murrell School playground. With the support of the Nashville community and the students and faculty at Murrell, the project created a space the students can be proud of, take ownership over and send the message that they are valued, important and deserving of the same opportunities given to all students in the Metro school district.

September 2008- June 2009

Contents Vision for the Murrell School Project Objectives Project Approach Renovation Day Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Participants Lessons Learned

Vision for the Murrell School The Murrell School serves students certified as seriously emotionally disturbed and learning disabled in the K-7 grades. The students are 87% African American, 1% Hispanic and 12% Caucasian with 97% of the entire student population on free and reduced lunch. It is of utmost importance that Murrell’s students have the opportunity to expend excess energy and benefit from daily physical education but their outdoor space was inadequate and unsafe. Playground Project, inspired by a community development class at Vanderbilt concerned with the effect a community’s physical space has on a “sense of community” (directly correlated with safe, healthy, thriving neighborhoods), turned to Murrell’s playground to make a difference.

This “story” is written from my point of view and includes some of the greatest challenges and lessons we learned from each other, our failures and successes and ultimately the deep-rooted pandemonium that is community development. Jessica Demorest, Playground Project Director

Project Objectives The project pivoted on meeting the following objectives which also informed potential donors and volunteers of the ultimate program benefits • To create a safe and fun outdoor space at Murrell School: o

For the students to play and learn

To create an expanded range of educational opportunities

To create a sense of ownership and pride of the school and community

• To supply students and faculty with outdoor equipment to aid in productive daily physical education initiatives • To empower the students to have an active role in the design, creation and maintenance of the space • To attract the media and give the Murrell School more recognition and support for the faculty, staff and parent’s time, energy and financial resources they expend to ensure their students are maturing and growing in a safe environment • To give volunteers and local businesses the opportunity to be contributing and influential citizens in the community

Identifying the Need… Although I had been taught persistently in my community development classes at Vanderbilt that a comprehensive “Needs Assessment” is THE fundamental initial step to create a productive and sustainable community development effort, unfortunately, that was not the beginnings of Playground Project. Enthused by my coursework and a newfound interest in transforming a vacant lot into a playground, I stumbled upon the Murrell School. My own

judgment that the space, nearly flooded, littered with trash (condoms, needles, beer bottles) and unsafe equipment, was initially all the ‘needs assessment’ I needed; so I presented the plan to Murrell’s Principal and ‘leading lady,’ Susan in October, 2008. Despite my anxiety that I had not followed my teacher’s number one advice and offered my time, support and resources to a need identified by the community for themselves, (and instead asserted my own belief that the playground was

Murrell’s primary need) I was reassured of my efforts in almost every meeting with Susan and certainly when we first presented the project to the students and facultyso we pressed on. Regardless, it was of primary importance to us that we incorporated the students in the project every step of the way to reiterate a sense of ownership and empowerment so we began by asking the students for drawings and letters to identify their chief wants for the new space (above).

Project Approach After meeting with Susan in October and drafting a “project plan”, it became quickly apparent that I would need as much help as I could get with this project… so I recruited a group of five of my friends and the project officially began with our first meeting in December, 2008.

Our first meeting we decided to divide the project into four areas (fundraise, design, prepare and create) and assumed a “divide and conquer” approach, each pledging to concern ourselves with as much as we could, but never more than we could commit to deliver. We agreed to meet weekly (with the possibility of frequent emails in between) and with a shared vision for the project, fell into a common conviction that we could make a difference. This portion of the study will briefly examine our processes within each of our project areas. FUNDRAISING Although we initially gave this responsibility to Ashley to handle alone, we quickly realized that we would all need to focus the majority of our attention on fundraising if we had any hope of completing what we started. We divided our funding need into three potential donor categories: individuals, corporate sponsorships / grants and in-kind donations for local businesses. With an initial budget of $30,000 and a strict deadline of February 1, we decided to focus our efforts on applying for grants and attracting large corporate donations.

About ten grant applications, a minimum of one hundred cold calls and several meetings with organizations such as the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods, Vanderbilt Office of Community Development, Food Security Partners of Tennessee and the Metro School Board (etc.) for advice on our process and who to contact, we eventually collected the $14,000 we needed by February 10th to order the playground equipment in time for our April 5th renovation deadline. Our “push” for individual donations was administered through a “donation link” on our new website (created by Lindsey and myself with no experience in web design; picture right) and with the help of several news stories on Channels 2 and 5 began to call on the support of local Nashville residents. The “in-kind” donation portion of our fundraising efforts began March 1st and again depended on referrals, cold calls and a small collection of information about the project and our specific needs.

In mid January I engaged in another focused attempt to expand our committee and incorporate others in our process. We reached out to local high schools and colleges; community and church groups; Vanderbilt student groups; and individuals through our website and introduced eleven others to the committee.

DESIGN This was my domain. With no experience in design of any sort, I reached out to my limited network of Nashville professionals and eventually teamed up with the Civic Design Center and their team of landscape architects affiliated with the “Street Life Project” to turn the Murrell student drawings into a comprehensive plan.

DESIGN PLAN The playground design pivoted on our intention to create a “green”, practical and flowing space so we incorporated 450 recycled tires; an outdoor classroom; a garden; three murals; swings; a merry-go-round and jungle gym area all connected by sphyrical pathways. Understanding that the success of the project was contingent to the amount of effort we put in, the murals, garden, and tire logistics responsibilities were divided among four committee members and unfortunately, because of the amount of help we had and the amount of work we needed to accomplish, I took on the rest: site preparation, drainage, playground equipment and landscaping.

obvious that we had a severe drainage issue we needed to resolve but how, when, how long, how much was still unclear. In February we received an email through our website from the owner of a small local construction company, Murray & Sons LLC. In the message, Joe offered a “track hoe and a bucket” to help with the “dirt work” (which, at the time, I didn’t realize there was “dirt work” required) and suggested I call him so we could talk. So I did- and two weeks later we had scheduled a meeting with Joe, his son and

daughter (publicist and enthused philanthropist who would later join the committee), a representative from the school board, our design team from the Civic Design Center (included two local landscape architects) and the Murrell Principal. By the end of the meeting we had a plan and I learned a considerable amount about trenching, excavating, surveying, “shooting a transit” and French drains, all which would be included in the ‘site preparation’ phase.

PREPARATION I could have never anticipated exactly how much ‘site preparation’ would need to be to be completed before our Renovation day, still scheduled for April 5th. It was

“Preparation” Continued… Recruiting Volunteers Karen, a Vanderbilt student who had recently participated in a playground build in New Orleans, heard about our project and came on board with contagious enthusiasm, discipline and an open heart. She volunteered to gather, inform and most importantly organize 250 volunteers to help with the renovations on April 5th. We divided the day into two three- hour shifts (with an hour for lunch in the middle) and created a ‘task timeline’: what would need to be completed when and by how

many volunteers. We assigned a committee member to be the “leader” of each team of volunteers and on April 1st met to walk through the day step by step to ensure all committee members were well informed, prepared and excited for the 5th. Despite the last minute “emergencies” (like completing the paperwork for ADA approval) we were fully prepared: volunteers were well informed of their responsibilities through the email list serve Karen compiled; Metro would finish the

French drains on Wednesday in time for the design team to come with me on Thursday to measure and delineate with spray paint the jungle gym, garden, outdoor classroom and pathways; all supplies (mulch, stone, playground equipment tires, shovels, wheelbarrows and plants) were all scheduled for delivery on either Friday or Saturday morning; our volunteer playground installer was arriving Friday night from Chicago to help guide Joe and his crew with the site preparation on Friday and Saturday…

..and then it rained. No, thunderstorm-ed. Wednesday it started to rain and prolonged the completion of the French drains until Thursday. Thursday afternoon, on my way to class having spent the whole morning at the site, we fell victim to the most severe thunderstorm I had seen since I moved to Nashville three years prior. Friday morning I met Joe at the site to ‘check out the damage’ and realized that we would be unable to even begin the dirt work necessary to prepare the site for volunteers on Sunday because of all of the puddles- so after a day of praying for the rain to stop (to no avail) we were forced to post-pone renovations and contact all participants (deliveries included) to advise them of the change in plans.

Renovation Day [Take Two]… Sunday, April 15th So much for “dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s”… I forgot to call the Mulch Company to post-pone our delivery and so 75 cubic yards of mulch was delivered to the site on Saturday

In the two weeks following April 5th we were able to complete all of the site preparation, “dirt work” and were ready to welcome the volunteers on Sunday, April 15th. We re-organized and re-completed all preparations we had completed the first time and were enthused to see a weekend of sun on the tenday forecast. Unfortunately, come Friday, April 13th, Mother Nature was cruel again and thunderstorms were predicted to sweep through on Sunday. Tim, our playground installation guide, arrived from Chicago on Friday night and mindful of his generosity (Tim volunteers to lead the playground installation team without charge; saving us a minimum of $700 to hire our own and at least $5,000 for doing it ourselves) we realized that we could not afford (both monetarily and emotionally!) to post-pone renovations a second time. So, we gathered as many volunteers as we could on sunny Saturday to begin installing the playground equipment, hopeful that we could complete enough on that portion of the playground to at least present something to the students on Monday morning.

Unfortunately, although we had at least thirty students and families signed up to volunteer on April 5th, when we were forced to move the renovations to April 15th we were only able to retain five student / family volunteers- huge disappointment

Rain, Rain, Go Away.

Karen (right) and a Murrell teacher digging the ‘post holes’ for the playground equipment on Saturday, April 14th

Renovation Day finally came (with the rain) and the committee welcomed about 75 volunteers to trek through the mud and complete what we could before we were forced to end the day after lunch. With less than half of the work completed, we had a long way yet before Playground Project would be a reality.

“One of the most significant blessings of this project was being forced to post-pone our weekend Renovation Day(s) after-all…” When we were forced to end the day early on April 15th it was hard not to feel discouraged despite all we had accomplished. Without another planned “Renovation Day” I was concerned we would never have enough help to finish the Project.

But once again, I was wrong. The renovations continued through the rest of April (and much of May) during the school day. We collected as many volunteers as we could (by continuing to send out emails about our progress and when we would be at the playground) and the Murrell faculty, staff and students were eager to step in. One of the most significant blessings of this project was being forced to post-pone our weekend Renovation Day(s) after-all; completing the work during the school days allowed the students to take absolute ownership over the space and help dig, plant, paint and wheel-barrow mulch to bring us several steps closer to finishing the project.

April 22, The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Although the playground was not entirely completed, on April 22nd we had come far enough to hold an official “Ribbon Cutting Ceremony”. We had a student read a short poem after which both Susan and I said a couple of words to thank all those involved and commend the students for their hard work. Chris, a 7th grader at Murrell led the ribbon cutting; all present linked arms to be connected to Chris while he cut the ribbon and officially opened the playground. After almost of a month of sporadic work after that, the project was finally completed on June 4th.

Special Thanks… To our sponsors: o o o o o o o o o o o

Murray & Son LLC Staples Nancy Cohn Adam Smith The Memorial Foundation Metropolitan Nashville School Board Solid Rock Carpenters Montgomery Bell Academy Vanderbilt Panhellenic Council Hardaway Construction Keaton’s

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Vanderbilt NPHC Vanderbilt Interfraternity Council Delta Delta Delta, Vanderbilt University Theta, Vanderbilt University Sigma Lambda Gamma, Vanderbilt University Alpha Chi, Vanderbilt University Lori and Jamey Smith o Phyllis Sells o Michael and Vicki Carabini o Bruce and Susan Shepherd o Girl Scout Troop #2264 o Jay Argo o ReoStone o Venus Nails o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

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Alpha Omicron Pi, Vanderbilt University Gregory Simakas University School of Nashville Hume Fogg Father Ryan Peg and Andrew Duthie Doug Dean Lori and Jamey Smith Delta Gamma, Vanderbilt University Girl Scout Troop #1536 Girl Scout Troop #261 Girl Scout Troop #2513

Vanderbilt Women’s Varsity Lacrosse Baptist Collegiate Ministries, Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University Circle K, Vanderbilt University Edgehill United Methodist Hands on Nashville Helping Hands, Vanderbilt University American Society of Civil Engineers, Vanderbilt University Midtown Fellowship Vanderbilt East Serves, Vanderbilt University Tom Bannen Chevrolet The Mulch Company Creekside Nursery Pi Beta Phi, Vanderbilt University Alpha Delta Pi, Vanderbilt University Kappa Delta, Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt Athletic Department Martin’s Nursery

Another Thank Youâ&#x20AC;Ś to our Committee: o

Lindsay, Ben, Karen, Caitlin and Jessica after renovations on April 15th

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Joe and Matt Murray and Chris from Murray & Son after renovations of April 15th. Murray & Son donated at least $20,000 worth of labor to Playground Project.

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Jessica Demorest (Director, Vanderbilt University) o Ben Sutter (Garden Leader, Montgomery Bell) o Eppa Rixey (Public Relations, Vanderbilt) o Caitlin Brannigan (Renovation Day Coordinator, Vanderbilt) o Andrew Smith (High School Coordinator, Vanderbilt) o Susan Siegel (Principal, Murrell) o Mrs. Armistead (Garden) o Dee Condrey (Vanderbilt) o Alex Lathe (Art Wall, Vanderbilt) o Ashley Simakas (Fundraising, Vanderbilt) o Karen McGee (Volunteer Coordinator, Vanderbilt) o Diana Culp ( Landscape In-Kind, Vanderbilt) Lauren Zaluda (Tire Coordinator, Vanderbilt) Heather Gillespie (Belmont) Fred Royals (Metropolitan Nashville School Board) Tim DeLong (Playground Installation Supervisor, Chicago) Kirt Roosa (GameTime Representative) o Taylor Hannasch (Art Wall, University School Nashville) o Joe and Matthew Murray (Site Preparation, Murray & Son LLC) o Millie Parker (In-Kind Donation Coordinator) o Lily Alberts (Art Wall, University School of Nashville) o Tracy Ratliff (Muralist, Art Wall) o Matthew Murray (Site Preparation, Murray & Son LLC) o Gary Gaston (Playground Design, Civic Design Center) o Sam Champion (Landscape Architect, Street Life Project) Richie Jones (Landscape Architect, Street Life Project) Rachel Gutner (Paint In-Kind, Vanderbilt) Rebecca Goldberg (Vanderbilt) Diana Keenan (Food In-Kind, Vanderbilt) Lindsay Hayes (All-around, Vanderbilt) Audrey Cabrera (Vanderbilt) Courtney Goldman (Public Relations, Vanderbilt)

Project Results After ten months of hard work we completed the project on June 4, 2009. Closing the gate at the end of that day, admiring all we had accomplished, was the proudest moment of my life.

Lessons Learned Despite many failures and setbacks along the way, Playground Project was ultimately a great success; had I been able to do some things over however, this is what I surely would have changed: o

I am certain that my passion for community development will inspire me to take on another project of similar magnitude- and when I do, I will be sure listen first about a need and the ways I can serve and help rather than direct according to my vision.

Development doesn’t happen chronologically; I expected that we would accomplish Step A to move on to Step B to finish with Step C… the reality is especially with projects on such an urgent time-scale Step A and Step B might happen at the same time and not end before Step C has to get going.

Always always always have a rain date.

Give people leadership responsibilities at the beginning: I thought that I would be able to start on several projects while we waited for others to join the effort- unfortunately by the time others came on board I was so far into those pieces that it was difficult to pass them off. o

Pull from a wide audience of volunteersso many of our volunteers were students so once school let out it dramatically affected the amount of labor we could pull in [and don’t discount the community itself as a volunteer base]

Always communicate in “we will” terms especially when communicating to donors- I started off saying “we are trying to put together this project” and I think that really discredited our effort.

Seek help from experts early and often. I think we could have avoided some of our problems with drainage had we been aware that it was something we needed to address initially. o