Building Playgrounds, Engaging Communities

Book excerpt: We accomplish extraordinary things when we do ordinary things together. This heartfelt and hopeful conviction led LSU professor Marybeth Lima to begin the LSU Community Playground Project in an attempt to involve her students in the larger Baton Rouge community. Fifteen years and over seven hundred students later, Building Playgrounds, Engaging Communities tells the story of the Playground Project's ongoing partnership with area public schools to build safe, fun, accessible, kid-designed playgrounds. Lima's experiences with the Playground Project range from outright failures to hard-won victories. Overcoming the challenges of working with scarce resources, Lima persevered despite many setbacks. Her accounts brim with hope, humor, and dedication. Building Playgrounds, Engaging Communities emphasizes the major impact people can have when they work together for the common good -- whether by building playgrounds, establishing neighborhood gardens, or having honest, respectful conversations. To this end, Lima provides an appendix with practical advice for local engagement. People wanting to get involved in their communities can use this book as a road map; those active in long-term endeavors can draw on it for ideas and inspiration.