With Wildwood Park down and four other parks to go, the Early Childhood Initiative’s Play it Forward campaign has received a major funding boost in the form of a $25,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation.
The effort seeks to add playground equipment specifically designed for young children to a handful of Crookston parks. City Parks and Recreation staff erected the new equipment in Wildwood Park last fall, and Gayle Nelson, ECI steering committee member and also a member of the Play it Forward committee, said Evergreen Park in Evergreen Estates is targeted for early childhood equipment later this year.
Play it Forward is also pursuing funding for the installation of an early childhood play area in the new Crookston arena, and a space has been identified. Nelson said the initiative is in the early stages of applying for a grant for the arena play area from the Otto Bremer Foundation that’s separate from the $25,000 awarded Wednesday.
The Wildwood equipment cost just under $12,000, Nelson said, adding that the city, through Parks and Recreation, has agreed to donate in-kind things like the labor to assemble the equipment and ongoing maintenance.
It’s estimated that the entire Play it Forward project, over a five-year timeframe, will need $58,495. That total includes the money spent in Wildwood Park. The Otto Bremer grant, when added to $10,000 from the ECI, $4,280 from Parks and Rec, $1,000 from the Rotary Club and $1,600 in private donations, leaves a balance of $16,615 still to be raised.
The Bremer grant will be paid over three years, with $10,000 in each of the first two years and $5,000 in the third year. The plan is to break it into five, $5,000 pieces to be spread out over each park project, Nelson said.
“We want to be strategic in how we spread the equipment around town, to parks that are close to early childhood providers,” explained Dr. Jodi Boerger Wilder, an ECI steering committee and Play it Forward committee member.
That approach, Nelson added, is part of an overall goal to identify parks that have the most amenities like shelters and bathrooms because those are the ones that are likely utilized most by families with young children.
“This is a real need in the community that has been clearly identified,” she said. “Things like playground equipment for the youngest children are so critical to their development, both physically, emotionally and socially.”
Crookston Bremer Bank President Rob Jacobson said the initiative is a natural fit with the Otter Bremer Foundation mission.
“It’s an excellent program and it’s an opportunity to meet an under-served need,” he said in his office Wednesday after announcing the grant. “This is a great group of individuals and agencies, so congratulations to them. Anytime, as a Bremer Bank president, you get a chance to bring funds back to the community through the dividends paid to the foundation, it’s a very rewarding thing.”
The Northwest Minnesota Foundation is a funder of the ECI. Lyn Backstrom, an early childhood specialist with the NWF who was in Crookston Wednesday to share in the good news, said the NWF hoped that by funding various ECIs in the region that individual communities and agencies would not only get the ball rolling but keep it rolling.
“Things like this show that commitment we were hoping for,” she said. “This is a real demonstration of that.”
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With Wildwood Park down and four other parks to go, the Early Childhood Initiative’s Play it Forward campaign has received a major funding boost in the form of a $25,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation.
The effort seeks to add playground equipment specifically designed for young children to a handful of Crookston parks. City Parks and Recreation staff erected the new equipment in Wildwood Park last fall, and Gayle Nelson, ECI steering committee member and also a member of the Play it Forward committee, said Evergreen Park in Evergreen Estates is targeted for early childhood equipment later this year.
Play it Forward is also pursuing funding for the installation of an early childhood play area in the new Crookston arena, and a space has been identified. Nelson said the initiative is in the early stages of applying for a grant for the arena play area from the Otto Bremer Foundation that’s separate from the $25,000 awarded Wednesday.
The Wildwood equipment cost just under $12,000, Nelson said, adding that the city, through Parks and Recreation, has agreed to donate in-kind things like the labor to assemble the equipment and ongoing maintenance.
It’s estimated that the entire Play it Forward project, over a five-year timeframe, will need $58,495. That total includes the money spent in Wildwood Park. The Otto Bremer grant, when added to $10,000 from the ECI, $4,280 from Parks and Rec, $1,000 from the Rotary Club and $1,600 in private donations, leaves a balance of $16,615 still to be raised.
The Bremer grant will be paid over three years, with $10,000 in each of the first two years and $5,000 in the third year. The plan is to break it into five, $5,000 pieces to be spread out over each park project, Nelson said.
“We want to be strategic in how we spread the equipment around town, to parks that are close to early childhood providers,” explained Dr. Jodi Boerger Wilder, an ECI steering committee and Play it Forward committee member.
That approach, Nelson added, is part of an overall goal to identify parks that have the most amenities like shelters and bathrooms because those are the ones that are likely utilized most by families with young children.
“This is a real need in the community that has been clearly identified,” she said. “Things like playground equipment for the youngest children are so critical to their development, both physically, emotionally and socially.”
Crookston Bremer Bank President Rob Jacobson said the initiative is a natural fit with the Otter Bremer Foundation mission.
“It’s an excellent program and it’s an opportunity to meet an under-served need,” he said in his office Wednesday after announcing the grant. “This is a great group of individuals and agencies, so congratulations to them. Anytime, as a Bremer Bank president, you get a chance to bring funds back to the community through the dividends paid to the foundation, it’s a very rewarding thing.”
The Northwest Minnesota Foundation is a funder of the ECI. Lyn Backstrom, an early childhood specialist with the NWF who was in Crookston Wednesday to share in the good news, said the NWF hoped that by funding various ECIs in the region that individual communities and agencies would not only get the ball rolling but keep it rolling.
“Things like this show that commitment we were hoping for,” she said. “This is a real demonstration of that.”
