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Vikrum Aiyer, District of Columbia

Months of work by community organizations and the residents of the Hopkins and Potomac Gardens Apartments have paid off.

The groups raised money to build a new playground near 12th and K Streets SE. After Mayor Adrian Fenty was invited out to tour the Hopkins Apartment complex, he decided the city should chip in $300,000 and provide further assistance to expand the scope of the project and build a playground that would make any kid jealous.

Site preparation work was originally scheduled for completion in mid-July, but the timeline has been pushed back a bit due to the rainy start to the summer.

During the groundbreaking ceremony at the site, area kids were all smiles as they put on hard hats and posed for photographs.

The plans call for a “tot lot” for younger kids and a separate playground for older kids, both of which will have a rubberized poured surface to save kids from the scrapes and bruises many of us remember from our days on the playground. A large skateboard park and a resurfacing of the basketball court will complete the recreation facilities.

“We are building this state-of-the-art playground for the deserving residents and surrounding community,” Fenty said.  “The community showed their commitment to this project by coming together to do the planning and fundraising.”

Juanita Jones of the South Washington Collaborative, one of the community organizations that raised money and helped plan the playground, said her organization has been working with Hopkins and Potomac Gardens to improve the “deplorable” housing conditions there. When the mayor came out to visit the apartments at their request, he noticed the efforts to build a playground and decided the city should step in to help make the plans a reality.

Jones is hopeful that the playground and some recent minor improvements to the housing in the area is a sign of better housing conditions going forward.

“There’s still much to be done, but [the mayor] started the process,” she said.

‘Change is happening’
While the playground should keep children occupied, Jones views this investment as more than just providing entertainment.

“I think it’s going to bring an uplift to the community because that part of the city has a lot of hardships,” she said. “This gives the parents and other people in the community an awareness that change can happen. Change is happening.”

Kalimah Abdul-Sabur, president of the Hopkins Resident Council, has lived in the building for 30 years. She said there are other playgrounds in the area, but they are either far away or are on school property and unavailable for use during non-school hours.

Hopkins used to have some play equipment of its own, but those “stone toys” were a far cry from the planned playground.

“I’m just happy to have something for these kids because they have nothing,” she said. “The kids are just so happy.”

Area children also got a chance to participate in the planning process, as city officials met with them to figure out what they wanted in a playground.

Abdul-Sabur views the playground as a blessing that could improve life for everyone in the area.

“This gives the kids something to do rather than being destructive,” she said. “Now they’ll have something to do, and they can learn to play with each other.”

Although the playground will be built at Hopkins, Abdul-Sabur said that kids from all areas would be welcome to come and play.