Contents
Podcast
Panelists
Additional Resources
Transcript


In March 2024, we continued our Place Matters webinar series with our third installment: “A Place to Play: Moving Towards Fairness of Place for All Children.” During the webinar, we explored the power of play in supporting early childhood development, as well as the importance of ensuring that children and caregivers have access to safe green spaces, like parks and playgrounds. Our panel of experts discussed how access to safe, stimulating, and joyful play space is not equally distributed across communities, along with strategies to work toward building a future where all children have a safe place to play. The webinar discussion has been adapted for this episode of the Brain Architects podcast.




Panelists


Leah Anyanwu (Moderator)Programme Specialist, Children on the Move, Children's Learning and Development, The LEGO Foundation

Cynthia Briscoe BrownAtlanta Board of Education Seat 8 At Large

Kathy Hirsh-PasekProfessor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University; Senior Fellow, Brookings Institute

Lysa RatlifChief Executive Officer, KABOOM!

Le-Quyen VuExecutive Director, Indochinese American Council

Melissa Rivard  (Webinar Host)Director of Engagement Strategies, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

Cameron Seymour-Hawkins (Podcast Host)Communications Coordinator, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University




Additional Resources



Place Matters: The Environment We Create Shapes the Foundations of Healthy Development 
Presentation Slides 
Playful Learning Landscapes 
KABOOM! 
Atlanta Community School Parks Initiative 
LEGO Foundation 
Indochinese American Council 



Transcript
Cameron Seymour-Hawkins: Welcome to The Brain Architects, a podcast from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. I’m Cameron Seymour-Hawkins, the Center’s Communications Coordinator. Our Center believes that advances in the science of child development provide a powerful source of new ideas that can improve outcomes for children and their caregivers. By sharing the latest science from the field, we hope to help you make that science actionable and apply it in your work in ways that can increase your impact. 

In March, we continued our Place Matters webinar series with our third installment: “A Place to Play: Moving Towards Fairness of Place for All Children.” During the webinar, we explored how play and a family’s access to safe green spaces, like parks and playgrounds, support early development. Our panel of experts discussed how access to safe, stimulating, and joyful play space is not equally distributed along with strategies to work toward building a future where all children have a safe place to play. We’re excited to share part of this conversation on today’s episode of the Brain Architects podcast.  

If you’re interested in in seeing some examples of community-led solutions to address gaps in play space equity presented by Lysa Ratliff of KABOOM and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek of Playful Learning Landscapes, we encourage you to head over to our YouTube channel to view the full webinar recording.  

Now, without further ado, here’s Melissa Rivard, the Center’s Assistant Director of Innovation Strategies, who will set the stage for our conversation. 

Melissa Rivard: Welcome and thank you all so much for joining us today. It's really gratifying to have so many of you showing up for this really important topic. So thank you. I'm Melissa Rivard, Assistant Director of Innovation Strategies and I will be your host today. This webinar is part of a series of webinars that the Center on the Developing Child has hosted to examine the ways that a child's broader environment, including the built and natural environments, as well as the systemic factors that shape them, play a role in shaping child development and health beginning before birth. Our focus today,