Site of Kingston's first fully inclusive and accessible playground approved

Last night, Kingston City Council approved Shannon Park as the site of a planned inclusive playground.

Over the past year, a number of community members have formed the Inclusive Play Project, working closely with Extend-A-Family and numerous service organizations and volunteers to advocate and raise funds towards the goal of building Kingston’s first fully inclusive and accessible playground.

At the City Council meeting on Aug. 13, Council approved to provide $300,000 from the Municipal Capital Reserve Fund for partial funding of the Inclusive Playground Project at Shannon Park that will enable the City to initiate and complete civil site works for the project. Support for this project, with an estimated budget of $1.5M, has been strong, with close to $200,000 already raised by Inclusive Play Project volunteers.

City staff continue to work alongside Inclusive Play Project volunteers to pursue grant opportunities with $650,000 in grant requests pending approval and additional new grant applications in development.

“We as a community group are so excited to see this project continue to take shape,” says Rachel Doornekamp of the Inclusive Play Project.  “Kingston needs more inclusive community spaces, and we strongly believe this new playground will act as a destination for families in Kingston and the surrounding areas.  We are looking forward to further collaboration with the City to build this park, because playgrounds should be for everyone!"

More information about supporting the Inclusive Play Project with corporate sponsorship, in-kind donations and financial donations can be found at its website.