Jayshawn Powers is a North Chicago youngster who got the opportunity to tell a group of adults what he and some of his peers wanted to see when a new playground was in the planning stages at Twin City Park. When the play area was nearly done, he liked what he saw.
“The spring horse,” Jayshawn said referring to a featured attraction there. “It shakes when you ride it.”
Carrie Leovy, a senior strategist with KABOOM!, a not-for-profit organization that builds playgrounds across the country in low-income areas, said before any project begins, input is sought from a focus group of neighborhood children. Jayshawn was part of that for Twin City Park.
“We want them to tell us about what they want on the playground, and what they like to play on,” she said. “They talk about it, and we use what they say to make decisions. The kids really wanted the spring ride.”
KABOOM! develops the plans for a playground in part based on the youthful focus group. It partnered with Riverwoods-based Discover Financial Services for the Twin City Park effort. Most of the work was done by volunteers from Discover and the neighborhood.
Discover, KABOOM!, local officials and people from the neighborhood formally opened the new playground with a ribbon-cutting Wednesday at Twin City Park, which is located in part in both Waukegan and North Chicago giving neighborhood youngsters a place to enjoy modern-play elements.
Joining Jayshawn were other members of the design focus group. They were excited and could not wait to try out the equipment. Leyah Wallace said she is excited to try out the swings, while Kingston Dennis looks forward to going down the slide.
“You can twist them, and they go higher,” Leyah said of the swing.
“It’s so slippery,” Kingston said of the slide.
Bicki Rudd, a senior program manager with KABOOM!, said the youngsters will have to wait a few more days to use the play elements while the concrete — now hidden by mulch — dries. She anticipates it will be ready by Monday,
As the youngsters and officials were gathering for the ribbon-cutting, Alyse Perkowitz, the senior manager for community affairs with Discover, said 150 volunteers — including 90 from Discover — were putting the finishing touches on the playground. The work started on Monday.
Sal Terracciano, a principal of business risk strategy for Discover, was one of those volunteers. In his time with the company, he said he is grateful for the opportunity to spend time aiding others. He helped unload and spread mulch in the area of the play elements.
“I unloaded three semitrailers of mulch today,” he said. “It’s awesome to see a safe place where children can play. I have a 5-year-old, and we go to a park near us for her to play.”
Rudd said much of the work was mixing tons of concrete and placing mulch over it to make the playground safe for the children. By the time it was done, 140 cubic yards of mulch was laid and 17,000 pounds of concrete was mixed by the volunteers.
It is not the first time Discover and KABOOM! have worked together on a playground project. Perkowitz said it has been a 28-year partnership. Twin City Park is the 50th collaboration between the two organizations, and the second time for this park. The initial playground effort there was in 2003.
“It outgrew its useful life, so we worked with the (Foss) Park District about the need for a new one,” Perkowitz said. “The average life is 15 to 20 years.”
Located in both Waukegan and North Chicago, Twin City Park is within the boundaries of North Chicago’s Foss Park District.
