San Franciscans Can Now Transform Their Block Into a Car-Free Temporary Park On A Daily, Weekly or Monthly Basis
***PRESS RELEASE***
San Francisco – Applications are now open for the 2019 season of Play Streets SF, a program empowering San Francisco residents to throw their own series of play-focused block parties and transform their street into an accessible, car-free open space for children, seniors and neighbors to connect. Residents citywide can now get information and apply for their own Play Streets at sfplaystreets.org.
With a mission to create healthier, more connected and resilient communities, Play Streets SF provides residents and local organizing teams with the tools needed to reclaim their street for community health and connection – from hassle-free permitting to free safety equipment, outreach tools, and play equipment.
Play Streets SF launched in 2017 with an equity-first pilot to ensure the citywide launch was accessible and responsive to the communities who needed it most in San Francisco – African American, Latino, Chinese, Pilipino, and Samoan/Pacific Islander communities who all experience disproportionately high rates of poor health outcomes. For the first two seasons, Play Streets SF worked with communities in San Francisco’s most underserved neighborhoods in terms of open space and recreational opportunities, which also correlates closely with San Francisco’s largest minority communities including Bayview/Hunters Point, Sunnydale/Visitacion Valley, Chinatown, and the Excelsior.
Through these collaborations, Livable City has developed a host of resources for the 2019 Play Streets season. From free rentals for easy-to-host recreational activities like hopscotch, jump rope and street soccer to posters and flyers that are translated into multiple languages, Play Streets SF helps all San Francisco residents focus on community building and fun with their neighbors.
“With Sunday Streets – Play Streets big sister – we work with diverse stakeholders to reimagine entire corridors as public spaces,” said Programs Director Katy Birnbaum. “Through the act of sharing that rare abundance, we are able to foster community connections that serve the neighborhood when we’re not in the streets with them.”
Play Streets “puts those same resources of open space and play into the hands of neighbors so they can do that work, block by block, to make us a more connected and resilient city,” Birnbaum said.
With three to six sessions, each Series provides a reliable structure and community space residents can anticipate and plan for, and regular sessions are especially important in neighborhoods that lack open space and recreational opportunities. With three or more sessions, residents become familiar with the program and join in to help, while children quickly catch onto the schedule.
Play Streets SF a program of SFMTA presented in partnership with the nonprofit Livable City, home to Sunday Streets, San Francisco’s open streets program since 2008. Additional support is provided by SF Department of Public Health (SFDPH), Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), and the SF Planning Department.
For more information and to apply for a Play Streets permit, San Francisco residents and community members citywide are encouraged to visit sfplaystreets.org.
About Play Streets
Play Streets SF is a program of SFMTA presented in partnership with the nonprofit Livable City with additional support provided by SF DPH, DCYF, and SF Planning. Play Streets came to San Francisco in 2017 as a two-year pilot with 30 sessions and eight-pop-ups between Visitacion Valley, Chinatown, the Excelsior and Mission/Bernal Heights.
SFMTA and Livable City are actively seeking partners and sponsors for SF Play Streets in 2020 and beyond. Contact us at [email protected] for more information
About Livable City
Livable City is dedicated to increasing affordable housing, improving transportation, land use, open space, and environmental policies, and supporting grassroots initiatives to make San Francisco a safer, healthier, and more accessible city. Livable City is home to Sunday Streets, the City’s open streets program. For more information, visit: LivableCity.org and SundayStreetsSF.com.
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