Dothan is being honored with a 2016 Playful City USA designation for the tenth time. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the national recognition program honors cities and towns across the country for making their cities more playable. That’s right, Dothan has been a Playful City USA since the beginning of the award. Dothan is one of only 13 cities nationwide that can say that.
Like KaBoom!, Dothan’s goal is to have a great place to play within walking distance of every child in the community. Dothan involves its citizens in building their own play spaces. We have many community built playgrounds. Now with the Forever Wild Trails project in full swing we have many of our citizens helping with trail building as well. In Dothan our citizens get involved in their play!
Communities across the country are creating innovative ways to bring back play and attract residents through family friendly activities. Interactive sidewalk art, designated play spaces on trails and the transformation of schoolyards into active play areas are just a few examples of how cities are becoming more playful.
“We are thrilled to recognize these communities that have invested their time and efforts to put kids first,” said KaBOOM! CEO James Siegal. “Balanced and active play is crucial to the well-being of kids and the communities that they thrive in. By integrating play into cities, the leaders of Playful Cities USA are working to attract and retain the thousands of families that want homes in close proximity to safe places to play.”
To learn more about these cities, see the full list of the 257 communities named 2016 Playful City USA honorees, or to gather more information on the Playful City USA program, visit www.playfulcityusa.org. We also encourage you to take part in the conversation on #playability with these thought leaders on Twitter and Facebook.