The US PLAY Coalition: A Partnership to Promote the Value of Play throughout Life is made up of individuals and organizations that recognize play as a valuable and necessary part of a healthy and productive life. We are housed within Clemson University’s College of Health, Education and Human Development and express our gratitude to the university and the college for their continuing support.
The Coalition was born of The Summit on the Value of Play which took place at Clemson University in the Summer of 2009 (for more information see the "Conferences" menu above). The attendees at this important summit made a commitment to create a coalition whose purpose would be to bring together organizations and individuals in support of play and to open up opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities to incorporate play into their lives.
The US PLAY Coalition has created 5 committees that each work to support play through various means. See the "Action Committees" menu above to learn more about these committees. The U.S. Play Coalition also hosts an annual Conference on the Value of Play each February. Use the "Conferences" pulldown menu to access information on the 2013 Conference and to see information on past conferences.
An update on the Coalition's progress towards meeting the Calls to Action developed at the 2009 Summit on the Value of Play is available here.
We invite you to explore the resources on this website and to become involved with the US PLAY Coalition!
US Play Coalition Steering Committee
Co-Chairs
- Dr. Brett Wright - Chair, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, Clemson University - wright@clemson.edu
- Fran P. Mainella - Visiting Scholar, Clemson University, Former National Park Service Director - fmainel@clemson.edu
Steering Committee
- Jodie Adams - Past President of NRPA, Director of Springfield-Greene County Park Board in Springfield, MO - jadams5557@aol.com
- Dr. Joel Agate - Assistant Professor, Department of Health Education and Recreation, Southern Illinois University Carbondale - joela@siu.edu
- Dr. Larry Allen - Dean, College of Health, Education and Human Development, Clemson University - lalln@clemson.edu
- Joan Almon - Alliance for Childhood, joan.almon@verizon.net
- Dr. Bob Becker - Academic Program Director, Strom Thurmond Institute of Government & Public Affairs, Clemson University - rhb1@clemson.edu
- Richard J. Dolesh - Chief of Public Policy, National Recreation and Park Association - rdolesh@nrpa.org
- Jackie Epping - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - jge5@cdc.gov
- Stephen Hamelin - Vortex Aquatic Structures - shamelin@vortex-intl.com
- Dan Hendy - CPSI, Site Masters Inc. - danh@sitemastersinc.com
- Teri Hendy - CPSI, President, Site Masters Inc. - teri@sitemastersinc.com
- Tom Kalousek - Executive Director, Winnebago County Forest Preserve District, Rockford, Illinois - tkalou@aol.com
- Kenneth S. Kutska - Executive Director, International Playground Safety Institute, LLC - kskutska@aol.com
- Danielle Marshall - KaBOOM!, dmarshall@kaboom.org
- Tom Norquist - Senior Vice President Product Development/Sales & Marketing - PlayCore/GameTime - tomn@gametime.com
- Eric W. O’Brien - Chairman, O’Brien & Sons, Inc. - eric@obrienandsons.com
- Lynn Pinoniemi - Director of Marketing, Landscape Structures, LynnPinoniemi@playlsi.com
- Dr. Dee Stegelin - Professor, Teacher Education, Eugene T. Moore School of Education, Clemson University - dstegel@clemson.edu
- Dr. Michael Suk - Chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery for the Geisinger Health System - msuk@geisinger.edu
- Rita Watts - The Play & Playground Encyclopedia - rita@playgroundprofessionals.com
- Dr. Debora Wisneski - Professor, Early Childhood Education, Teacher Education Department, University of Nebraska Omaha - dwisneski@unomaha.edu
National Safety Month - June 1 to June 30 - Each June, the National Safety Council encourages organizations to get involved and participate in National Safety Month. NSM is an annual observance to educate and influence behaviors around leading causes of preventable injuries and deaths.
Great Outdoors Month 2013 - June 1 to June 30 - Excitement is growing across the nation about plans for Great Outdoors Week and Great Outdoors Month 2013. Great Outdoors Month celebrates a variety of important events and actions that occur during June, and highlights the benefits of active fun outdoors and our magnificent shared resources of forests, parks, refuges and other public lands and waters. Great Outdoors Week (June 1-8) showcases efforts enhancing outdoor recreation for all Americans in the 21st century through awards, briefings and other events in the Nation’s Capital.
Deadline July 24 – Call for Proposals on Public Health Law Research - June 12 to July 24 - The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has released the 2013 Call for Proposals on “Public Health Law Research: Making the Case for Laws that Improve Health.” The program seeks to build evidence for and strengthen the use of regulatory, legal and policy solutions to improve public health. Policies about recess, physical activity, unstructured play, and liability statutes for schoolyard playgrounds might be possible play topics to tie into the call.
Vote now until July 15 - Win $100,000 from Coca-Cola for your favorite park - June 12 to July 15 - Having fun and getting fit outdoors just became a great way to win funding for your favorite park. Coca-Cola has kicked off the fourth-annual “America is Your Park” campaign where people can vote for their favorite park to win up to $100,000. What are you waiting for?