from Youth Today
by Stell Simonton
This summer, select cities across the country will block traffic to “play streets,” creating child-friendly zones in urban neighborhoods that lack parks and other public amenities.
In some cities, play streets are one-time events. Others, like Philadelphia, block off hundreds of streets every day all summer long and have for decades.
During the pandemic, Philadelphia expanded the program to create a summer camp atmosphere in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
City officials now hope to make that expansion permanent by continuing to partner with nonprofits to bring reading, arts, crafts and sports directly to children’s front doors.
