Ottawa Receives National Recognition

When good things are happening in one of our member cities, we don’t like to keep it a secret.  That’s why we want to brag on the City of Ottawa for being honored with a 2015 Playful City USA designation for the sixth time.  Kaboom!, a national non-profit, recognizes cities across the country for making their communities more playable.  Ottawa has fully embraced Kaboom!’s mission of fostering healthy productive lives by creating opportunities to bring play near to their residents, especially kids. Ottawa is certainly a worthy recipient.  Their Play Task force has done truly inspiring work.  Among the many initiatives they have completed is building and strategically locating several play structures in neighborhoods that do not have parks or playgrounds within walking distance.  In addition, Ottawa has held annual Play Day events and painted 40 hopscotch courses around the community to promote fun and active play through their “Hoppin’ Ottawa” campaign.  Ottawa’s Play Task Force has ambitious plans to add more pods and undertake a project to develop a teen park to provide a healthy outlet to encourage teens to stay active outdoors and reduce detrimental activities such as drug and alcohol use.  Congratulations to Ottawa for investing in the quality of life of their residents and earning this most distinguished national designation.