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Play Across Boston

A Good Idea

Description

Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Play Across Boston (PAB) assesses physical activity programs and facilities available for Boston youth and how these resources affect physical activity levels. The assessments conducted by PAB are disseminated to community stakeholders to support data-driven development of recreational facilities and parks.

Goal / Mission

Play Across Boston strives to address disparities in access to physical activity facilities and programs for inner-city youths of Boston.

Results / Accomplishments

Play Across Boston found that low-income neighborhoods tended to have fewer physical activity programs and facilities in proportion to youth population. In addition, low-income neighborhoods possessed recreational facilities that were lower in quality compared to high-income neighborhoods (p<.001). The needs assessment was used to form data-driven action for reducing disparities in access to such programs and facilities. Renovations were documented and findings showed improvements in playground quality in a sub sample of parks assessed (p<.001).

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Harvard Prevention Research Center, Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society
Primary Contact
Jessica Barrett
(617) 998-1070
jbarrett@hsph.harvard.edu
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/prc/projects/...
Topics
Art & Recreation / Sports Recreation & Parks
Health / Physical Activity
Health / Children's Health
Organization(s)
Harvard Prevention Research Center, Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society
Source
CDC Prevention Research Center
Date of publication
Jul 2006
Date of implementation
1999
Location
Boston
For more details
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2011/jul/10_0118.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16776861
Target Audience
Children
Additional Audience
Low-income

Related Promising Practices

  1. CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Environmental and Policy Approaches to Increase Physical Activity: Creation of or Enhanced Access to Places for Physical Activity Combined with Informational Outreach Activities
  2. Healthy Parks and the Interface between State and Local Policy Change
  3. Minority Outreach Recreation Program
  4. CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Environmental and Policy Approaches to Increase Physical Activity: Community-Scale Urban Design Land Use Policies
  5. Project Live Active in Yancey (PLAY)

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Related Content for: Play Across Boston

A Good Idea meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program funding source, program implementation steps and outcomes.
  2. The program evaluation is limited to descriptive measure(s) of success/accomplishment (i.e., program participation rates, number of services/education sessions/radio messages provided). Note: oftentimes, the program has been newly implemented and a program evaluation has not yet been conducted. Programs that have not yet been evaluated, but which show promise in improving health or quality of life, are classified as Good Ideas until an evaluation is conducted.
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