Tacoma Parks Foundation

In April, TPF's Keysha-Rae and Beth attended the Aspen Institute Project Play Summit along with several Parks Tacoma employees. The signature event of the Aspen Institute Sports and Society Program, Project Play Summit is the nation’s premier gathering of leaders building healthy children through sports. The 500+ attendees came from across the country and internationally, where they discovered new insights, ideas, and opportunities to get and keep kids in the game.

Project Play’s work is grounded in national research that has emerged over the past decade, establishing the numerous benefits of physical activity, including enhanced cognitive function, improved mental health, better educational outcomes, and lower healthcare costs in adulthood.

Tacoma/Pierce County is fortunate to be one of only 14 communities in the nation to become an Aspen Institute State of Play community. Parks Tacoma has a long-standing commitment to providing opportunities for youth to be active and healthy. They appreciate the value of sports, outdoor recreation, and all forms of physical activity, especially in light of the increased challenges facing our children’s mental health coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Names Family Foundation supported the State of Play report for Tacoma/Pierce County. 

From June 2022 to June 2023, the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program analyzed the landscape of youth sports and physical activity in Tacoma-Pierce County. The State of Play Tacoma-Pierce County offered a snapshot of how well adults are serving youth through sports, play, and other physical activities, regardless of race, gender, income, or ability.

The Aspen Institute guided findings for the report through multiple methods: individual interviews with more than 70 stakeholders and community members whose work touches the lives of children; 14 focus-group discussions with young people, coaches, sports administrators and parents; surveys conducted of youth; media accounts; and existing reports, policy analyses and publicly available data collected by the Aspen Institute.

Authored by the Aspen Institute as part of its Project Play initiative, the report includes key findings, recommendations, and children’s voices on their experiences. A key finding of the report was that, unfortunately, only 19% of Pierce County youth receive 60 minutes of daily physical activity as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, below the national (24%) and state (23%) averages. In a future newsletter, the Tacoma Parks Foundation will share more about Parks Tacoma’s plans to engage more kids in physical activity. Stay tuned!