I work at KaBOOM!, a non-profit organization whose vision is a safe and fun place to play within walking distance of every child in North America. I am the VP for Online and Community Programs.

KaBOOM!, working with community organizations, has helped to create more than 800 playspaces over the past ten years throughout North America. The KaBOOM! model has been based on a three-way partnership for each playspace project: a community organization wanting to create a playground (or skate park),a corporate or foundation partner that funds some portion of the project, and KaBOOM! staff who have a lot of expertise about every imaginable aspect of building playspaces. Integral to the KaBOOM! model is the principle that communities take ownership and leadership of their own projects - raising a portion of their own funds, recruiting and organizing community participation in planning the logistics and actually erecting the playground or skatepark, etc.

As effective as this model has been, the direct involvement of KaBOOM! can be applied to but a small percentage of the number of playgrounds and skateparks built each year in North America. The goal of the program I head - Online and Community Programs - is to expand the model to an even more community-driven platform. We have two strategies for doing this: to disseminate more widely, through offline and online tools, the knowledge that resides in KaBOOM! to any and every community organization that wants it; and to facilitate communication and the creation and sharing of experiences, knowledge, and insight among/between communities and activists engaged in creating safe and fun places to play, again through the development of online and offline tools. It is our belief that such interaction among communities themselves will create new knoweldge, new best practices, and a lot more fun and safe places to play!

Prior to coming to KaBOOM!, I had two stints of several years each directing non-profit organizations based in the Washington, DC area. Both had to do with promoting the effective use of information systems to enable people in professions to provide better service to those they serve. One was in the library world, the other in the medical arena.