New equipment at Liberty Park will allow for children of all abilities to play together and help foster understanding and a more inclusive environment for area children.
The expansion at Liberty Park is part of a four-year partnership between the city of Madison and the Mississippi Society for Disabilities (MSD).
“It’s exciting to see the park developed in such a way that there’s inclusion for our children. It’s such a sweet thing to watch the interaction between the children,” said Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler.
Throughout the year, MSD has been working to revamp their programs to assist communities further.
MSD thought the playground at Liberty Village was a great place to start. The accessible playground was originally built in 2014 by MSD and was the first accessible playground in the state.
“Our goal with this playground is to provide a safe, inclusive environment for children of all abilities and backgrounds to interact, learn and engage in activities together,” said parks and recreation program director Zac Ryan Halstead, who has spearheaded the project. “We believe that this will help our younger generations to understand disabilities and how to be champions in their own communities.”
The first phase of the playground expansion includes a new shade and play structure, which provides shade for the park and new educational panels.
These include a braille panel for the clinically blind that teaches children how to read letters, sentences and numbers; a sign language panel that teaches letters and sentences to children; and lastly, a new panel that focuses on cognitive sensory.
“We are really excited about this panel as it is the first of its kind to make it to our state,” Halstead said. “This panel teaches children how to relate sounds to different animals in their surroundings.”
The panel also includes a new tool that has been introduced to playgrounds, which is an assortment of medallions designed to bring children together to work as a team to locate the sound they hear and match it with the various medallions located on the playground.
“We consider this a new twist on the scavenger hunt,” Halstead said.
MSD has worked closely with Nathan Hanson of Madison Public Works, Moonshot Recreation of Jackson and Elizabeth Fulcher of Madison to make the project a reality.
“Many residents of our state would be shocked to learn that Mississippi ranks highest in the nation for children who face disabilities,” Halstead said. “This is why MSD has stepped in to ensure these children are not limited by their ability, but rather empowered by the notion that barriers can and will be broken in our state.”
The MSD parks and recreation program works to provide all funding for the projects the group takes on statewide.
This is made possible through fundraisers, donations from community businesses and families, as well as events, such as the Day in Liberty Village, to include communities in their mission of inclusive play without barriers.
“This expansion was focused on providing additional accessibility by enhancing surfacing to further reduce the limit in which a child can play,” Halstead said. “We also wanted to cater to children with heat in mind - we did this by providing a substantial amount of additional shading to the playground.”
Halstead said they also wanted to focus on education. He said education is crucial for bringing together communities for a common interest.
In 2019, MSD will introduce the state’s first music garden to Liberty Village Park.
“We are also looking at bringing a very special addition to the playground that will provide great sponsorship opportunity,” Halstead said.
The new addition will be announced in the summer of 2019.
“We also hope that through our fundraising efforts and kind donations from the community, that we can continue to install surfacing throughout the entire facility that breaks down barriers to children so the park can truly be enjoyed by all of our kids,” Halstead said.
Similar programs are being launched in other cities across the state including Meridian, Oxford, Jackson and Camp Kamassa in Crystal Springs.
