PHILADELPHIA – This summer, the Citywide Out-of-School Time Initiative and partners will bring additional resources for youth literacy and enriched play directly to neighborhood children on ten city blocks selected to be “Playstreets of Wonder”, in coordination with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation’s long-standing Playstreets program.

This two-year pilot project is funded through a grant from the William Penn Foundation. The idea is to create and test a model of this approach for delivering summer enrichment to children.

The Citywide Out-of-School Time Initiative leads this project in partnership with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, Free Library of Philadelphia, Police Athletic League (PAL), Read by 4th, and Fab Youth Philly. The Playful Learning Landscapes Initiative and Temple University Infant and Child Laboratory have created a data collection tool for this project, which will track engagement in literacy and numeracy activities and engagement in healthy-mentoring relationships.

At each of the Playstreets of Wonder, project partners will deliver additional services to support children’s well-being and education.

PAL will lead literacy-focused physical activities, the Free Library of Philadelphia will provide books and summer reading activities, and Read by 4th will provide training for Reading Captains. Young adults employed through Workready and Fab Youth Philly will act as “Play Captains” to lead activities for children. The Playstreets are operated by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, which also provides healthy summer meals and snacks to children ages 18 and under.

The ten playstreets in this pilot are located in the 19134 and 19140 zip codes. Streets were chosen based on the neighborhoods’ poverty, hunger, and literacy rates.