Children in the city of Newark will now have the opportunity to get a healthy start to a balanced and active childhood filled with play they need to thrive, thanks in part to a brand new community playground at Babyland Family Services. In less than eight hours, more than 200 resident volunteers from the city of Newark and Morgan Stanley will join organizers from KaBOOM! to build the new kid-designed playspace, which will provide more than 1,800 Newark children with the core resources to provide them with a healthy and successful start in life.

Today’s playground build at Babyland Family marks the kick-off of Healthy Cities in Newark, the Morgan Stanley-sponsored program to spark innovation in delivering wellness, nutrition and play resources to children in underserved communities. Newark marks the third city to participate in the Healthy Cities program, joining the cities of Oakland and Chicago, both of which were announced earlier this month.

“A child’s well-being, education and health are at the very core of Babyland’s mission,” stated Wesley N. Jenkins, Executive Director of Babyland Family Services. “We are all excited and look forward to seeing our children experience the gift of fun, happiness and continued good health that this playground from KaBOOM!, Morgan Stanley and the hundreds of volunteers have afforded the Babyland families.”

Building on Morgan Stanley's Global Alliance for Children's Health, the program will connect Newark-based non-profit organizations to create a coordinated network providing the fundamentals that can underpin a child’s healthy start in life.

Joan Steinberg, Global Head of Philanthropy at Morgan Stanley, said, “We are proud to be working with our partners across the Newark community to provide children in need the building blocks for a healthy childhood. Healthy Newark is an important step in Morgan Stanley’s 40-year-plus commitment to children’s health.”

"Nothing is more essential to a child’s health and happiness than safe places to play and grow where they can imagine, explore and create," said Darell Hammond, Founder and CEO of KaBOOM!. “We are thrilled to partner with Morgan Stanley for this new program to help give the children of Newark the childhood they deserve by working with cities to increase healthy resources and play opportunities for kids and families."

Babyland Family Services, Inc.
Babyland Family Services, Inc. is a private non-profit organization dedicated to meeting the needs of inner-city children and families in Newark, and Essex County. Babyland firmly believes that to change the world we must start with the child. Babyland's mission is to nurture and educate children, to strengthen family life and to empower each to live a full and productive life. Please visit www.babylandfs.org.

Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 43 countries. Through its Global Alliance for Children's Health, the Firm is dedicated to improving the lives and welfare of the world's youngest citizens. For more information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to the bold new goal of ensuring that all children, particularly the 16 million American children living in poverty, get the balanced and active play they need to thrive. KaBOOM! has been a powerful champion for play since its founding in 1996, working with partners to build, improve and open more than 15,000 playgrounds, engage more than 1,000,000 volunteers and serve more than 6,600,000 children. KaBOOM! creates and catalyzes great places to play, inspires, empowers and leads play advocates, and educates and elevates the societal conversation about the importance of play in children’s lives. For more information, visit kaboom.org/act or follow the conversation on why #playmatters at twitter.com/kaboom or facebook.com/kaboom.

KaBOOM!

KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to the bold goal of ensuring that all children, particularly the 16 million American children living in poverty, get the active play they need to become healthy and successful adults. KaBOOM! has been a powerful champion for play since its founding in 1996, working with partners to build, improve, and open more than 15,000 playgrounds, engage more than 1,000,000 volunteers and serve more than 6,600,000 children. KaBOOM! creates and catalyzes great places to play; inspires, empowers and leads play advocates; and elevates the societal conversation about the importance of play in children’s lives. For more information, visit kaboom.org/act.

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