- March 23, 2009 - In a unique partnership, KaBOOM! has teamed up with leading organizations such as YMCA of the USA, National Wildlife Federation, Shaping America's Health, Jumpstart, America's Promise Alliance, First Book and two-time "Dancing with the Stars" champion and Mercury Nashville recording artist Julianne Hough to create an online map of more than 100,000 places to play in America. Once it has this comprehensive user-generated playground audit, KaBOOM! will know which areas of the country have a great place for kids to play every day and which areas fall short.

From March 23 until June 30, or until there are 100,000 new playspaces in the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder (playspacefinder.kaboom.org), Julianne Hough will give select charities $1 for each valid playspace their members load, up to $100,000. By using online technology to activate and engage individuals, the 100,000 Playspaces in 100 Days Campaign will alert communities of the importance of play, and motivate individuals to start taking action.

KaBOOM! will be working with a number of leading charitable organizations that also share the organization’s goal of making sure kids get up, get out and go play every day. While each organization serves children, each organization also brought additional expertise to the table. The YMCA of the USA was chosen, not only for its scale and scope, but also for its ongoing support of children, families, and communities. Organizations such as National Wildlife Federation and Jumpstart have active online members.

"When the economy gets bad, it hits charities and children extra hard. Kids and families are under more stress at home, and charities have fewer resources available to help relieve that stress. Hopefully, this campaign can help address both problems" said KaBOOM! CEO and Co-founder Darell Hammond. "This campaign capitalizes on our partners' strengths and gets us all united behind an ambitious goal. Those are the ideals on which I founded KaBOOM! and by which we achieve extraordinary results every day. Once we’re done, KaBOOM! will have a national map full of places to play, some of the world's best charities will have funding to support their missions, parents can see where to take their kids to have fun for free."

KaBOOM! is also partnering with top bloggers and social media influentials to encourage their readers to help them earn money for the partner charities.

The KaBOOM! Playspace Finder is a Google-based map that currently lists more than 16,000 user-generated entries with photos, amenities, and ratings of places kids play. The KaBOOM! Playspace Finder includes all different sorts of places to play: playgrounds, athletic fields, ice rinks, skateparks, swimming pools, nature trails, community gardens, and basketball courts. When complete, the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder will serve as a national audit of playspaces, allowing communities to evaluate how many there are, their quality, and how accessible they are.

Since 1995, KaBOOM! has constructed almost 1,600 playgrounds, skateparks, sports fields and ice rinks across North America. KaBOOM! also created the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play and connect.kaboom.org, an online community to support the cause of play.

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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