KABOOM!
KABOOM! is a national nonprofit committed to ending play space inequity – the reality that quality places to play aren’t available to every child, especially in communities of color. Play spaces contribute to physical, social-emotional, and cognitive development of children and to community pride, safety, sense of belonging, and cohesion, especially when community leadership is amplified throughout the design and building process. Since 1996, KABOOM! has partnered with kids, communities, and municipal systems to create or transform 17,000+ play spaces and ensure that 12,000,000+ kids have equitable access to the critical benefits and opportunities that play spaces offer.
Project Overview: This Collaboration will use shared joy as a catalyst for rebuilding trust and strengthening civic connection in Uvalde, TX. Through a partnership between KABOOM!, ideas42, and the local library, the initiative transforms community play spaces into welcoming hubs for healing, connection, and engagement. By combining behavioral science with joyful community experiences, the project aims to increase participation in public life, strengthen relationships between residents and local institutions, and create a scalable model for how joy-centered engagement can foster long-term trust and belonging in communities recovering from collective trauma.
Partner Organizations
ideas42 is a leading nonprofit that applies behavioral science insights to address social challenges at scale – designs and deplys life-improving innovations in civic engagement, health, education, charitable giving, and other domains.
El Progresso Memorial Library offers free educational, inspirational, and recreational reading services; hosts cultural events; offers legal/tax/small business resources; and connects residents with institutions offering nutritional, health, and job training services.
West Virginia Community Development Hub
The West Virginia Community Development Hub (The Hub) is the leading rural development organization in central Appalachia. Since 2009, The Hub’s mission has been to help communities improve quality of life by investing in leaders, building partnerships, tackling barriers to place-based community development, and amplifying stories of communities where we live and work. The Hub coaches diverse community leadership teams using an asset-based framework over sustained periods of one to two and a half years. Instead of leading with deficits, The Hub connects neighbors around what they care about most: recovering from disasters, revitalizing their downtowns, expanding workforce opportunities, addressing housing shortages, and creating access to recreation.
Project Overview: This Collaboration will help flood-impacted Appalachian communities turn post-disaster volunteerism into lasting civic leadership and resilience. Through leadership training, community listening sessions, technical assistance, and small community-led projects, residents will work together to strengthen trust, shape local recovery efforts, and build long-term economic and climate resilience grounded in community priorities.
Partner Organizations
Mountain Association supports a just transition to a diversified, resilient, and equitable economy in eastern Kentucky by combining business support, flexible lending, energy efficiency, and community development with a strong commitment to community voice and shared decision-making.
Appalachian Voices partners with communities across Central and Southern Appalachia to protect land, air, and water while advancing a just transition to clean energy and resilient local economies.
ReImagine Appalachia is a regional coalition advancing a shared vision for an Appalachian economy that works for communities, workers, and the land. The coalition centers community-led visioning, trust-building, and cross-sector collaboration to address long-standing inequities and policy barriers.
