What’s better than a new playground at an elementary school? How about a new playground open to the entire community regardless of mobility issues?

The parents at Golden Hill Elementary School decided to expand their dreams of replacing the school’s current playground beyond their school community and launched an effort to build what they are calling the Haverhill Community Playground. While the play area will be off limits during the school day, it will be open after school gets out at 3:15 p.m. during the week, on weekends and during school vacations.

Organizer Brittany Safy, parent of a first grader and kindergartener at Golden Hill, is spearheading the effort. She and her team aim to raise $300,000 as well as get commitments of more than 1,000 volunteer hours to actually construct their dream play space in May.

Safy recently sat down with WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” host Win Damon and chatted about the playground’s design and objectives.

“We started with looking at the playground at Golden Hill and it serves its purpose, but it could serve a bigger purpose. It is a little—let’s just say it could use a facelift,” Safy said of the current playground adjacent to the school at 140 Boardman St.

Safy said she became familiar with what playgrounds could be during the COVID-19 pandemic when she found herself driving miles so her children could experience different play spaces.

“Our goal really is to create a playground that isn’t just your average playground. It’s something that is a destination playground, a place that maybe community members from surrounding towns come to,” she said.

On a visit to Carlisle, she discovered a playground she and her kids liked, so she inquired as to the designer. That led to a relationship with Play By Design, an Ithaca, N.Y., firm that helps communities design unique play areas, fundraise and then build them. The lead designer interviewed students at Golden Hill on a design day in December to find out what they wanted their new playground to include. From those ideas, the group decided the new space must have swings and a basketball court. It will also have two slides, three climbing towers, two obstacle courses and musical elements.

The current plan is to start construction Tuesday, May 26, and, with the help of community members, erect it by the end of the weekend on Sunday, May 31. Safy envisions teams of 10 people working four, eight and even 12-hour shifts to get it done.

“So members of the community, we’re going to need 180 volunteers a day, are going to build this playground in six days,” Safy said.

Making sure the playground is inclusive and welcoming to all children regardless of mobility issues means the play surface will be heavy rubber and the main climbing structure will have ramps wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. There will be several sensory panels as well as a quiet play area, Safy said.

“Some of the great things that are going to make this playground stand out and apart from neighboring playgrounds is that it is going to be fully ADA compliant,” Safy said.

Among the fundraising ideas so far is a tile project. For a price, anyone can decorate small pottery squares that will be used to enhance the playground’s entryway, Safy said. The group is also writing grants and seeking in-kind donations of materials.

Support the show

DiZoglio, a Methuen Democrat, has been locked in a three-year battle with legislative leaders and state Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell over her initiative to undertake an administrative audit of the legislature. Legislators opposing DiZoglio argue an audit of the Legislature by another state agency violates the separation of powers clause in the state Constitution. Instead, they propose hiring of an outside audit firm.

In a wide-ranging interview with WHAV host Win Damon, DiZoglio outlined her new strategy for breaking the deadlock with legislative leaders and the state’s top judge.

She asked the public to support a new ballot question she is supporting which would expand the state public records law to include the governor’s office and the legislature. If the petition passes in the state’s November general election, DiZoglio said the financial and contract records she is seeking would be available to the general public as well as the state auditor.

Support the show

After holding traditional classes for more than three decades, Urban College of Boston has moved entirely online, bringing its two-year degree and certificate programs to a larger student base.

Yves Salomon-Fernández, president of Urban College of Boston, recently explained the transition and its benefits on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program. She said students at Urban College Boston convinced the administration to move from in-classroom courses to virtual.

“Urban College has been around for about 35 years. About three years ago, students pretty much voted with their feet and told us they primarily wanted to be online. So, all of our programs are online and we can reach anyone in Massachusetts and elsewhere, but primarily in Massachusetts,” Salomon-Fernández said.

The school continues to maintain administrative offices in Chinatown.

Salomon-Fernández added new programs are available in several fields, both courses leading to a two-year associate degree and certificate programs that prepare students for so-called “middle skills” jobs that do not require a four-year college degree.

“We have got some exciting new programs coming up in business, in digital marketing, in project management, in paraprofessional studies, early childhood education. So, lots of options, something for everybody,” Salomon-Fernández said.

For those considering college later in life, she said they’ll be in good company. The average age of the student body is 34.

“We’re getting mostly adults. But I got to tell you, something happened to those kids who went to school during the pandemic, that a lot of them graduated and they said, ‘You know, I don’t know if I want to go away for school. I don’t know if I want to sign up for four years. I don’ t know if I’m ready.’ So, we are seeing some kids who also took some time off and they are working and they said, ‘You know, I can do this online thing,’” she said.

The president also noted the school is particularly attractive to non-English speakers because courses are offered in Mandarin, Haitian-Creole, Portuguese and Spanish. Students do need to be proficient in English to graduate, she said, adding the college provides tutoring and other supports to help students succeed.

“The goal is for you to master college level English for you to graduate because we are in America, after all, and we want people to be able to get jobs in their disciplines,” she said.

Salomon-Fernández is herself an immigrant as she arrived in the United States from Haiti at 12. She is a graduate of Boston Latin School and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her master’s degree is from the London School of Economics and her Ph.D. is from Boston College.

Originally founded in 1993 by Action for Boston Community Development, a Boston-based anti-poverty agency, Urban College Boston is a private, nonprofit college accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

Support the show