Appendix: Sample Solutions Story

The following has been adapted from Deepa Fernandes’s story “Groups Work to Turn South LA Lots into Children’s Playgrounds,” broadcast on KPCC on April 30, 2015. The story was edited for length, and names of community members involved in the original piece have been changed. What follows was presented to focus group participants as an example of a solutions journalism story.

Empty space in South Los Angeles

For decades, an odd-shaped lot on King Boulevard in South Los Angeles sat vacant. Though fenced off from trespassers, trash collected inside its borders and the weeds grew brown and brittle. The property is one of thousands of parcels landowners have abandoned or left vacant, some in the wake of the Watt riots of summer 1965. Almost 3,000 lots sit vacant in South L. A. In comparison, West L.A. has 134 vacant lots and the Wilshire Miracle Mile district has 310 vacant lots.

Some community organizers are turning these abandoned spaces into play areas for young children and their families. Organizers Loretta Coleman and Alex Rosario met up recently at one of their projects: Serenity Park located next to railway tracks in Watts, where moms and dads can exercise on outdoor fitness equipment while their children enjoy state-of-the-art play structures. Coleman and Rosario want to see a similar metamorphosis at the King Boulevard lot. Last December, organizers turned it into a pop-up soccer field, with a concert stage in one corner and a kiddy play area in another. These day-long takeovers have been a hit with local residents, and fired up a growing movement to reclaim vacant lots for community betterment.

Tanya Kielser manages projects for The Public Land Alliance, the land conservation nonprofit that Watts residents sought out to help tackle the lack of park space in their communities. Kielser said Watts is a classic case of a “park-poor neighborhood.” “In an ideal world, everyone would have a park within a 10-minute walk of their home,” Kielser said.

“Within a half mile of the Watts Serenity Park, there were zero acres of park space per thousand people,” Kielser said. “The minimum standard for park acreage is four acres per 1,000 people.” Working with the community, Kielser and her team identified a suitable vacant plot and tracked down the owner. They got the plot appraised, wrote a state grant and bought the land for $875,000. Six years, and almost $5 million later, the blighted lot was transformed into Serenity Park.

On a recent morning, Marian Carter and her two toddlers were out enjoying Serenity Park. Carter lives in the Nickerson Gardens, a sprawling public housing complex nearby. “From our side of the community, from like Compton Avenue and Central, this is the nicest thing we have,” she said. Carter said she visits Serenity Park every single day. She works out on the fitness equipment while her children, Brianna, 3, and Kayla, 1, bounce between the swings and the sand pits. It’s a gated park and small enough that Carter can see her kids playing as she exercises. “I even tell my friends, I’m not going to 24 Hour Fitness. I’m not going to Bally’s. I’m going to the park in the neighborhood. It’s absolutely free and the kids can play closed in,” she said.

Research behind outdoor play

A growing body of scientific literature suggests that children like Brianna and Kayla will benefit from exposure to the outdoors.

Researcher and writer Richard Louv catalogues evidence in his book “Last Child in the Woods.” Louv said the literature finds an “impact on ADD, on obesity, on creativity, on the ability to learn, on cognitive functioning, on mental health in particular” in children who did not have regular outdoor play. “I think children, no matter where they live, have a human right to the positive benefits of experiences in nature,” Louv said.

Those benefits, he said, include a healthier immune system from playing in—and ostensibly ingesting—dirt. There has even been research that shows bacteria or infectious diseases, commonly shared between toddlers and preschoolers, are lessened when children are outdoors more.

Playing outdoors generally means children are more physically active. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 90 to 120 minutes of moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activity for preschoolers during their typical eight-hour day in child care. The American Association of Pediatrics promotes this CDC guideline and preschools are expected to follow. But in South Los Angeles, few children attend preschool or child care, which means many children under 5 hang out at home given the dearth of parks.

Karen Deaver, former executive director of the Children’s Environmental Center, warns that in addition to physical health, a lack of unstructured outdoor play may have a negative effect on children’s development. “Nature provides all kinds of materials that are not uniform in size which fires up different parts of the brain,” she said.

Two decades ago, Deaver said, parents didn’t question the need to send a child outside to play, and run out their excess energy. “We know now that it’s much more than blowing off steam. It’s absolutely crucial for development because we know now that the children who are not getting those experiences are not doing as well and are not as ready for school,” she said. “Having outdoor experiences is on par with having food, water, shelter and safety,” Deaver said. Organizers say concerns like these add to the urgency of redeveloping vacant lots in South Los Angeles—so more children and families can benefit from spaces like Serenity Park.