Scotland County is the latest in the Border Belt region to secure funds to build a playground to accommodate children with a range of developmental and neurological needs.
Playgrounds must be built with accessibility ramps to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. But these accommodations can still be limited for those with physical and neurological disabilities. There has been a wave of inclusive playground construction across the United States in recent years, with dozens installed in North Carolina in the last decade.
Other Border Belt counties have followed suit since 2021. Lumberton is the latest to open one at the Dr. Raymond B. Pennington Athletic Complex earlier this year. Two years ago, another playground opened to the public in Whiteville, and plans for a space in Elizabethtown have been underway since then.
And through a $250,000 donation from Trillium Health Resources, a statewide care organization serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Scotland County has secured funding to build its first inclusive playground, expected to open by the end of this year.
“What makes it different from any other playground we have in Scotland County right now is that it is a totally inclusive playground for handicapped children, which means they can get to every level of the playground,” said Scotland County Manager April Snead.
The park will be housed at the I. Ellis Johnson Community Center. Its design is similar to most playgrounds, with a few key modifications that make it easier for children with disabilities. There’s a floor ramp that rises towards the center of the playground that makes it easier for someone in a wheelchair to roam, as well as wide ramps that connect to various corners of the space, including a large AeroGlider capsule that rocks children in place through handlebars on one end, as well as several tube slides.
The project is entirely funded through Trillium Health, which presented the check during a Scotland County commissioners meeting on Monday night. They emphasized during remarks how the organization has helped to build inclusive playgrounds in North Carolina since 2015, with 35 counties having completed projects through their “Let’s Play Together!” initiative.
Scotland County is now able to participate in the program through a merger in February 2024, where Trillium absorbed an additional 18 counties from care organizations Eastpointe and Sandhills Center, and now represents 46 counties in North Carolina.
Snead said they were able to apply for funds toward an inclusive playground following last year’s consolidation, when Triullim reached out to counties during its annual grant cycle with invitations to apply for a space in the region. Trillium had $1.5 million available from an accumulating reservoir fund that it dispersed to five other areas during this round: Greene, Jones, and Sampson counties, as well as the cities of Goldsboro and Raeford.
Conversations surrounding building an inclusive playground in Scotland County had been ongoing, spurred by projects in neighboring communities. The project in Robeson, another county consolidated under the Trillium Health merger last year, had been seeking funds toward a playground project for years before the health care organization got involved.
Robeson shelled out $843,000 on the initiative, with the Kiwanis of Robeson-Lumberton as the main investor. Trillium eventually came on last to support the project with a quarter-million dollar grant, and eventually opened in January, just shy of the club’s 100th anniversary.
Whiteville’s playground opened to the public in July 2023. The park has a rubber surface to provide wheelchairs and other assistive devices with smooth access and equipment that appeals to children with sensory impairments.
“This place is usually crowded because there’s nowhere else like it in the county. You have to drive to Wilmington to find something like this,” said Pam High, who was at the playground with her granddaughter Ryder Monday.
Hayley Sink, the director of community health and innovation at Trillium, said project costs vary by individual county needs, and that the $250,000 grant is enough to complete it by this year.
“What we have seen from these playgrounds is it creates so much opportunity for children, for families, for everyone, to just be able to play together, to be a kid and have that opportunity in their neighborhood,” she said. “It will just be just a wonderful thing for folks to be able to come together.”
Construction for the project, which is being built through equipment manufacturer Playworld, is set to begin this summer. Scotland County commissioners at Monday’s presentation said they hope it will be a resource for children who need a recreational space that accommodates those with neurological and physical disabilities.
“Most of the time, kids who have disabilities get overlooked,” said Commissioner Darwin Williams, who sits on the Trillium and Parks and Recreation boards, where this project has been an ongoing discussion for the last year. “But they do have play in them as well. Some may not be able to walk. That doesn’t mean that they don’t like having fun.”
