A $400,000 federal grant awarded to the city means it can start construction on an all-inclusive playground in Mahoney Park in spring 2024.
Lincoln Parks & Recreation
Cathy Martinez (left) and BriAnna Olson are shown in front of the playground at Antelope Park. Martinez, longtime president of the Autism Family Network, and Olson, whose 6-year-old son Beckett has autism, are working to get an all-inclusive playground in Lincoln, a place for children with a variety of special needs.
It progressed to a packed mayor’s conference room Tuesday for an uncharacteristically exuberant news conference to announce a $400,000 federal grant that will provide half the funding for an all-inclusive playground.
It will lead to a 32,000-square-foot inclusive playground at Mahoney Park in northeast Lincoln next year — the largest inclusive enclosed play space in the state, the city’s first fully inclusive playground and the product of more than a year and half of advocacy, planning and persistence.
“All of this happened because one mom spoke up and one government official listened,†said Cathy Martinez, president of the Autism Family Network.
She’s the one who got a phone call in the summer of 2021 from BriAnna Olson, a mom wanting more adaptive play equipment for her son, who has autism.
Martinez, no stranger to advocating for families whose children or others have special needs, called her city councilman, James Michael Bowers. He convinced a majority of City Council members to add $100,000 to the budget for an inclusive playground.
The $100,000 turned into $300,000 the city earmarked for the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department's capital improvement program over three years and the grant — from the National Park Service, managed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission — announced Tuesday.
Between those funds, other city dollars and donations, Parks and Recreation Director Maggie Stuckey-Ross said there’s enough money to make the new park a reality, with construction slated to begin the spring of 2024.
The efforts of Martinez, Olson and other advocates, Bowers and parks and recreation officials led to an advisory committee that hammered out plans for Mahoney Park and a strategic plan to update Antelope Park into an inclusive playground and add adaptive and inclusive features at all new parks and others as they’re renovated. Ultimately there will be playgrounds with inclusive equipment within 5 miles of each home in Lincoln, Stuckey-Ross said.
“This project easily comes to the top of the list of the work I'm most proud of and a legacy that our community can leave for the next generation of families in northeast Lincoln and citywide,†said Bowers, a social worker.
He said the playground will give all residents access to play, where “the only limitation will be their creativity, not their ability.â€
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It will be designed to accommodate families and children of all ages, Stuckey-Ross said.
There will be 10 play zones, including swinging, music, spinning, water, rocking and climbing. There will be respite areas scattered around the park to accommodate children who get overstimulated.
There will be a year-round family restroom with an adult changing table, benches, shaded areas, a drinking fountain, picnic areas and — something important to many families who have children with autism who wander — the entire playground will be enclosed with a fence and will have a single entry point.
“A playground is really a metaphor for the type of community we want Lincoln to be,†Stuckey-Ross said. “Playgrounds welcome the body you were born into, supports the body you are living in today and is prepared for the body you will have in the future.â€
Martinez said the playground is a victory for the marginalized and underserved disabled in the community.
The work of advocates — families with children and adults who have special needs — is apparent: the enclosed space, the water feature, the year-round bathroom are all things they know from experience are important.
Martinez mentioned her 20-year-old son, who loves to swing but sometimes — because of his age and size — makes people uncomfortable at playgrounds.
In an inclusive playground, where there is an expectation to see people with special needs, he’ll be accepted, she said. Her 7-year-old grandson with cerebral palsy, who uses a wheelchair, will have the same access to play equipment as other children.
The committee consulted many organizations that represent people with different needs to make sure everyone is represented, she said.
Lincoln has offered adaptable and accessible equipment at playgrounds since 1987 at Antelope Park. The adaptable playground was updated in 2000 with the help of Southeast High School.
But today, much of the equipment is old and outdated, and Stuckey-Ross promised that the committee would remain active and up to date on the latest play equipment available.
Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said in a polarized world, public parks bring people together.Â
That may be true, but this much is certain: On Tuesday, the newest planned addition to Lincoln’s 137 parks and 93 playgrounds made the mayor’s conference room — full of parents and kids, along with the public officials at the podium — a lot more fun.
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Cathy Martinez (left) and BriAnna Olson are shown in front of the playground at Antelope Park. Martinez, longtime president of the Autism Family Network, and Olson, whose 6-year-old son Beckett has autism, are working to get an all-inclusive playground in Lincoln, a place for children with a variety of special needs.