ABLE to lead design for Oregon Rural Community Schoolyards program

Building on the success of partnering with the community of Chiloquin to transform the Chiloquin Elementary Schoolyard, the Trust for Public Land has launched the Oregon Rural Community Schoolyards program with Willamette Partnership as community coordination and ABLE as landscape architects. Together with the community, the team will transform three more outdated schoolyards into vibrant green spaces that are open to everyone outside of school hours. The program prioritizes rural communities experiencing the largest health, environmental, and socioeconomic inequities in the state.

This program advances the goal of making community schoolyards a standard practice for reducing inequities and creating climate-resilient communities in rural Oregon.

Project goals include:

Stronger communities

• Schools are often already the social center of rural communities. Renovating the schoolyard creates a vibrant outdoor community center.

• Engaging students in the design process helps students feel ownership and pride in their school.

Better health

• Access to nature can relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety, lower blood pressure and stress hormones, and increase physical activity.

• Enhanced climate resiliency

• Greenery and native plants cool schoolyards during increasing heat.

• Climate-smart landscaping absorbs stormwater, preventing floods in a changing climate and reducing pollution running from asphalt to rivers.

Improved educational outcomes

• Teachers report that attendance, behavior, and test scores improve following schoolyard renovations.

• Community schoolyards include outdoor classrooms to give students hands-on learning experiences and more time outside during school.

Find out more at oregonschoolyards.com