KaBOOM! recently announced its Playful City USA honorees: communities that are leaders in “playability,” the commitment to providing balanced and active play to children.

The KaBOOM! Playful City USA program honors cities, towns and communities across America that are taking bold steps to ensure that all children, especially the 16 million American kids living in poverty, have easy access to balanced and active play in their communities. 241 cities nationwide have been recognized this year, 14 of which are in Arizona.

Playful City USA honorees include major cities such as Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago. In Arizona, these honorees include cities and towns across the state. They range from nine-time honorees like Chandler, Gilbert, and Tucson, to first-time recipients like Avondale, Florence, and Queen Creek.

Tempe is once again recognized by KaBOOM! as a Playful City USA for its commitment to keeping kids active through accessible playspaces and youth sports programs.

These Playful City USA communities are making a commitment to transform their communities to become more playable by developing unique local action plans to increase the quantity and quality of play in their community. Listed below are the Arizona cities that were given the “playful” title and the number of years they have won:

Avondale: 1

Buckeye: 4

Casa Grande: 7

Chandler: 9

Coolidge: 8

Florence: 1

Fountain Hills: 5

Gilbert: 9

Mesa: 7

Oro Valley: 5

Prescott Valley: 2

Queen Creek: 1

Tempe: 7

Tucson: 9

Playful City USA Honorees in Arizona: 

To see the full list of the 241 communities named 2015 Playful City USA honorees, or for more information on the Playful City USA program, visit www.playfulcityusa.org.

Arizona’s cities and towns are constantly working to ensure the safety of their citizens. To continue their focus on safety, especially for those younger citizens, many cities and towns in Arizona will be participating in the nationwide Child Passenger Safety Week.

Child Passenger Safety Week will be held September 14-20 in an effort to inform parents and caregivers of the proper safety measures that need to be taken when transporting children.

Car crashes are a leading cause of death for children ages 1-13. These incidents can many times be prevented with the proper use of car seats, booster seats and seat belts. Saturday, Sept. 14 is “Seat Check Saturday,” a national day devoted to ensuring children’s car seats are properly installed.

The Surprise Police and Fire-Medical Departments will be hosting two child safety seat clinics to provide information on the different types of child passenger safety seats and educate the public on proper installation of the seats. The city’s clinics will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 16 and Saturday, Sept. 20 from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. at Surprise Fire Station #305. For more information, visit www.surpriseaz.gov/carseat.

Other cities and towns host regular car seat checks. The City of Chandler will be holding a car seat clinic each Saturday in September. The City of Buckeye, City of Mesa , City of Scottsdale and City of Sierra Vista are just a few others who regularly hold free car seat checks.

To find an upcoming seat check event near you, visit www.azgohs.gov or contact your local city or town.

Photo Courtesy of Verrado Golf Club

It’s no secret that Arizona is home to some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world. In the West Valley town of Buckeye lies the Verrado Golf Club, 18 holes surrounded in the foothills of the picturesque White Tank Mountains.

Golfers spending time on the championship golf course will view large mountains, desert washes, box canyons and the Phoenix skyline off in the distance. The course is perfect for both amateurs and aficionados, playing to nearly 7,300 yards and offering generous landing areas.

While the summer sun can sometimes put a damper on outdoor activities, golfing in the summer is one advantage to living in AZ. Verrado has summer specials with prices that are just as sizzling as that sunshine.

http://www.verradogolfclub.com/

Buckeye Police Officer Jeffery Lumadue has been named School Resource Officer of the Year by the Arizona School Resource Officers Association!

In March, AZ Cities @ Work featured Lumadue for going above and beyond the call of duty with Officer Michael Miklus. The two helped a boy whose bike was stolen. Cities @ Work is overjoyed that Lumadue is being further recognized for his outstanding initiative.*

Lumadue is a 14-year law enforcement veteran who has been the SRO at Buckeye Elementary School for four years and Buckeye Union High School for another two.

Lumadue was cited by the state group for his strong stance with school children on truancy, drug use and bullying. It’s Lumadue’s pilot program, though, that has attracted the most attention. The program holds some parents criminally responsible for their children not attending school.

The program Lumadue initiated now operates at schools throughout the Buckeye Elementary School District. It has shown a significant drop in truancy rates.  Only a handful of parents have been ticketed by police for the continued absence of their children from the classroom.

“This process works because the school secretaries, counselors, assistant principals and principals are an integral part of the process before a citation is ever issued,” Lumadue said.  “We make every effort to work with the parent and child to find out what possible issues may be causing the child to miss school.  The vast majority of parents have been very receptive to the program.”

Lumadue is humbled   by the attention his SRO state award has brought because he feels it’s the consistency in the anti-truancy program – from the classroom to the courts – that has brought the positive results.

“Communication is the key,” Lumadue said.  “We don’t want to prosecute parents.  We want kids to have the chance to regularly go to school and to succeed, and this program has had some phenomenal results.”

But Lumadue’s efforts aren’t just limited to truancy.  Two years ago he spearheaded a move to redefine the Drug Free School Zone around Buckeye schools, a 1,000-foot sign-posted boundary now recognized at all the schools.

An anti-bullying campaign has also been in Lumadue’s focus.  The classes he teaches in the schools illustrate the importance of youngsters setting goals, to build character and develop leadership skills.

“We take a very pro-active stance on bullying, if we see or hear it, we indicate that it needs to stop,” Lumadue said.  “We tell students that they have a right to feel comfortable when they’re in school, and if they worry about bullying before school and it prompts fear of any kind, they need to talk to someone so it can be stopped.”

Like most professionals in public safety roles, Lumadue isn’t in it for the praise, accolades or headlines.  Since he first entered Buckeye Elementary School that first day of school, he’s relished the switch to this different kind of police work.

“All this is part of my job, and that’s why I enjoy going to work every day,” Lumadue said.  “I like working with kids and making a difference in their lives.  These are critical times in their lives, and these kids really look up to you as a role model and see police officers in a different role.”

*Watch the video that highlights Lumadue’s and Miklus’ outstanding work in March here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zkPQioaDhc

The Town of Gilbert celebrates its 2014 Playful City USA status. Gilbert is one of four cities in AZ to receive the award eight consecutive times.

KaBOOM! recently announced its Playful City USA honorees: communities that are leaders in “playability,” the commitment to providing balanced and active play to children.

The KaBOOM! Playful City USA program honors cities, towns and communities across America that are taking bold steps to ensure that all children, especially the 16 million American kids living in poverty, have easy access to balanced and active play in their communities. 212 cities nationwide have been recognized this year, 12 of which are in Arizona.

Playful City USA honorees include major cities such as Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago. In Arizona, these honorees include cities and towns across the state. They range from eight-time honorees like Chandler, Gilbert, Tucson and Yuma, to first-time recipient Prescott Valley.

Tempe is once again recognized by KaBOOM! as a Playful City USA community for its commitment to keeping kids active through accessible playspaces and youth sports programs.

These Playful City USA communities are making a commitment to transform their communities to become more playable by developing unique local action plans to increase the quantity and quality of play in their community.

Playful City USA Honorees in Arizona: 

Buckeye
Casa Grande
Chandler
Coolidge
Gilbert
Maricopa
Mesa
Oro Valley
Prescott Valley
Tempe
Tucson
Yuma

To see the full list of the 212 communities named 2014 Playful City USA honorees, or for more information on the Playful City USA program, visit www.playfulcityusa.org.