A Story on How Shared Use Agreements Were Brought to Twelve Schools in Tucson

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In Tucson, 12 schools opened their school grounds as a result of a shared use (joint-use) agreements between the city and the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD). Before, access to play space was limited and only 6.2 acres of park space was available to every 1,000 residents. Although members from the community were forbidden to use school fields and playgrounds, some would nonetheless climb fences to use the facilities. Advocates from the community soon turned to their elected officials to see if they could resolve the matter.

This success story from KaBoom!, Tucson, Arizona: Sharing Play Space and Responsibility talks about how Tucson’s rapid population growth led to a deficit in park space. When Rodney Glassman ran for city councilman, he promised his constituents that he would work to keep school fields and playgrounds open during after school hours.  After carefully studying the situation and working closely with the TUSD school board, Glassman was successful in establishing a shared use agreements between TUSD and twelve schools in Tucson.

Read the full story to learn more about the challenges that Glassman overcame and how children in Tucson are benefiting from these shared use agreements.