Iowa’s Shared Use Policy Makes Its Way to the Governor

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A coalition of over 25 local organizations and community advocates in the state of Iowa are celebrating a recent victory in shared-use policy.

On March 23, 2015, the Iowa state legislature passed a bill which removes the burden of liability concerns from schools and community organizations, allowing them keep schoolyards open during non-school hours.

Now the bill awaits signature from the state’s governor Terry Branstad.

Schoolyards are a widely untapped resource which can be used to provide communities with additional greenspace. When school playgrounds are left open to the community, research shows that 84% of kids are more likely to be physically active outside; yet in many communities school playgrounds are locked during non-school hours.

Additional studies show that underserved Latino communities lack parks and green space, and that children living in these neighborhoods are less likely to have safe places to play, putting them at a greater risk for becoming overweight or obese.

One solution to this is shared use policies, or formal agreements which allow school playgrounds to remain open to the community during non-school hours.

Read more about this in a blog post from preventobesity.net.

Learn more about Latino kids’ lack of safe places for activity and policy solutions to this issue, by visiting Salud America!‘s Growing Healthy Change Active Spaces resources here.