Contents Podcast Panelists Additional Resources Transcript In March 2024, we continued our Place Matters webinar series with our third installment: “A Place to Play: Moving Towards Fairness of Place for All Children.” During the webinar, we explored the power of play in supporting early childhood development, as well as the importance of ensuring that children and caregivers have access to safe green spaces, like parks and playgrounds. Our panel of experts discussed how access to safe, stimulating, and joyful play space is not equally distributed across communities, along with strategies to work toward building a future where all children have a safe place to play. The webinar discussion has been adapted for this episode of the Brain Architects podcast. Panelists Leah Anyanwu (Moderator)Programme Specialist, Children on the Move, Children's Learning and Development, The LEGO Foundation Cynthia Briscoe BrownAtlanta Board of Education Seat 8 At Large Kathy Hirsh-PasekProfessor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University; Senior Fellow, Brookings Institute Lysa RatlifChief Executive Officer, KABOOM! Le-Quyen VuExecutive Director, Indochinese American Council Melissa Rivard  (Webinar Host)Director of Engagement Strategies, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University Cameron Seymour-Hawkins (Podcast Host)Communications Coordinator, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University Additional Resources Place Matters: The Environment We Create Shapes the Foundations of Healthy Development  Presentation Slides  Playful Learning Landscapes  KABOOM!  Atlanta Community School Parks Initiative  LEGO Foundation  Indochinese American Council  Transcript Cameron Seymour-Hawkins: Welcome to The Brain Architects, a podcast from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. I’m Cameron Seymour-Hawkins, the Center’s Communications Coordinator. Our Center believes that advances in the science of child development provide a powerful source of new ideas that can improve outcomes for children and their caregivers. By sharing the latest science from the field, we hope to help you make that science actionable and apply it in your work in ways that can increase your impact.  In March, we continued our Place Matters webinar series with our third installment: “A Place to Play: Moving Towards Fairness of Place for All Children.” During the webinar, we explored how play and a family’s access to safe green spaces, like parks and playgrounds, support early development. Our panel of experts discussed how access to safe, stimulating, and joyful play space is not equally distributed along with strategies to work toward building a future where all children have a safe place to play. We’re excited to share part of this conversation on today’s episode of the Brain Architects podcast.   If you’re interested in in seeing some examples of community-led solutions to address gaps in play space equity presented by Lysa Ratliff of KABOOM and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek of Playful Learning Landscapes, we encourage you to head over to our YouTube channel to view the full webinar recording.   Now, without further ado, here’s Melissa Rivard, the Center’s Assistant Director of Innovation Strategies, who will set the stage for our conversation.  Melissa Rivard: Welcome and thank you all so much for joining us today. It's really gratifying to have so many of you showing up for this really important topic. So thank you. I'm Melissa Rivard, Assistant Director of Innovation Strategies and I will be your host today.