This summer Ripple partnered with Stephen & Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation to build a new playspace and community garden for the Bay Area community. The project, which provides a space to stay active, build social bonds, and bring the community together, stands to benefit over 100 Oakland youth and their families for years to come.
The Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, founded in 2019 by Stephen and Ayesha Curry, focuses on three key pillars in their commitment to improving the lives of kids and families: nutrition, education, and physical activity. By fighting to end childhood hunger, ensuring students have access to equitable education, and providing safe places for all children to play, the Foundation has helped improve the lives of kids and families across the country.
“We often say ‘it takes a village’ when it comes to improving the lives of children and families,” said Chris Helfrich, CEO of Eat. Learn. Play. “This project reflects our villages coming together to ensure youth in Oakland have access to safe and equitable playspaces that support their physical and social development for generations to come. As kids experience the joy and wonder of this fun playground, our hope is that parents feel inspired too, with a greater sense of belonging and connection to the community around them.”
Over 260 volunteers—brought together through collaboration between The Unity Council, Eat. Learn. Play., Ripple, and KABOOM!—helped install this new playspace and community garden at Unity Council’s 36th Avenue apartments in Oakland, CA. The plans for the playground were inspired by the creative visions of local children sharing their dream playground ideas during design day this past May.
In addition to the playground, the volunteers built garden beds, a pergola for shaded gathering, and designed a mosaic to bring color and character to the space. After cutting the ribbon on this new playspace, Ripple employees joined Eat. Learn. Play. at the Oakland A’s game and helped distribute books and backpacks to 1,000 children.
“This new playground will further our shared mission to create livable playspaces and sustainable food sources for everyone, as part of our deepening commitment to Bay Area communities,” said Ken Weber, VP of Social Impact and Sustainability.
Ripple has partnered with Eat. Learn. Play. since 2020 when we supported their efforts to provide more than 15 million meals in the Bay Area in response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on food accessibility, and we are proud to continue our partnership with this project.
Ripple Impact partners with a variety of innovative fintechs, universities, NGOs, foundations, and social entrepreneurs to fuel progress towards a more open and meaningfully connected world. Ripple Impact’s efforts are focused in three key areas: financial inclusion, sustainability, and blockchain academic research and development.
Learn more about Ripple Impact or join the Ripple team to improve communities around the world.
