Playground equipment grants in Illinois

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources handles applications for federal and state park money from park districts and towns. Your committee follows four steps to complete the process.

• Verify that your organization holds park authority as a unit of local government. School districts cannot participate in the state program for Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development.
• Secure your local match before you apply. The share of project costs paid by your community is called a local match. A reduced match is offered by the state program for qualifying communities, though the Land and Water Conservation Fund usually needs a 50% local match.
• Watch for the state announcement. Timing is set in each Notice of Funding Opportunity by the state agency running grant rounds. The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership also accepts applications from communities of 25,000 people or more and reimburses up to 50% of project costs.
• Budget with reimbursement in mind. With reimbursement, your town pays project bills first and receives the federal grant funds later.

Since groups lacking park authority cannot join the state park program, we turn to community, health, and manufacturer programs instead.

Rural areas with 20,000 residents or fewer can get loans and grants for essential community equipment through the USDA Community Facilities program. The smallest and lowest-income locations can receive a grant share of up to 75%.

Larger communities often rely on a block grant. Cities and counties can use a block grant, which is flexible federal money, for public facilities such as parks. Urban counties and cities with 50,000 people or more obtain Community Development Block Grant funds directly without needing a city match. For projects serving residents of low or moderate income, smaller towns apply using the state program.

Groups that have operated a sun-safety program for one year or longer may apply for an American Academy of Dermatology grant worth up to $8,000 to build a permanent shade structure. GameTime Community Champions matching funds are also open to you on GameTime play systems across the contiguous United States. These matching funds reduce the equipment price rather than providing a cash grant. Coverage reaches up to 100% for fully paid systems over $75,000, up to 80% for fully paid systems from $25,000 to $75,000, and up to 65% for systems over $25,000 bought on credit.

Begin with a count of the children who play at once, then budget for the playground equipment Illinois committees most often buy. For ground surfacing, we allow 75 square feet per child, while our cost estimate sets aside $1,000 per child for equipment. Add 25% to 35% of the equipment cost for installation next, plus about 15% of the cost for freight.

When you want exact prices, one short quote request reaches playground equipment dealers as well as manufacturers' representatives, who will price your site's equipment, surfacing and installation.