Kid’s Innovation Playground reaches out to businesses for support
SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — The Kid’s Innovation Playground, a STEM education program for children in the Slippery Rock area, is looking to move into larger digs.
On Tuesday afternoon, May 28, the Kid’s Innovation Playground made its pitch to the public to make that happen at a “Tour and Tell” event.
Kid’s Innovation Playground, a nonprofit organization founded by former elementary schoolteacher Lorraine Shaffer in 2019, recently reached a purchase agreement on a 0.45-acre property on Grove City Road, located next-door to a Troy-Alan car dealership. To close on the property, Kid’s Innovation Playground will need to reach $475,000 worth of commitments from local businesses and other organizations by June 28.
“We’re hoping to spread some awareness today and potentially bring in more donors so they can make this space a reality,” said Jordan Grady, president of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce.
Lorraine said that she founded the Kid’s Innovation Playground to assist children in the more rural northern part of Butler County, who she says are at an educational disadvantage compared to children from closer to Pittsburgh.
“(Kid’s Innovation Playground) is more than a place for kids to grow,” Lorraine said. “KIP is, and can be even more of, an incubator for teacher … to learn what and how STEAM education can be.”
Already, according to Lorraine’s daughter, Leanna, the organization has reached $70,000 in commitments — one for $50,000, and another for $20,000.
“Lorraine has a lot of big dreams,” Leanna said. “And this is the space that we need to really do everything that KIP is capable of. So we've needed this space from the beginning.”
The space on Grove City Road in Slippery Rock was formerly a pain clinic. In fact, as they entered the building on Tuesday, guests passed through a glass entrance door with the clinic proprietor’s name still engraved on it, only crossed out with marker and the word “KIP” written underneath.
Some remnants of the old pain clinic were still present in the building, including abandoned medical equipment and beds.
Currently, Kid’s Innovation Playground operates out of a house owned by the Center Presbyterian Church, which is far too small to implement their entire vision, according to those privy to the project.
“It’s really tiny, and it really limits the programs they want to do,” Grady said. “They want to do so many more things that need space.”
Those things include a dedicated makerspace, drone programming courses, two 3D printers, and an expanded, year-round, six-days-a-week “Tech Tinkering” drop-in program. The current program is only available during the school year and is only offered twice a week at the current location.
Kid’s Innovation Playground is also hoping to expand to offer programs for ninth through 12th graders at its new location. Presently, the program is only open to children in kindergarten through eighth grade.
According to Kevin Shaffer, engineering lead for Westinghouse in Cranberry Township, Lorraine and the rest of the family stumbled across the property at the right time, as they were just about to abandon their search for a new space for the playground.
“We had run out of options looking at buildings locally,” Shaffer said. “We had set an internal deadline, and we were going to stop looking for a building. Instead of having a permanent location, she was just going to go mobile, go to schools and go to other people's places to put on small programs.”
Shaffer says it was important that the organization find a space in Slippery Rock.
“We need to stay in Slippery Rock,” Shaffer said. “We’re located centrally enough for all the rural areas up there. We don’t want to go too far south into southern Butler County and look for facilities.”
One of the local dignitaries on hand for the presentation was Butler County Commissioner Kim Geyer, who was impressed with what she saw.
“This space has so much potential,” Geyer said. “It’s an opportunity for young people in the region. It would be a fantastic asset for promoting STEM activities for young people.”
