FALL RIVER ─ The construction of Mae’s Sensory-Friendly Playground just got closer to reality after the city’s Community Development Agency was recently awarded a $425,000 Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC) state grant.
The city is expected to break ground in the spring for the $1.02 million project that will serve autistic, handicapped and neurodivergent kids at Abbott Court Park. The state-of-the-art playground will feature around 15,000 square feet featuring sensory boards, mazes, swings, water tables, a regulation hub, a sensory dome, and ground-level apparatuses designed for children of all abilities.
The idea for the sensory playground was inspired and championed by local dad Marcel Riley and named after his nonverbal autistic daughter, Mae-Ella.
Riley approached Mayor Paul Coogan’s administration with the idea, and CDA Director Michael Dion took up the project.
The Community Development Preservation Act Committee has pledged $200,000 toward the project and another $100,000 is secured from CDA’s Community Development Block Grant.
The community steps up too
When word traveled that Rep. Alan Silvia’s earmark request for Mae’s Playground was reduced from $100,000 to $10,000, and likely due to political retaliation, it didn’t sit well with residents and business owners.
After a challenge by Michael Silvia, publisher of the Fall River Reporter and the New Bedford Guide, numerous people and at least 28 businesses stepped up and $88,550 was raised for the sensory park.
The city is still waiting to hear about an application submitted by CDA for a $250,000 Massachusetts Disability Grant to complete the funding.
