Cheers, signs, and a red carpet welcomed a new class of teen leaders in Kensington this week, as Fab Youth Philly kicked off its annual Play Captain Initiative—a program that trains local youth to bring playful learning and leadership to PlayStreets across Philadelphia.
The Play Captain Initiative, according to founder and Executive Director of Fab Youth Philly, Rebecca Fabiano, is to create more playful and engaged communities — and allowing teens to lead the way.
The initiative trains local teenagers, ages 14-19, in playful learning, facilitation and leadership to put into practice on the PlayStreets of Philadelphia. The play captains are put into teams and assigned an adult group leader to guide them.
“The adult staff is trained to support them, and we want the young people on their first day of work to know that we think they’re awesome,” Fabiano said, standing next to the red carpet rolled out for play captains gathered at St. Phillips Church in Kensington.
Fabiano, Fab Youth Philly adult staff and community members gathered outside the doors of the church waving signs to surprise the play captains upon arrival.
“In a neighborhood like Kensington, the focus tends to be on the things that aren’t going so well, and it’s super important to us that residents and community members all come together to support those teens who are literally moving through the neighborhood and having to negotiate and navigate some very upsetting and disturbing experiences,” Fabiano said.
Leading the way through play
PlayStreets are designated blocks across Philadelphia that are deemed safe and clean by the Philadelphia Police Department, Parks and Recreation and Fab Youth Philly, and are blocked off and used as designated play areas for children.
Before heading out to the various PlayStreets, each group fills a cart with supplies — books, a football, hula hoops, chalk and outside games. Once their carts are packed, each group follows a schedule, spending 45 minutes at each PlayStreet before rotating to the next location.
Each play captain is equipped with “Bex Decks,” a tool for planning, organizing and facilitating when on the PlayStreets, according to Fab Youth Philly. Each deck of cards includes safety protocols, every day tips, game rules and reflection exercises.
The goal of the program is not only to create a more playful environment for children, as the mission statement says, but also to create a network.
Fabiano said a number of young people who used to be on PlayStreets have come to Fab Youth Philly to be play captains themselves and even return to the program as an adult staff member.
Mazzi Ingram was a part of the play captain initiative in 2021, the summer before attending Brandeis University in Massachusetts, and later graduating with a degree in environmental sciences. She said a youth in her group is interested in college and her experience having been through the program and attending college allows her to offer guidance and perspective as he enters the next chapter of his life.
“I’m a person that believes in pipelines of change. You know, we always talk about the school to prison pipeline, pipelines of more negative things,” Ingram said. “But I think in order for us to really sustain the movement, we have to continue to pour into it.”
