Two projects in North Dakota that enhance inclusivity and access for all children – one to the arts, the other to playground recreation -- have been chosen to receive $5,000 Adaptive Recreation Grants for 2023 from NDAD.

 

Sunnyside Elementary School, Minot, and Anne Carlsen Center, Jamestown, are NDAD’s newest grant recipients, NDAD announced Monday.

Sunnyside will partner with Minot High School’s Career and Technical Construction class to build a boat playground structure that can be accessed by students in wheelchairs and provides an area with students with limited mobility can both play and interact with classmates and other students. The current playground has a mostly gravel surface that makes access difficult.

The program will serve all students with priority for kindergarten and first-grade students and students with mobility issues. Grant money will be used with another $3,000 from Sunnyside Parent-Teacher Association.

Anne Carlsen Center will use NDAD grant money to work with Zot Artz organization’s Arts for All program toward providing one-day accessible customized art events for children with disabilities and individuals with different ability levels in North Dakota.

The events use specialized adaptive art equipment, such as a “painting wheelchair,” to allow participants to create art with friends and family while enhancing motor and social skills, concentration, sensory input processing and more.

NDAD congratulates Minot’s Sunnyside Elementary School and Jamestown-based Anne Carlsen Center on receiving these NDAD Adaptive Recreation Grant awards.

• More information about NDAD’s Adaptive Recreation Grant is available at https://ndad.org/services/grants/.
• Ann Carlson Center: https://annecarlsen.org/ https://www.minot.k12.nd.us/schools
• Minot Public Schools, including Sunnyside Elementary: https://www.minot.k12.nd.us/schools