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Countless people of all ages find enjoyment and recreation in public-owned parks and playgrounds. Municipal parks bring country living to the city. Here are flowers, trees and shrubs, streams and lakes, and best of all, open space. Neighborhood playgrounds enable children who live in congested districts to play in safety.

The modern park is a center of neighborhood leisure-time living. Its services to the public have broadened to include active sports for young and old. In well-equipped field houses people may learn arts and crafts, hold club meetings, and enter into the civic and social affairs of the community.

The origin of parks can be traced to the ancient hunting preserves of the Egyptians and Romans and to the open-air public meeting places of ancient Greece. Early European parks were formed around the castles and dwelling places of the royal families and the nobility. James Boswell's London Journal spoke of St. James' Park in London where the footguards paraded and the ladies of the court strolled in the mall. The Luxembourg Gardens and the Tuileries Gardens of Paris, once royal parks, now belong to the people. In the Vienna Woods, on the outskirts of the Austrian capital, where the Hapsburg rulers hunted wild game, city dwellers today bicycle, picnic, and take long strolls.

Boston Common, established in 1634, was the first city park in the United States. The New England commons were originally used to pasture the stock, to market foods, and to drill the militia. In 1853 Frederick Law Olmsted helped to acquire and design one of the first modern parks, Central Park in New York City.

Playgrounds, like parks, grew out of the industrialization of cities. They were established to reduce accidents to children, to help fight off sickness caused by slums and crowded living conditions, and to keep young people out of trouble.

Joseph Lee of Boston and Jacob Riis of New York were pioneers in the playground movement. The first legislative action to establish playgrounds was taken by Brookline, Mass., in 1872. Boston opened a sand garden for children in 1885. Jane Addams ' famous settlement, Hull House, in Chicago, started a model playground in 1892. The playground movement received its greatest help when the Playground Association of America (later the National Recreation Association) was organized in 1906.

Legally, a park is a plot of land permanently dedicated for ornamental and recreational purposes. It cannot be disposed of or used for any other purpose except through court or legislative action.

Municipal and county parks and playgrounds of the United States are financed primarily through tax levies, appropriations, bond issues, and other public funds. Additional funds for operating the facilities are made available through fees for such activities as golfing, boating, horseback riding, picnicking, and dancing. A limited amount of money is supplied through private sources.

Parks and playgrounds in the United States are administered by boards and commissions whose members are either elected or appointed by the mayor to serve without pay. Trained workers are employed to perform the actual work of developing and operating the facilities. State parks are managed and maintained by park departments in the state government. The national park areas are operated by the National Park Service in the United States Department of the Interior.

Many different kinds of parks serve a variety of needs. The neighborhood park is a landscaped area of rather formal design. Its purpose is to make the neighborhood attractive and to provide opportunity for quiet and informal recreation. Usually it is a few acres in size, but it may be as small as a corner lot. In some communities these small plots are sometimes called "baby parks" because parents wheel their young children there for a regular outing. In the business sections of cities, such pocket-sized parks provide a haven from the day's activities for office workers, shoppers, students, and others.

The recreation park is much larger in area. It often has woodlands, lawns, hills, meadows, lakes, and streams. There are gardens, arboretums, conservatories, parking lots, bird sanctuaries, and zoos. Facilities are provided for picnicking, hiking, horseback riding, boating, swimming, and other outdoor sports. Such parks are frequently the setting for such public facilities as art museums, buildings housing natural history and science exhibits, historical societies, restaurants and snack bars, and perhaps an aquarium, a planetarium, a band shell for outdoor concerts, and an outdoor theater.

Forest preserves are on the outskirts of cities. They are often a part of county, regional, or metropolitan park systems. Their primary purpose is to keep the woodlands and water areas in their natural state and to save them from being destroyed by the growth of industry, highways, and housing developments. Often located alongside streams, they also help control flooding and reduce water pollution.

The parkway, or scenic boulevard, is a long, narrow strip of land, planted with ornamental trees and shrubs, paralleling a road restricted to pleasure traffic. Roadside parks are found along major highways. Picnic tables, fireplaces, and sanitary and drinking facilities are provided for the convenience of the traveler.

The school park has been developed as a means of locating school and park facilities together in order to serve both school and public recreation needs. They provide an opportunity for parents and children to enjoy activities together.

Amusement parks, which feature a variety of rides, shows, educational exhibits, and other activities, have grown increasingly popular. Usually located near a big city, often in a resort area, they attract visitors who come for the day as well as families on vacation who may stay for several days.

There are state parks in each of the U.S. states, and they have a combined total area of more than 10 million acres (4 million hectares). These beautiful areas are within easy reach of the majority of the population. In the modern state park one may camp, swim, fish, picnic, or take an interesting hike on a nature trail. Winter sports are popular in the Northern parks. The largest and most impressive of all parks and playgrounds are the national parks and monuments, the national recreation areas and seashores, and the national forests and wilderness areas, which total more than 350 million acres (142 million hectares).

Because outdoor activities tend to vary with the climate, parks in different areas emphasize different types of facilities. In spite of these differences, park systems have many similarities. Nature study and picnicking and such sports as walking, running, tennis, swimming, fishing, and bicycling are popular in all types of climates.

In most urban areas in the United States the early settlers-aware of the need for the space, light, and recreational activities that parks provide-made allowances for park space in their city planning. Parks such as Central Park in New York City, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and the lakeside park system in Chicago are examples of this sort of foresight. Additional park space was set aside as urban growth encroached on the surrounding territory.

With the expansion of parks, accommodation had to be made for the care of these areas and workers hired to supervise the various kinds of recreation that took place in them. In some instances cities were divided into districts, with each district caring for its own parks. With time many cities have combined these into a single department-the city park district. Functioning as an independent government body, a typical park district might levy its own taxes, maintain its own property, and employ a staff of workers to keep up park property and supervise a wide variety of activities. Typical responsibilities include the running of parks, playgrounds, field houses, gymnasiums, swimming pools, beaches, tennis courts, day camps, skating areas, and clubrooms. The park district might share this workload with other government bodies. For example, in some cities additional playgrounds are provided by the board of education. Forest preserves on the outskirts of the city are often operated by the county in which that preserve is located.

In recent years increasing emphasis has been placed on sports and the more active forms of recreation. Organized park district activities in most cities are attended by millions of people each year. These people enjoy a wide range of athletic endeavors including golf played on courses in the public parks, swimming in park pools, and target practice with bows and arrows on the archery ranges. Baseball enthusiasts can play ball on the baseball fields, either in pickup games or as part of a league. Other ball games like soccer and softball are also popular. There are day-camp facilities, as well as tennis courts, horseshoe courts, basketball courts, skating rinks, and toboggan slides. These services are provided at public cost, and additional funds must be approved by the public for acquiring and improving land and buildings.

Playgrounds may be located in parks, on school properties, in housing developments, and sometimes on privately owned parcels of land. The typical park district has three basic types of playgrounds-the play lot, the neighborhood playground, and the play field.

The play lot serves children of preschool age and is usually located in a densely populated neighborhood. Sometimes it is part of a larger playground or park. It contains swings, slides, sandboxes, wading pools, and other play equipment.

The neighborhood playground is the major outdoor recreation area for children of elementary-school age. It provides play apparatus and space for children's games. In a well-equipped field house are facilities for woodworking and other arts and crafts, informal music, dramatics, club meetings, square dancing, and other community social affairs. Day camps, where children can experience camp and still return to their homes each night, are recent additions to many playgrounds. Sometimes day camps are used as outdoor summer-school classrooms. Day camp activities may also be conducted in forest preserves near the city's perimeter, often giving inner-city children a new experience in outdoor living.

The play field serves a population of as many as 20,000 people. It too may be a part of a larger park, and it may also provide playground space. Play fields include facilities for such sports as baseball, softball, tennis, swimming, and track. Bleachers are provided for spectators, and often there is a field house for indoor recreation. The larger play fields may provide lights for nighttime use.

Parks require the services of gardeners and landscape architects, and of people to mow the lawns, trim the shrubs, and paint and repair the equipment. In addition, they need trained personnel to direct the many recreational activities. The increased emphasis on worthwhile leisure-time activity has resulted in a rapidly growing profession-that of the recreational director for parks and playgrounds. These leaders know how to arouse interest, teach skills, and organize group participation. They direct not only sports and athletic events but also musical and dramatic productions, pageants, square dances, and a wide range of handicrafts.

Today parks and playgrounds are to recreation and leisure time what schools are to education and what churches and synagogues are to religion. In the planning of the modern city or town, the siting of parks and playgrounds is considered as important as the siting of industrial plants, residences, public utilities, shops, and traffic arteries.

Most playgrounds are open after school hours and in the evenings. Adult civic and social activities are carried on in the field houses. In short, the modern parks and playgrounds, once designed primarily to keep children off the street and to provide a quiet place of rest for working people, have become a vital center of neighborhood life.

Charles K. Brightbill

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Countless people of all ages find enjoyment and recreation in public-owned parks and playgrounds. Municipal parks bring country living to the city. Here are flowers, trees...

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Firedogs were used to protect the horses that pulled the firewagons from other dogs and animals while running to an emergency! (Please see our Points of Interest for a full story!)

Women have been in the fire service since the 1800's!! To become a firefighter, there are rules and training you have to follow to keep the public and fellow firefighters safe! But when you work hard and believe in yourself, you can be any profession you want to be!!

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A tribute to all of our heroes: active, retired, and fallen. For all to enjoy, learn and honour.

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Fires are scary and can be devastating. No one ever expects that their school or home will catch fire. At school, students and teachers practice fire drills so that everyone knows exactly what to do in case of a fire, but it's also important that you do the same at home. It's also important that you know what to do to help prevent fires. Almost $300 million in property damage happens each year because of fires started by kids playing with matches or other types of fire! Matches and lighters aren't toys and shouldn't be played with. It's also essential that all kids know that firefighters are there to keep them safe if an emergency happens.

Inspirational Jobs: Firefighters

Many kids dream about firefighting as a career. Firefighters must have graduated from high school and completed emergency medical technician (EMT) training. It's more common than ever for firefighters to have a college degree in a subject like fire science, too.

All firefighters attend a fire academy where they are taught about preventing and fighting fires. Along with learning how to use firefighting tools like ladders, fire trucks, and hoses, new firefighters also learn about building codes. They also spend time practicing first aid and other types of emergency medicine. Graduating from the fire academy requires passing tests. Some tests are written and judge how well the new firefighter has learned about safety and how fires are fought in different types of buildings. Physical tests include going upstairs while carrying firefighting equipment.

Firefighter Facts for Kids

There are different types of firefighters. Some work for cities, towns, or counties, and their job is to prevent and put out fires in homes and other buildings. Other firefighters work to stop wildfires from burning unoccupied land. Most firefighters are also trained in emergency medicine so they can assist people who have been injured or are sick. In fact, in some areas, fire trucks are sent to the scene of all medical emergencies because the truck has most of the same equipment as an ambulance and the firefighters are trained EMTs.

Just like there are different types of firefighters, there are also different types of vehicles used in firefighting. An engine is a truck that pumps water. A rescue truck is the vehicle sent if a building collapses or to help with car accidents. The fire chief has their own car, known as the fire chief car. Fire trucks have tools and ladders to help firefighters rescue people trapped in burning buildings.

A Day in the Life of a Firefighter

Firefighters never know when they are going to be needed. But that doesn't mean that they don't have other things they have to do every day when they are on duty. Most firefighters work 24-hour shifts. When their shift starts, they check in at the fire station and talk to the firefighters going off duty about the things that have happened in their shift. They then spend the morning checking equipment, working out, attending training sessions, and shopping for food and other necessary supplies for the firehouse. After lunch, the firefighters spend time on paperwork, doing public safety training events in the community, and doing other fire prevention work. Anytime a call for help is received, firefighters stop what they are doing and go to help.

Fire Safety and Prevention 101

It's important for kids and adults to know basic fire safety. The one thing every home needs is working fire alarms. There should be one on every floor of the house, and there should also be smoke detectors near the bedrooms. You should test fire alarms each month and replace their batteries as needed. It's also important that every home has a plan for escaping fires and that everyone who lives in the home knows the plan and practices it. When a fire starts, it's important to leave the building at once. Sometimes, there's a lot of smoke; in this case, drop to the floor and crawl out because smoke rises. Once you're outside, find a way to call 911 to get help.

Jeffrey Nadrich is a nationally-recognized California plaintiff's personal injury attorney. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Hastings College of the Law. He has successfully represented thousands of injury clients over the last 40 years.

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A Kid's Guide to Firefighting and Emergency Safety

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Our kid's guide to firefighting and emergency safety explores the inspirational job of firefighting and how to prevent fires by practicing fire safety.

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Water is the most important liquid on Earth. It covers almost 75 percent of Earth’s surface in the form of oceans, rivers, and lakes. All plants and animals need water to…

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The water that people use in their homes and businesses comes from nature and must be cleaned up to be returned to nature so it can be used again. This is an important part of our water cycle.

Effective wastewater (sewage) treatment is a critical service, provided by the Met Council and many partners, that protects the environment and protects public health.

Wastewater Treatment for Kids provides a simplified look at wastewater treatment by taking you on a tour of the process at the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant in Saint Paul. Come along with our water guides Ardea, Anati, and Anura to learn more about our water resources in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro region.

You'll learn about:

The water cycle

How we use water from the environment

How communities and the Met Council collect wastewater from your home, school, or work

How the Met Council's largest wastewater treatment plant, the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant, cleans that water so it's safe to return to the environment!

Our video and presentation - plus some additional materials about the water cycle, watersheds and more - will introduce you to the fascinating, but often invisible, work of wastewater treatment. This work is part of the water resource management that keeps our communities safe and allows them to grow.

Learning at your own pace: download our presentation

Part 1: The Water Cycle and How We Get Clean Water (25 page PDF)

The water cycle is how water falls to the ground as rain or snow, moves into our groundwater or lakes and streams, and evaporates and condenses into clouds to fall as rain or snow again. We tap into that cycle to get the water we use for drinking, cleaning, and other uses.

How Wastewater Gets Clean Again (21 page PDF)

Once we use water for drinking, cleaning, bathing, and other things, we want to return that water back to the environment, but it has gotten dirty. Wastewater treatment is the process we use to clean used water from our community and return it to the environment so it can be used by plants and animals and even people again!

Wastewater Treatment for Kids classroom activities

Related Resources: Water Conservation Toolbox

The Water Conservation Toolbox for Learners has many useful resources for teachers, and kid-friendly education materials and games.

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The water that people use in their homes and businesses comes from nature and must be cleaned up to be returned to nature so it can be used again. This is an important part of our water cycle. Effective wastewater (sewage) treatment is a critical service, provided by the Met Council and many partners, that protects the environment and protects public health.

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We add a small amount of chlorine (less than a swimming pool) to kill any pathogens. Before sending water to the Tualatin River (or reusing it for irrigation) we make sure it is safe for wildlife and people by removing the remaining chlorine with sodium bisulfite. The cleaned water is returned to the Tualatin River to be used again.

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Solid Waste Management - Overview for Kids 2018

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Every second Saturday of the month, dozens of individuals and families line up at the back door of Macau Portuguese School, each carrying bags of household items such as plastic bottles, food trays and takeaway boxes. They are here to drop off the items at the monthly recycling station hosted by Macau for Waste Reduction , a non-government group that aims to promote and demonstrate proper recycling methods in the city.

Since its launch in 2019, Macau for Waste Reduction has become a household name for environmentally conscious citizens in Macao. Founded by around 10 eco-activists, the group started the campaign by hosting one to two drop-off locations each month.

As the campaign gradually gains prominence, more community stakeholders - such as schools, community centres and commercial brands - have reached out to the group, hoping to co-host pop-up or permanent recycling stations.

Today, the group operates regular recycling stations at five different locations: Macau Portuguese School, Ha Wan Baptist Association, University of Saint Joseph (Ilha Verde campus), Colégio Perpétuo Socorro Chan Sui Ki (Sucursal) and Macau Anglican College.

Capricorn Leung, a co-founder of Macau for Waste Reduction, believes that the campaign's expansion reflects an increasing demand for proper recycling channels in the city.

"Macao generates an overwhelming amount of waste due to a large number of tourists," explains Leong. "Meanwhile, people also rely heavily on takeaway food which uses single-use containers. If people cannot recycle these materials properly, they will all be sent to the incinerators and destroyed."

Macao Recycling: Less than 1 per cent

Municipal waste is one of the most pressing environmental issues for Macao to tackle. According to a government report , the amount of solid waste created in the city reached 437,592 tonnes in 2020, equivalent to 1.74 kg of solid waste per person per day. Although Macao's solid waste decreased 19.8 per cent compared to 2019 (for the first time in 10 years) due to the pandemic and lack of tourists, Macao still surpassed many nearby cities such as Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, in terms of waste generated per person per day.

Organic waste (33.5 per cent) made up the lion's share of waste produced in 2020, followed by paper (27.2 per cent) and plastic waste (20.1 per cent). However, the overall recycling rate for these three materials remains as low as less than 1 per cent.

Macao's inadequate recycling efforts prompted Leong and her friends to take action. According to Leong, before the launch of Macao for Waste Reduction, the government had already set up recycling bins to collect plastic, metal and paper; however, people often throw rubbish inside.

"Today, those who want to recycle properly don't trust the recycling bins. They are worried that other rubbish could contaminate their recyclables," Leong explains.

To overcome this problem, Macao for Waste Reduction assigns representatives to host each recycling station, who answer questions and check the quality of the recyclables submitted.

The stations' design also enables people to sort plastics into five clear categories, namely PET (plastic #1), HDPE (plastic #2), LDPE (plastic #4), PP (plastic #5) and PS (plastic #6). Then there's a section for plastic materials without a code (such as fruit nets, cling wrap and peanut foam), and others for paper and metal.

"It's important to sort the plastic properly so that they can be recycled back into their own categories. If various plastics mix, the recycled plastic will be low quality," Leong explains.

The group sends all the collected plastic to a local recycling factory, where it's either melted and broken down into plastic pellets or sent to other cities or regions, such as Hong Kong, for further processing.

According to Leong, the ideal solution is to process the plastic locally to avoid the carbon footprint created when sending materials overseas. However, sometimes that is not possible since the local factories need a minimum volume of plastic to operate.

"If more people practice recycling in Macao, the factory will be able to collect more materials and will be able to recycle the plastic locally," she says.

Although the amount of recyclables collected by Macau for Waste Reduction (around 100 kg per month) is still nominal, Leong believes that the campaign has planted a seed in the city and raised awareness about proper recycling.

"Not only do our participants keep coming, but they also bring their friends and family members to our events so that more people can learn how to recycle properly," says Leong.

Leong also notices that people are making an effort to improve the quality of their recyclables by cleaning and sorting them properly. "In the beginning, we always had to check the items they brought us. We even had to ask them to clean the items. But now, the recyclables are usually in good shape."

Meanwhile, Leong believes that their campaign may have inspired the government to improve its recycling programme. Starting from January 2020, the government expanded its efforts, setting up recycling bins inside about 800 buildings. It also started collecting larger electronics and home devices, such as computers, refrigerators, air-conditioning units, TVs and washing machines. The Eco Fun Clean Recycling Street Stations organised by the Environmental Protection Bureau, for example, now collect a wider variety of plastics like Leong's group.

"The public support for Macau for Waste Reduction has demonstrated to the government that people in Macao are willing to practice clean recycling, as long as the instructions are clear and the recycling process is transparent," says Leong.

And although the best solution is to stop creating waste in the first place, there is always a need for recycling in a city like Macao, which relies on imported products. Therefore, she urges the government to take the lead in cultivating recycling practices in Macao.

"Launching a 'polluters pay' policy, optimising and enhancing supervision at recycling facilities, and most importantly, promoting recycling and waste reduction education - this is what the government can do to promote better practices in Macao," says Leong. "Why do we keep sending valuable materials to the incinerators when they could otherwise enjoy a second life?"

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Planting a seed: The co-founder of Macau for Waste Reduction says Macao residents are ready to recycle, but they need a better system

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Macau for Waste Reduction co-founder Capricorn Leong saw enthusiasm for recycling among residents. But they need infrastructure to match.

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Zhengzhou City’s Plans To Build Nature Park Turn Into A Sandy Mess

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Zhengzhou City’s Plans To Build Nature Park Turn Into A Sandy Mess has 93 reviews and 0 ratings. Reviewer dn-olm2 wrote: “They should have thought of this better, but at least it was a good try!”

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People have moved to new lands throughout history. In modern times, the largest waves of immigration were from Europe to the Americas in the 1800s. Millions of Europeans joined this movement, known as the Great Atlantic Migration. Among them were Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, Irish, Italians, Greeks, and many others. Many of these immigrants settled in Canada or South America. But most of them went to the United States.

People from Asia also immigrated to the Americas in the 1800s. People from China began settling in the western United States in about 1820. Beginning in the mid-1800s many more people from China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines arrived in Hawaii and California.

The United States had been built by immigrants, starting with the first Europeans who moved onto Native American lands in the 1600s. Nevertheless, many Americans in the 1800s distrusted the newer immigrants. In 1882 the U.S. government halted immigration from China. Soon afterward, in the early 1900s, the government began limiting the number of immigrants from specific countries. These limits remained in place until 1965.

After 1965, many new immigrants came to the United States. Some arrived from Vietnam, India, and other places in Asia. Others came from eastern Europe. Still others came from the Caribbean-for example, Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. By the late 1900s, the largest groups of immigrants came from Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, especially Mexico.

Meanwhile, Canada, Australia, and several European countries also experienced waves of immigration in the mid-to-late 1900s. Large numbers of immigrants to Canada and Australia came from Asia. Many immigrants to Europe came from Asian and African countries that had been controlled by the British and French empires. For example, many people from India and Pakistan immigrated to Great Britain, and many Algerians immigrated to France. Also, in the late 1900s and early 2000s, many people from eastern Europe moved to western parts of the European Union.

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Immigration is the process of moving to a new country, with plans to live there permanently. People who move to a new country are called immigrants. But from the point of...

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police, public and private agents concerned with the enforcement of law, order, and public protection. In modern cities their duties cover a wide range of activities, from criminal investigation and apprehension to crime prevention, traffic regulation,

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The police have many tasks. First, they patrol, or keep watch over, streets and neighborhoods. Most police officers patrol in cars. But sometimes they patrol on foot, on horseback, on motorcycles, or on bicycles. Second, police go to the scenes of crimes and emergencies to catch criminals and to help victims. Third, police investigate, or study, crimes to find out who committed them. Police fight many types of crimes. One of the most serious is terrorism. (Terrorists use violence to try to affect people's beliefs or ways of life.)

Some police officers wear uniforms. Others work in everyday clothing, called plain clothes. Many police officers carry handcuffs, a notebook, and a two-way radio. Some also carry a handgun. Some use a stun gun or pepper spray to stop criminals without seriously harming them. Some officers travel with specially trained police dogs.

Police officers whose main job is investigating crimes are called detectives. Detectives usually work in plain clothes. They talk to witnesses, or people who may know something about the crimes. They also talk to suspects, or people they think may be guilty of the crimes. Detectives sometimes use hidden microphones or cameras to record the conversations and actions of suspects.

At the scene of a crime, detectives look for evidence, or clues to help them figure out who committed the crime. Evidence includes fingerprints, footprints, bits of cloth, blood, hair, and anything else that the criminal may have left behind. When they find the person who they think committed the crime, they arrest that person. The person may then be put on trial to determine if they did commit the crime. During the trial, the detectives and other police officers often talk about the evidence they gathered when they were investigating the crime.

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The police have many tasks. First, they patrol, or keep watch over, streets and neighborhoods. Most police officers patrol in cars. But sometimes they patrol on foot, on horseback, on motorcycles, or on bicycles. Second, police go to the scenes of crimes and emergencies to catch criminals and to help victims. Third, police investigate, or study, crimes to find out who committed them.

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The "Open Doors to Your Community" project is a virtual door that guides young people to the actual door of local resources so they can learn about their community, take action, and build connections and understanding of their roles in community.
What Is the Purpose of Public Safety?

A local police department serves communities by keeping people safe, enforcing laws, developing relationships, and making sure young people have the resources they need. Police departments welcome community members to ask them questions so everyone can learn together. Police departments may participate in trainings that help them understand diverse populations. Some departments provide services like "Shop with a Cop" and community fundraisers. You can get to know your local police officers and help raise funds for their community events. What do you know about your local police department and what would you like to know?

Meet the School Police Officer

In this brief video, we meet Austin Morris from Ludington Police Department. Officer Morris introduces us to a few of the many services provided by a police department and tells what volunteers can do to help.

Contact Your Police Department

Call and ask for the community liaison to set up a phone call or in-person interview. Tell them you'd like to learn more about the work of the police department so you can get involved or volunteer to help their mission. Ask for 30 minutes or an hour of their time. The Interview Script linked here and below can help you make the call.

Interview Questions

These questions can help you learn about your community and ways you can get involved.

1. What is the main purpose of the police department? This may be its mission or vision.

2. What are some challenges in the community that police officers seek to address?

3. What are some programs that address those issues?

4. What can a young person do to promote community safety?

5. How can a youth perspective help local police officers address a concern?

Take Action in Your Community
Reflect on the work of the police in your community. What can you help them do? Your voice and time matter. The resources below can help you plan a project. The best service-learning projects guide us to gain and use knowledge, are led by youth voice and passion, address a need, and develop connections with local resources over time.
Some young people like to thank police officers by bringing snacks or thank you cards to the department. Other youth plan or participate in community events that promote community relationships across neighborhoods.

Learning to Give Issue Area Toolkits include background on the issue, community connections, lessons and activities, project ideas, and planning guides. Check out the Equity and Justice Service-Learning Toolkit here.

Learning to Give Service Sparks guides provide directions for generous actions that encourage youth voice and promote the common good. Check out the Gratitude for Essential Workers service project here.

Learning to Give Literature guides combine selected literature with thought-provoking discussions and activities that teach about giving and civic engagement. Children of all ages can read the community-building book The Circles All Around Us. The young adult book All American Boys is a realistic story from two perspectives involving police brutality.

More about Public Safety
Fun Facts:

Around 12% of the police officers in the US are women.

About 33% of a police officer's time is spent in enforcing criminal law.

The term "Cops" came from the copper buttons on early police officer uniforms.

Other Services Police Departments Provide:

Maintaining public order and safety

Enforcing the law

Preventing, detecting, and investigating criminal activities through relationship building and training

School resource officer

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Open the Door to Your Local Police Station

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Open the door to your local police station and find out what they do to make your community a better place. A local police department serves communities by keeping people safe, enforcing laws, developing relationships, and making sure young people have the resources they need. Learn about this organization and how you can help.

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Occupation

Names

Paramedic

Profession

Health care

Description

Ambulance; Hospital; Pre-Hospital; Transport

Emergency medical technician

A paramedic is a health care professional who works for the emergency medical services, usually on an ambulance. They help people who have been injured or become ill very suddenly.

Paramedics use a variety different techniques and protocols to decide what the problem is and treat the patient at the scene. If it is needed, they then take the person to a hospital in the ambulance. They try to prevent the condition of the person from getting worse before they reach the hospital, where doctors and nurses will take over care. A paramedic is trusted by the people and can be part of every kind of unstable situations and emergency.

People often use the term "paramedic" for anyone who works on an ambulance. However, not all ambulance crew have paramedic as their job title. "Emergency Medical Technicians" or "Emergency Care Assistants" do similar work but have less training. Some ambulances also have doctors and nurses. In many countries, the title of "paramedic" is for those who have taken a specific training course.

Images for kids

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Occupation Names Paramedic Profession Health care Description Ambulance; Hospital; Pre-Hospital; Transport Emergency medical technician A paramedic is a health care professional who works for the emergency medical services, usually on an ambulance. They help people who have been injured or become ill very suddenly.

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There are many steps in road building. First, road builders choose a route, or path, for the road. They must carefully study how the road will affect the businesses, homes, traffic, plants, and animals of the area. Next, road builders buy the land on which they will build the road.

Construction of unpaved roads (roads without pavement) is simple. Builders clear away trees, bushes, and plants from the roadway-the strip of land over which the road will pass. Then they smooth out the roadway and press the surface down with a machine called a roller. This type of road is suitable for areas where few cars travel.

Roads that many cars will use must be stronger than roads that have less traffic. These roads are paved. Paving materials include asphalt and concrete. Asphalt is a thick, dark, flexible material made from petroleum, or oil. Concrete is a mixture of cement, water, sand, and gravel. When it dries it becomes as hard as stone.

A strong road may start with a layer of asphalt. On top of the asphalt is a layer of sand, gravel, or crushed stone. A final layer of asphalt or concrete finishes the road. The concrete may have steel rods or mesh inside it for extra strength.

Most major modern roads are built with a gentle slope downward from the center of the road outward. This slope is called a crown. The crown allows water to run off the road. These roads also have a system for draining water away from the sides.

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There are many steps in road building. First, road builders choose a route, or path, for the road. They must carefully study how the road will affect the businesses, homes, traffic, plants, and animals of the area. Next, road builders buy the land on which they will build the road.

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How are roads built? (Are We There Yet: Guide to Roads)