A Vision Without a Budget Is Still a Vision Worth Having
When the City of North Olmsted Recreation Department first reached out to Resources at Lakeshore Speech, they already knew what they wanted. They had a new playground going in, existing playgrounds that needed to be retrofitted, and a genuine commitment to making their spaces inclusive and accessible for every child in their community. What they did not have was a clear path to paying for it.
This is the most common place communities find themselves. The vision is there. The will is there. The budget is not — at least not yet. Our community engagement guide covers how to build that vision into a case for stakeholders, but North Olmsted‘s story shows what happens once that case is built.
The Conversation That Changed the Scope
When we sat down with the director of the North Olmsted Recreation Department, the conversation quickly expanded beyond a single board on a single playground sign installation. As we talked through the populations they served — the children with communication differences, the families who spoke languages other than English at home, the summer campers who came with a wide range of needs — it became clear that one board was not going to be enough.
It also became clear that their summer camp program had a specific and underserved need. Counselors were working with children who were multilingual, non-verbal, or both, and there was no consistent visual communication system in place to support either group.
Out of that conversation came an idea we had not originally planned for: a dual-sided camp communication board. One side was designed for campers — giving children a way to express themselves, make requests, indicate needs, and interact with peers. The other side was designed for counselors — providing a visual system for giving directions, managing group transitions, and communicating clearly with children who could not reliably process rapid verbal instructions.
This is the kind of customization that comes from a real conversation, not a catalog order. And it is the kind of solution that funders find compelling, because it solves multiple problems with a single investment.
Where the Money Came From
The North Olmsted Recreation Department staff did the hard work of researching their funding options, and they found it in a place that surprises many of our customers: the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
County Boards of Developmental Disabilities exist in every county in Ohio, and similar agencies exist in some form in most states across the country. Their mission is to support individuals with developmental disabilities and to fund initiatives that improve access, inclusion, and quality of life in the community. The National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors is a useful starting point if you want to find your own county’s equivalent agency.
The grant covered the full cost of all the boards North Olmsted needed — the new playground installation, the retrofits on the existing playgrounds, and the camp boards. What began as a budget problem became a fully funded, multi-site project.
What North Olmsted Got Right
There are a few things the North Olmsted team did that made their funding effort successful, and they are worth noting for any community that wants to follow a similar path.
- They started with a clear vision of what they wanted and where they wanted it, which made the scope of the project easy to communicate to a funder.
- They expanded their thinking beyond a single board when the conversation revealed a broader need, which made the project more impactful and more fundable.
- They identified a funding source that was specifically aligned with the population their project served, rather than applying broadly and hoping for a match.
- They leaned on the expertise of the Resources at Lakeshore Speech team to provide the documentation, specifications, and justification language that grant applications require.
If your project also includes a pool, splash pad, or aquatic center, the same funder logic applies just as well — our pool communication boards have been funded through nearly identical county and foundation grants.
What Your Community Can Learn from This
The North Olmsted story is not unique to North Olmsted. It is repeatable. The elements that made it work — a clear need, an expanded vision, a well-matched funding source, and a committed staff — are available in communities across the country.
If you are a recreation director, a special education coordinator, or a parent advocate wondering how your community could fund inclusive playground boards, start by asking one question: who in our county or region has a mission that aligns with communication access for children with disabilities? We help our customers ask and answer exactly these questions, and our guide to boosting community engagement covers how to keep that momentum going once the boards go up.
The Board That Went Up
North Olmsted now has communication boards on their new playground, retrofitted onto their existing playgrounds, and a dual-sided camp board that serves both campers and counselors across languages and communication styles. Every child who comes to those spaces has a voice. Every counselor has a tool.
That is what a funded vision looks like.
If you are ready to start building yours, request a free quote and let’s talk about what your community needs.
