Meet Jill.
I grew up in Washington, DC and spent my childhood playing all kinds of sports. As an undergraduate at Harvard, I had the good fortune to have amazing mentors, combined with an extraordinary education and a rigorous introduction to service learning. Plus, I got to play rugby!
After college, I ran Harvard's Public Service Program for a year, taught swimming in remote communities along the Kuskokwim River in Alaska, and, after moving to the Bay Area, even worked briefly as a socially responsible stock broker. At age 23, not knowing any better, I launched the Museum of Children's Art, building interactive spaces where children and their families can create, share and connect through art.
At 31, while pregnant with my oldest child, I started Playworks after an encounter with a principal who was frustrated by her recent experience disciplining three boys who'd gotten in trouble at recess. She was concerned that because of recess, these boys were coming to see themselves as bad kids. I realized that had I not gotten a chance to run around at school every day, I would have had a really hard time succeeding. And I could see how through just a few small tweaks in how school recess was structured, we could deliver an outsized impact on the experience these kids had at school. In 2015-16, I got to spend a year as a fellow at the Stanford d.school, and as a result co-founded Substantial, a nonprofit that helps improve the substitute teaching experience for everyone.
When the pandemic forced school closures in March, 2020, Playworks was hit hard. After furloughing most of the staff and then re-opening thanks to the PPP, we decided to significantly contract so that we could be sure to weather the uncertainties of the 2021 school year. I included myself in those layoffs and suddenly found myself with a lot of time on my hands. I’ve always enjoyed writing – check out the BOOKS page to read more about what I’ve written – and so I took this opportunity to turn my attention to writing about the lessons learned from 25 years of leading Playworks. I also used this time to become more actively involved with politics and to begin thinking more about how I might personally contribute to making our democracy just a little more participatory. (I also had the incredible good fortune to get to backpack the John Muir Trail, and I can’t recommend it enough!)
After college, I ran Harvard's Public Service Program for a year, taught swimming in remote communities along the Kuskokwim River in Alaska, and, after moving to the Bay Area, even worked briefly as a socially responsible stock broker. At age 23, not knowing any better, I launched the Museum of Children's Art, building interactive spaces where children and their families can create, share and connect through art.
At 31, while pregnant with my oldest child, I started Playworks after an encounter with a principal who was frustrated by her recent experience disciplining three boys who'd gotten in trouble at recess. She was concerned that because of recess, these boys were coming to see themselves as bad kids. I realized that had I not gotten a chance to run around at school every day, I would have had a really hard time succeeding. And I could see how through just a few small tweaks in how school recess was structured, we could deliver an outsized impact on the experience these kids had at school. In 2015-16, I got to spend a year as a fellow at the Stanford d.school, and as a result co-founded Substantial, a nonprofit that helps improve the substitute teaching experience for everyone.
When the pandemic forced school closures in March, 2020, Playworks was hit hard. After furloughing most of the staff and then re-opening thanks to the PPP, we decided to significantly contract so that we could be sure to weather the uncertainties of the 2021 school year. I included myself in those layoffs and suddenly found myself with a lot of time on my hands. I’ve always enjoyed writing – check out the BOOKS page to read more about what I’ve written – and so I took this opportunity to turn my attention to writing about the lessons learned from 25 years of leading Playworks. I also used this time to become more actively involved with politics and to begin thinking more about how I might personally contribute to making our democracy just a little more participatory. (I also had the incredible good fortune to get to backpack the John Muir Trail, and I can’t recommend it enough!)
