OU's Lowry Center wins support for inclusive recreation programs

Oakland University's Lowry Center for Early Childhood Education has partnered with the National Inclusion Project to implement Let's ALL Play, an initiative that helps children with disabilities participate in a variety of recreation programs.

This collaboration marks an important step toward achieving full inclusion, according to Jerry Aiken, executive director of the National Inclusion Project. "We feel that working with the Lowry Center for Early Childhood Education will help us further our mission to open doors in communities nationwide for children with disabilities to experience everything life has to offer," Aiken said.

Created in 2004, Let's ALL Play helps recreation programs throughout the country provide an inclusive atmosphere in which children with disabilities and their peers take part in activities such as swimming, arts and crafts, community service, physical fitness and more.

To support Lowry Center recreation programs, the National Inclusion Project will offer training and resources, including an $8,000 grant that will be used, in part, to offset summer camp tuition costs.

"We are very excited to work with the National Inclusion Project to further open the Lowry Center for Early Childhood Education program to children with disabilities," said Julie Ricks-Doneen, director of the Lowry Center.

"This will help enable us to give more children the chance to participate in activities they and their families may have never thought possible."

To learn more about the summer camp, visit oakland.edu/campatlowry. To learn more about Lowry Center programs, contact Ricks-Doneen at (248) 370-4107 or ricksdon@oakland.edu.