What does stormwater pollution look like when you trace it from a neighborhood sidewalk all the way to the ocean? That question is at the heart of Sidewalk to Sea, a community-designed, life-size floor game built by YouthBuild participants right here in Salem.
YouthBuild is a workforce development program that supports young adults in building construction skills alongside their high school equivalency. YouthBuild participants have long been partners with Salem Sound Coastwatch through community service learning, helping with neighborhood clean-ups and storm drain stenciling across Salem. Those hands-on actions are now woven directly into the game itself. Over 10 weeks, this same group of young people channeled that real community experience into something larger: designing and building a game that brings it all to life.
The finished board spans the floor of a full room, with players stepping across giant tiles representing real neighborhood landscapes, from roads and rooftops to parks and coastline, as they trace how pollution travels through a watershed. Three card categories, Prevent, Intervene, and Restore, challenge players to take the kinds of actions that communities can actually make at each step of that journey. Students tested prototype versions, gave feedback that shaped the design, and completed the graphic work used in the final game. On April 28th, they got to see all of that work come together and play on the full board for the first time.
Sidewalk to Sea was made possible through a Creative County Initiative grant from the Essex County Community Foundation.
Stay tuned to our events calendar and social media for upcoming opportunities to come play it yourself.