Last month, Play Cousins Collective hosted a back to school carnival at its West Broadway headquarters. Kids made crafts, played games and won prizes.
“I’m doing so good!” 5-year-old Zoey Williams declared while she glued a cutout of a purple balloon onto red construction paper.
“You are doing amazing,” Play Cousins staffer Raven Worrall agreed.
Time to decorate. As Zoey sketched her mom, Worrall told her they share the same, beautiful hair.
“Yeah, brown. Just like … my skin is,” Zoey said.
“Beautiful brown,” Worrall added.
Through hands-on activities like this, Play Cousins Collective helps Black children celebrate their identity and build self-confidence.
Zoey’s mother, Tylar Johnson, first brought her daughter to Play Cousins as a toddler.
“Play Cousins is like my community,” Johnson said. “And I also want to instill that in her, to have a community – you know, a consistent community – that she can always rely on.”
Play Cousins Collective works to build community with Black families in Louisville, with elders caring for the next generation. They offer free educational programs, parent support groups and other resources. The group’s name means extended kinship.
“So if you go to West Africa right now, you’ll see people calling out auntie and uncle. That’s not their real auntie or uncle, right? That’s extended kinship,” Play Cousins founder Kristen Williams explained. “That’s a method of healing and resilience that has crossed the ocean and still exists to this day.”
Helping kids celebrate identity and build confidence
Play Cousins encourages Black children to consider themselves the main character in their own lives. That matters, Williams said, because society teaches Black children to see themselves as ‘other.’
“If you are not actively challenging that, then that is what they are going to know: That they’re the sidekick, or that they’re the comic relief. Or they’re the source of entertainment, they’re the athlete,” she said.
Zion Smith sits on the Louisville Metro Youth Cabinet. As a Black kid growing up here, he said he often felt labeled, like people were trying to fit him into a box.
“Everyone is different, and everyone has the right to choose what they want to do and how they want to think,” he said. “I don't want to stereotype to define what I'm going to be as I grow older, and I really pursue my dreams.”
Williams said Black children are constantly told to be smaller and quieter – to stay still. Play Cousins’ programming stands in opposition to that.
“And so when they walk into a space where they're able to get big, or they're able to raise their voice, right, sometimes they don't even know what to do,” she said. “Somebody’s asking them, ‘What do you think about this?’ That's so powerful. And it's something that they remember.”
Seven-year-old Eliana Davis and her siblings go to Play Cousins’ Mizizi after-school program. She and her brother, Micaiah, said they have fun there and get to learn about their Black ancestors.
Eliana recently gave a speech at a ribbon cutting for Sankofa Sanctuary, a community playground Play Cousins has been developing at Chickasaw Park.
“Mizizi has given me an opportunity to dream about the kind of world I want to live in,” she said. “A place where I can be a kid. A place where I can get dirty and be loud and have fun with my friends.”
Eliana’s mother, Danika Davis, has gotten involved with Play Cousins, too.
"I saw how rewarding it was for my kids, and I just wanted to be a part of it,” Davis said. “This is something I can get down with. This is something that I can see is doing a lot of good things in our community and for our people.”
Many families first encounter Play Cousins through the Play and Learn Labs the group hosts at community events. Over 1,700 people participated last year, according to their annual report.
Children work with Black educators, and they might read books with diverse characters or listen to music with affirmations like, “I love my hair, I love my skin, I love my life.”
Albert Shumake appreciates how Play Cousins’ programs teach his daughter, Ella, about her cultural heritage.
“The Play Cousins give her the courage and the strength to really be confident in who she is,” he said. “And just having an understanding of just her greatness helps her to hold space for herself in all places.”
Lowering barriers through free therapy
Play Cousins aims to build pathways to healing for Black families.
Research by Louisville Metro Government shows Black people generally have a lower life expectancy than other Jefferson County residents.
“We really think about white supremacy culture and try to answer that with ancestral methods of healing and resilience,” Williams said.
She said they measure their success, in part, by tallying up attendance at their programs and gathering feedback through surveys and testimonials. They develop new programs based on what families tell them they need.
Play Cousins also aims to lessen the stigma within the Black community around seeking mental health support. One program called Holding Space offers free therapy to kids and adults – up to 12 sessions per person. Black therapists meet clients at Play Cousins’ headquarters.
Williams said it took time to get this initiative off the ground.
“It had a rough start because, you know, trust has to be built within communities,” she said. “But as the word is getting out, more and more people – whole families and children – are being served through Holding Space.”
Mahogany Livers is Play Cousins’ impact and operations manager. She said they realized just sharing information about mental health providers wasn’t sufficient because so many families hit barriers.
“They run into … oh, they're not accepting clients, or they don't accept their insurance, or they may not get a call back once they call to inquire,” she explained. “And it kind of just furthers the stigma about accessing quality mental health services.”
Play Cousins’ latest annual report said people went to 114 Holding Space therapy sessions last year.
Sharing knowledge and resources
As they continue to grow, Williams said funding is the number one challenge. To stretch their resources, Play Cousins joins forces with other groups. But Williams said they’re judicious about who they work with, turning down offers from organizations that harm Black families. They want all their partnerships to be rooted in respect.
“And even challenging the concept of philanthropy that, you know, you need to come and save me. But what does it look like for us to be in true partnership together?” Williams said. “What can I teach you? What can you teach me? How can we share information with one another in a way that feels equitable and like we’re family?”
Sharing knowledge is foundational to Play Cousins’ ethos. So is sharing resources. This summer, Play Cousins teamed up with the group Black Soil KY to provide free groceries to families in four west Louisville ZIP codes: 40203, 40210, 40211 and 40212.
Elgina Bullock-Smith, Play Cousins’ director of community healing, said the produce all comes fresh from a Black Kentuckian’s farm.
“We're actually seeing these families come get this produce, and it's making a difference tonight on what they are providing on their tables for dinner,” she said.
Play Cousins’ relationship with a family might start with a bag of vegetables and grow from there.
“This is the village. And so whomever is in need of us, we're play aunties, we're play elders, we're play cousins, we're play uncles,” she said. “Everybody has their role.”
This reporting was supported by a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network.
