It started with four people who’d never played dodgeball
In 2015, Alexander Robertson returned to his childhood home in Glenville, Cleveland, and asked five employees of his youth landscaping program if they wanted to play dodgeball. Four had never played in their lives. The self-proclaimed LeBron James of dodgeball took that personally — and turned it into a $2,000 Neighborhood Connections grant. Recess Cleveland was born August 9th, 2015 (Alex’s birthday). The first event drew around 100 people.
Growth, one game at a time
Zorbs arrived in 2016 — along with our social mission, after learning 42% of schools had canceled or reduced recess. Bounce houses in 2017. Adult bounce houses in 2018, the year Alex went full-time. By 2019: 82 events, 12 neighborhoods, 8,300 attendees. When COVID hit, RecessKits — a 5-gallon bucket with 70 play items and rules for 20 games — kept play alive and taught us our program could ship.
From bucket to pod
RecessPods are RecessKits at community scale: shipping containers and trailers instead of buckets, a full online curriculum instead of a rule book, and the operational playbook from hundreds of events. With a 25,000 sq ft storage space on Euclid Avenue and an 11,000 sq ft programming space on Hamilton Avenue, we’re running year-round — and ready to scale beyond Cleveland.
Where you come in
Whether you’re a school, a city, a foundation, or a sponsor, there’s a pod with your name on it. See use cases, check the numbers, or get a pod.