PROVIDENCE – The effort to build a rock-climbing playground for Jamestown children got a push recently when the R.I. Department of Environmental Management awarded the project a $38,000 grant.

The grant represents half the cost of kidsROCK, which will consist of “at least two large, man-made boulders with connecting ropes designed for use by middle-school age children,” according to a news release. The climbing rocks will be located behind the Lawn Avenue School, where middle schoolers will use them during school hours, and will be open to the public the rest of the time.

The grant is one of 35 recreation grants the DEM announced last week, and requires that organizers raise enough money to match it. Those planning kidsROCK have already raised approximately $31,000 through donations. •