The Family Care Center in Lexington that serves low income families, received a $75,000 grant from PNC Foundation to build a nature based playground, a PNC official says.

The project is among the first of its kind in the community.

The family care center serves a low income population.

Most of our children live in apartment complexes.

Some do not even have playgrounds.

A majority of the children that we serve have not been exposed to a nature based playground and learning environment.

Parents are working and often do not have time to take their child to a local park.

That's about to change for the children here at the Family Care Center.

Helping prepare young children for success in school and life.

Accomplishes several objectives that create economic impact both now and in the future.

A $75,000 grant from the PNC Foundation through PNC Grove.

Great to help fund the development of an outdoor play and learning environment here at the Family Care Center.

Exactly where you're sitting right now.

And our new nature based playground, they will have the opportunity to enhance their daily learning activities with everyday objects and nature.

We're thinking of love, bridges, climbers, tunnels, log balance beams and tree steppers.

Studies show that when natural elements are incorporated into a playground, the length of time a child plays is more than double to have a playground of this magnitude.

It would be a really huge deal, not just to the children, but to the teachers as well, because this will give them the opportunity for a lot of teaching moments about nature.

So here at the Family Care Center, we have four different programs.

We have a parent education program, which is our high school program so that our teen moms can finish their high school credits.

We also have the HANDS program, which is open to new families who have children ages 0 to 2.

We also have a family service coordination program, which is a program that with families for children ages 0 to 5 that they can go through.

And we also have an early childhood education program for ages 0 to 5.

What makes the Family Care Center unique is our parent education program.

We are the only alternative program in Fayette County that offers this program for our teen moms and our pregnant moms.

The way that this works is that a school bus will actually pick up the mom and their baby and bring them to school in the morning.

We've had a lot of parents say that bringing their children here just makes it easier for them.

They're able to go to work and know that their children are taken care of, that they're safe, and that they are going to learn something while they're here.

The construction of the park will happen in two phases.

The first phase is expected to be finished in the fall and the second phase next summer.