When Kimley-Horn’s designers sat down to dream up their playhouse for Dallas CASA’s 2019 Parade of Playhouses, they kept coming back to a theme: inclusion and unity.

“We reviewed all the houses from past years and noticed a lot of themes,” said Kimley-Horn’s Jonathan Campbell. “But we realized we could use the theme of our house as a platform.”

Ultimately, the group settled on an inclusive theme, and the house mirrors the colorful, well-known symbol of autism awareness. Square in shape, with colorful side paneling, the house brings awareness to autism but also an understanding of inclusiveness. The design team hopes it promote understanding.

“We hope it gives all kids the opportunity to interact,” Campbell said. “We want all kids to mix and mingle in the space.”

Dallas CASA’s Parade of Playhouses runs July 12 to 28 at NorthPark Center. With 17 houses on display and available to win by raffle, the event serves as Dallas CASA’s signature awareness event and raises funds to serve children who have suffered abuse or neglect. Dallas CASA’s trained and supervised community volunteers advocate for the best interests of children living in foster care because it’s not safe at home.

For Kimley-Horn, the house has already created greater awareness among staff designers and builders. Many people who worked on the house have friends or family members impacted by autism.

“We discovered almost everyone has been touched by autism,” Campbell said. “Whether it’s a family member with autism or a friend who works with students with autism, we all know someone affected.”

Kimley-Horn designer Alysa Gapinski’s mother teaches middle school students with autism and provided input for the design team. Madison Wavra, a landscape architecture student at Texas A&M interning at Kimley-Horn this summer, consulted a speech pathologist friend who works with students with autism.

The design team took into consideration colors and sensory elements as they designed, with the goal of creating house where all kids could feel comfortable and be active.

“We used cooler colors on the inside of the house so it would not be over-stimulating,” Wavra said. “And we were careful to consider sounds, also to limit sensory overload for sensitive children.”

When it came time for the design team to partner with builder TD Industries, the creative ideas kept coming. TD Industries suggested new and different building materials that bring textural change to the house, including colored Plexiglas, dowel rods that spin, aluminum slats, textured siding and smooth access portals.

“TD really embraced our idea and brought lots of their own ideas and materials,” Campbell said. “This house was a true collaborative team effort.”

McKinney resident Patrick Jackson wants the playhouse he’s building for Dallas CASA’s 23^rd annual Parade of Playhouses to be played with, played on and played under. He’s calling the playhouse “Warped” and hopes his playhouse is fully interactive.

“I dreamed of a place kids will play in, not just hang out in,” he said.

Dallas CASA’s Parade of Playhouses, which runs June 29 to July 15 at NorthPark Center, features custom-designed and built children’s playhouses on display and available to win by raffle. The event raises both funds and awareness for Dallas CASA, a nonprofit that trains and supervises community volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children removed from their home.

Jackson’s playhouse features a warped wall, a trampoline play area with a climbing wall, a slack rope course, a two-level tower and a climbing rope and more. He recruited friends and colleagues from the building world to donate materials and supplies, including composite decking with a core of sustainable bamboo and a recyclable outer finish layer.

North Dallas luxury homebuilder Les Owens, founder of LRO Residential, is building his ninth playhouse for Dallas CASA. The playhouses become a team effort each year for Les, his family and all his subcontractors. Owens sets the house on one of his job sites, and his crews take pride in working on it. Owens first became involved with Dallas CASA in 2009, after the birth of his first child.

“I saw how much love and support he was given by our family and the great support system he was going to have growing up,” said Owens, who lives in the Park Cities with his wife and young children. “It made me realize what many kids are missing. I realized with my skills I could build a playhouse and help CASA help kids in the foster system.”

Owens’ playhouses are creative and unique, and he aspires to build a quality product families would be proud to have in their backyards. He’s built a ski lodge, a fire station and a barn. Last year’s Tudor-inspired whimsical cottage featured a curved front door, a copper roof, oak flooring and full electrical.

“Many of my subcontractors and tradesmen work on them each year,” Owens said. “Once they know what the purpose of the house is, they are all in. It’s become something we look forward to each year.”

Emily Jones, a third-grader at Coppell’s Town Center Elementary School, was so moved by recent media stories about children sleeping in Child Protective Services offices that she took action. After talking to her teachers and counselors at her school, Emily talked to every third grade class at her school about the issue, explaining why children were coming into protective care and the challenges they might face. She then collected food and toiletry items for children who might have to stay the night in a CPS office. Now, when a child has been removed from their home due to abuse or neglect, they will have some comfort while CPS finds a place for them to stay. Emily, mom Allison and brother Connor delivered the items last week to Dallas CASA, which provides volunteer advocates for abused and neglected children.

John Gibson, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, is the new board chairman at Dallas CASA. The board, comprised of a diverse group of corporate executives, community leaders and philanthropists, advises Dallas CASA, a nonprofit organization that provides trained volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children in court.

On an average day in Dallas County, more than 2,000 abused and neglected children live in foster care because they cannot safely live at home. CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to advocate for the best interests of children under the protective care of the courts so they will have safe, permanent homes where they can thrive.

Gibson, the new board chair, has worked for Goldman Sachs for 20 years. In addition to leading the board, he is Dallas CASA’s first board chair to serve as an advocate. He is currently working three open cases for kids who’ve been removed from their homes. A Harvard graduate, Gibson has also served on the Dallas Winds board.

Mike Brosin and Cynthia Comparin have joined the Dallas CASA board as new members.

Brosin, a Dallas resident, is managing partner of Crest Cadillac / Crest Infiniti. Brosin attended Southern Arkansas University and worked his way up through the trenches to managing partner. His wife, Jana Brosin, is a Dallas CASA volunteer.

Comparin, a Dallas resident, is chief executive office of Animato, which she founded in 1997. Formerly president of Alltell’s Enterprise Network Services and vice president and general manager for Nortel’s Network Transformation Services Division, Comparin is very involved in community organizations and mentors disadvantaged high school students. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.