Seven-year-old Ethan Chavez, six-year-old Misael Lira and seven-year-old Mercy Abarca spun together on a wheelchair-accessible merry-go-round at Rialto City Park last week, a small moment that captures exactly what the city set out to build. Rialto now has its first fully inclusive playground, a themed space called “You Belong Here” designed so children with physical, sensory, cognitive and social disabilities can play right alongside their peers rather than watch from the sidelines.
The playground opened July 31 at Rialto City Park, according to the San Bernardino Sun. It features a teeter-totter with safe transfer points, a roller slide with spinning rollers for gentle sensory feedback, wheelchair-accessible special surfaces, a ramp leading wheelchairs directly into the play structure, and the accessible merry-go-round that drew Ethan, Misael and Mercy on a recent afternoon. Nearby, 10-year-old Misael Abarca climbed a rope structure while 2-year-old Iris Lira ran up a ramp built into the accessible play area, the outlet reports.
Cynthia Alvarado-Crawford, Rialto's director of parks, recreation and community services, called the opening a milestone for the city. Per a news release cited by the Sun, she said the playground gives every child in Rialto an opportunity to play and is meant to close the gap of routine exclusion that children with disabilities often experience at standard parks. “It's the moment a child who has never simply been able to show up and play finally gets to do exactly that,” Alvarado-Crawford said.
Grassroots Push From a Rialto Parent
The project traces back to a parent, Catherine Hadnot, who emailed San Bernardino County Supervisor Joe Baca Jr. asking for accessible, sensory-friendly park space, according to IE Community News. Hadnot's advocacy focused on the need for accessible, sensory-friendly park space. That advocacy helped set the project in motion within Rialto's city government.
The project drew from federal Community Development Block Grant funds, CDBG COVID-relief funds and city general funds. That investment transformed a corner of Rialto City Park, a green space that hosts community events like Movies in the Park.
National Certification and a Colorful Design
PlayCore's Center for Outreach, Research & Education has named the Rialto playground a National Demonstration Site, per the news release referenced by the Sun. The playground's design goes beyond minimum accessibility standards. Struthers Recreation discusses inclusive-design principles.
The playground's bright color scheme was inspired by the multicolored logo of Rialto's Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, per the same account from IE Community News.
A National Gap in Inclusive Play
The article places that investment in a national context. It also points to California Department of Education special-education data for San Bernardino County, compiled by Kidsdata.org.
Locally, the article also considers disability access in Rialto and links to the City of Rialto's housing reports. Rialto's project is part of a broader discussion about upgrading public spaces for children with disabilities.
A Park With a Recent Somber Chapter
The playground's debut also comes not long after Rialto City Park was the site of a police investigation. Officers discovered a deceased man on the park grounds on July 19, 2026, as Hoodline previously reported, in a case that unfolded just days before the new playground's grand opening. That investigation cast a brief shadow over the same grounds now hosting children like Ethan, Misael, Mercy, Iris and Misael Abarca as they test out ramps, rollers and a merry-go-round built for every ability.
