PRINEVILLE, OR -- Voting is now open for a contest that could net Prineville thousands of dollars to create an all-abilities playground. Old Stryker Field is competing against a park in Baker City and one in Independence for funds provided by the Portland Trail Blazers Moda Assist Program. Moda Health's Karis Stoudamire-Phillips tells KBND News, "We selected cities that had about a 10,000 people population, and we invited those cities to submit an application. Those cities submitted applications and then our review committee reviewed those applications, and we were really excited that Prineville decided to submit." She says the Blazers and Moda Health visited Prineville in September during the Rip City Relay and loved the community's fans. 

Prineville Park Competes for Blazers Grant (01/24/2019)

More money is available this time around, compared to last year when Redmond's Baker Park won $10 per on-court assist made by the Blazers in a game, "This year, we have actually upped that to $20," says Stoudamire-Phillips, "We decided that we've been doing this program for awhile, let's go ahead and increase it and the competition has been excellent over the last few years and we just really wanted to reward cities for their hard work and commitment to this project." Construction of the new playground at Baker Park begins this spring.

The winning park is determined by online vote, at the Blazers website. Click HERE to go straight to the voting page. Stoudamire-Phillips says people can vote once per day, "Folks can start voting right away and the voting goes for four weeks, and ends on March 20. Whoever has the most votes at the end of that four-week voting period will win the monies that are being raised through the assists throughout the season." That winning city will be presented a check at the final home game of the season, by Blazers Point Guard Damian Lillard, who is the program's ambassador.