A Day in the Life of a Camelback Fellow: Building the Village with TrainingGrounds
In New Orleans, where culture, resilience, and community run deep, TrainingGrounds is quietly transforming what it means to support families.
Nearly a decade ago, Melanie Richardson made a promise alongside her co-founder: once their doors opened, they would never close.
That promise still stands.
“This is a way of life.“
For Melanie, TrainingGrounds isn’t just an organization, it’s personal. Rooted in her own upbringing, the work is about rebuilding something many families have lost: a village. As families have become more dispersed particularly in post-Katrina New Orleans, the informal networks of grandparents, neighbors, and caregivers have faded. TrainingGrounds steps into that gap not as a service provider, but as a community anchor.
Inside their We PLAY Centers, that philosophy comes to life.
What Happens Inside a We PLAY Center
At first glance, it looks simple: a room filled with children playing. But step closer, and you’ll see something deeper. TrainingGrounds describes the model as “a learning lab for parents disguised as a play center.”
- Children (birth to 3 years) engage in child-led, no-tech play
- Parents and caregivers learn in real time about language, development, and connection
- Staff guide, model, and support without interrupting the magic of PLAY
There are no screens. No rigid programming. Just intentional interaction. Parents learn things like:
- Why barefoot play can support early walking
- How “serve and return” builds language development
- How to follow their child’s lead rather than direct it
And when families need more? They walk next door.
Beyond Play: Wrapping Families in Support
In 2022, Training Grounds launched the We CONNECT Family Resource HUB which is an evolution driven by listening to families. Rather than handing out referrals, family navigators walk alongside parents. Resources include applying for Medicaid or SNAP, connecting to speech therapists and enrolling in education or workforce programs.
It’s not transactional. It’s relational. And it’s working.
The Power of Staying
In a post-Hurricane Katrina landscape, trust wasn’t guaranteed. Many organizations came and went. Funding ended, and so did services. TrainingGrounds chose a different path: stay, no matter what.
“If I close these doors, I have to look at families and know that we could have helped them,” said Richardson who credits her team’s accountability to community, not just funders, as what has built trust with clients for a decade.
Today, that trust shows up in the numbers:
- 1,850 New Members (adults and children) in 2026
- 5,918+ Adults and Children Served since 2017
- 54,395 ongoing touchpoints
- Nearly 20 full-time staff with 100% employer-paid health benefits
But the real proof? Parents who still shout across the street years later:
“We’re a We PLAY family! You remember us?”
Camelback Ventures: A Turning Point
Like many early-stage founders, Melanie and her co-founder were operating on pure commitment. They were working multiple part-time jobs just to keep the doors open two days a week. Then came Camelback Ventures and the Camelback Fellowship.
Melanie credits Camelback’s capital investment into TrainingGrounds for moving into a permanent, paid space; staff salaries and the start to building sustainable infrastructure.
“It was the turning point… we could finally see it,” said Richardson.
It didn’t just change the organization, it changed our families’ lives, too.
Building More Than Programs: Building People
TrainingGrounds doesn’t just serve families. It grows leaders. Stories of celebration include:
- A father who once came seeking support now leads programming for other dads.
- A staff member launched her own venture with Melanie’s encouragement and recommendation. That same staff member later became a Camelback Fellow herself.
- Team members are supported not just professionally, but personally
This is what Richardson calls the “coaching tree” – a model where people don’t just stay, they grow and go on to lead.
Scaling the Model, Not Losing the Soul
From one rent-free room in 2017 Richardson’s original dream has blossomed into two We PLAY Center locations, a third administrative office, new programming in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and early conversations about national replication.
TrainingGrounds is expanding. But growth hasn’t changed the core of its mission: listen to families, build with them and stay committed.
What It Takes to Keep the Doors Open
When asked what’s needed next, Melanie is clear about the type of support TrainingGrounds seeks including sustainable funding to expand physical spaces and reach more families; cultural shift around parenting by recognizing that all parents (regardless of income) need support; and community amplification meaning more people sharing, connecting, and championing the work.
“Just because you have a child doesn’t mean you know what to do.”
Why This Work Matters
At its heart, TrainingGrounds is about possibility. It’s about a mother who decides to parent differently. A child who thrives because of early support. A father who finds community after loss. And a founder who refuses to walk away.
“Those are the things that keep me going…the nights I’m up trying to figure out how to move forward,” said Richardson.
At Camelback, we talk about Building a New Blueprint – one where proximity, lived experience, and community-rooted leadership redefine how change happens.
TrainingGrounds is that blueprint in action. Not built quickly. Not built easily. But built to last.
And nearly ten years later, the doors are still open.
To learn more and connect with Melanie Richardson and the team at TrainingGrounds visit: https://www.mytraininggrounds.org, join our email list, or follow them on social media @mytgnola. For more inspiring founder stories, watch our Built to Innovate: A Day In the Life of a Camelback Fellow series by following Camelback’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CamelbackVentures.
