Working with our Community
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo innovates at the intersection of people, wildlife and the environment to secure a healthy future for our planet. In addition to working with communities to secure a future for wildlife around the world, the Zoo is also engaging communities in collaborative efforts closer to home. Whether we are working with international conservation partners across the globe or our neighbors closer to home, we develop programs based on community needs and activities and engaging communities in program planning is a key part of that approach.
Community Outreach Events
The Zoo's Community Engagement Team offers a variety of outreach programs from career talks and educational programs to visits to community events. Would you like the Engagement Team to visit your community or school? Please fill out the request form.
MINI FOREST
The Zoo partnered with Rooted in Trees in late September to plant the first-ever mini forest at a zoo in the United States. More than 800 trees were planted with help from The Holden Arboretum’s Tree Corp, members of the Student Conservation Association, and 30 8th-grade students from Cleveland’s Urban Community School. The mini forest, a small-scale, densely planted green space approximately the size of a tennis court, features 800 native trees and shrubs, including ironwoods, Ohio buckeyes, red oaks, tulip trees, viburnums, and witch hazels. The concept of mini forests, originally developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, PhD, has gained global popularity for its ecological and social benefits, including boosting biodiversity, managing stormwater, improving urban air quality, and enhancing community well-being.
The mini forest was planted in an existing green space along Big Creek, just down the hill from Rosebrough Tiger Passage. In just three years, the Zoo’s mini forest will transform into a lush, full-scale forest, providing educational opportunities and a serene space for over a million annual visitors to enjoy. Project partners see the mini forest as one model for urban green space restoration that demonstrates how innovative, community-driven approaches can make a significant impact on local environments and quality of life.
Co-Designing Programming With our Local Community (2021 - 2024)
Beginning in summer 2021, the Zoo participated in a three-year collaborative project to help us better serve our closest neighbors. We partnered with Antioch University on an AmeriCorps VISTA project that engaged our neighborhood communities in a co-design process that helped inform the development of future Zoo programming.
In collaboration with our neighbors and local organizations in Old Brooklyn, Brooklyn Centre, Stockyards, Clark-Fulton, Tremont, Ohio City and Detroit Shoreway, we identified current community needs as well existing community strengths and resources. With the Zoo’s mission in mind, we worked together to design relevant programming that built on these existing neighborhood assets and helped community needs and aspirations. We engaged target communities in a participatory co-design process.
As a result of our co-design process with the community we implemented a pilot program that focused on the needs and skills that were identified by the community. The program topic which the pilot program built on was determined through a series of focus groups, listening sessions and workgroups held in year 1 and 2 of the codesign process. Through the collaborative work between residents, service providers, closet neighborhoods and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo staff, a workforce development pilot program was developed with the Zoo Horticulture Department focus on high school students. The following skills were identified to be part of the curriculum and essential for students' success in their professional and personal life: time management, team building, technology, public speaking and research. We provided a combination of classroom- style presentations, hands- on practice and the development and design of a flower bed.
The pilot program was an important part of the co-design process as it allows real insight into the program goals and objectives. Once the pilot program was completed Zoo staff identified improvement areas, evaluated program design that guided decision on the long-term program.
This year (2025) we initiated the Teens Workforce Development and Leadership Program as our longer-term program based on the co-design process that focuses on building workforce and leadership skills.
For more information about this initiative contact, Kevin James at [email protected].
Teen Workforce and Development and Leadership Program
The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Education and Engagement Division, in conjunction with the Zoo’s Horticulture Division, provides a Teen Workforce and Leadership Development Program for teens ages 16–18. This program offers opportunities for participants to gain the skills needed to enter the workforce and provides them with leadership skills that enhance their ability to plan and implement service opportunities in the local community.
Participants gain skills in leadership, teamwork, communication, time management, critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, and work ethic. Additionally, they develop interviewing skills to successfully complete interviews and acquire the ability to plan and implement community service projects.