Summer program provides inner-city kids with educational fun

Nature Next Door is a Cincinnati Park Board summer program designed to offer an environmental education to inner-city/lower income children.

The program reaches children who do not normally have access to formal day camps, field trips or outdoor learning experiences.

Through interactive and hands-on activities, the sessions teach children about natural resources and environmental issues, using neighborhood parks as outdoor classrooms. Each week, the class focuses on different topics, including: * energy and energy conservation; * recycling; * wildlife; * water life and water uses; and * rocks and fossils.

To the greatest extent possible, program officials use the resources on hand in the neighborhood park, emphasizing that nature and the environment are local issues and encouraging the children’s sense of ownership and stewardship for the area.

Materials from the park board’s nature centers are brought in to supplement the neighborhood parks’ resources, and appropriate materials are also obtained from other agencies.

Nature Next Door targets elementary-age children who would benefit from constructive activities during summer months when school is not in session.

The children can also register for other programs involving recreation camps, daycare centers, churches and community centers. The program staff forms informal partnerships with these service providers, enabling them to schedule their participants in Nature Next Door.

More than 1,700 children participated in the seven-week program in 1996, and the results were encouraging. The park board provides several program formats: pre-registered daycamps, subsidized field trips to natural areas and drop-in programming. Trial programs appear to be the most successful for reaching the greatest number of disadvantaged children.

While many programs and services exist for low-income children, most require advance registration. Nature Next Door participants do not need to register and can come and go any time they want to. The program is designed to be accessible to all children regardless of whether they have supportive families.

The program was not designed as a childcare service but rather as a safe leisure time alternative for children in their own neighborhood parks.

Nearly 2,000 children participated in the program in 1997, at a cost of about $10,000, which covers the salaries of the three seasonal naturalists who conduct the lessons, consumable supplies and transportation.

The program is unique because it does not rely on tax dollars but instead uses donations from city employees through a payroll deduction system set up by the Cincinnati Park Foundation. The board is now considering providing the program year-round while expanding it to surrounding areas.