Page 7 - Impact Report_2019 PDF

Participants in the SCIENCES
initiative tend their garden at Eden
Place Nature Center in Fuller Park.
“We sought to bring the resources of
Brookfield Zoo to Fuller Park; to be a
satellite to bridge the distance from our
neighborhood to the zoo.”
—Michael Howard, founder and chief executive
officer of Eden Place Nature Center
In 2013, the Chicago Zoological Society (CZS) was awarded
a $1.9 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to
implement SCIENCES (Supporting a Community’s Informal
Education Needs: Confidence and Empowerment in STEM).
The SCIENCES initiative, which ended in August 2019, funda-
mentally challenged and changed the way we will continue to
develop and facilitate educational programs in communities.
SCIENCES was a collaboration of CZS and long-standing
partner Eden Place Nature Center, a nonprofit community
organization in Chicago’s Fuller Park neighborhood recognized
for its conservation and urban agriculture programs. The primary
goals of the initiative were to broaden access to and participation Academy in December 2019. The partnership between the Society
in science and environmental conservation, and to gain insights
into a community-engagement model that promotes lifelong
science learning.
The role of University of Illinois at Chicago researchers
was to study how the SCIENCES initiative supported scientific
literacy within the community.
“We need everyone to accomplish our conservation goals,”
said Sarah Breen Bartecki, Chicago Zoological Society senior
vice president of conservation programs, research, and
funding. “To advance our mission, SCIENCES provided
programs for multiple ages and audiences in Chicago’s Fuller
Park neighborhood.”
SCIENCES included nature play programs for young children;
programs for middle-schoolers, adults, and families; project-based
learning for teens; and professional development for educators.
Participants also enjoyed festivals, conservation action events, and
field trips to Brookfield Zoo. Conservation themes over three years
of educational programming reflected the interests and concerns
of the community. Themes included pollinators and native gardens,
water conservation, and nutrition and sustainability. Between 2014
and 2017, SCIENCES served more than 3,800 participants. All
SCIENCES programs were provided free of charge.
“I sit outside now and listen to the birds . . .
I want to plant milkweed so the butterflies
will come. It [SCIENCES] opened my eyes
to a world I was part of but wasn’t aware of.”
—Grandmother who attended with grandchildren
After the NSF funding for SCIENCES ended in 2017, CZS
found other sources of funding to keep the programs going. In fact,
SCIENCES led to the creation of the King Conservation Leadership
and Eden Place Nature Center is one of many partnerships that are
part of the new King Academy. Each year, King Academy programs
will serve thousands of people in Melrose Park, Cicero/Berwyn,
Belmont Cragin, Pilsen, Englewood, and Fuller Park.
When an outside party evaluated the SCIENCES initiative,
participants reported feeling more connected to the environment and
more comfortable with science. They also planned to be involved in
environmental stewardship activities going forward and reported
CHICAGO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY | 2019 IMPACT REPORT 5