{"id":216291,"date":"2023-08-26T15:58:33","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T21:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatizoo.wpengine.com\/?page_id=216291"},"modified":"2024-01-01T13:07:20","modified_gmt":"2024-01-01T19:07:20","slug":"community-gardens","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatizoo.org\/gardens\/community-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Adding beauty and resources to neighborhoods<\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Well-known for its work with the community, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has installed community and urban learning gardens as solo projects and in combination with partners throughout the Tristate.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Rockdale Garden<\/h4>\n

The best example of this is the 2-acre Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Urban Learning Garden at Rockdale Academy, which is essentially a mini-botanical garden, on the campus of Rockdale Academy, a K-6 elementary school two blocks from the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. This garden received the Perennial Plant Association\u2019s Award of Merit in 2022.[\/vc_column_text]

\n The Rockdale Garden Story<\/summary>
In the summer of 2021, The Cincinnati Reds, P&G, Cincinnati Children\u2019s Hospital Medical Center, and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden joined forces to transform a 1-acre portion of a school yard located in the Zoo’s neighborhood<\/a> into an urban learning garden that is now being used by students, neighbors, and even chefs at nearby Ronald McDonald House.\u00a0 Instead of declaring the project “finished” after planting and dedications were done, the Zoo committed to ongoing maintenance and support, even assigning a full-time employee to its upkeep, to ensure that the garden would continue to grow and benefit the community.\u00a0 That’s a literal example of how it’s sustainable, in the sense that it will be around for a long time.\u00a0 The garden is also a model of sustainable practices and includes an array of solar panels and other “green” elements that have been included in the students’ curriculum, nurturing the next generation to consider their impact and make green choices.
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The project has brought people from all places and backgrounds together, and so many have benefitted from the collaborative efforts of staff, volunteers, visitors, educators, students, community partners, board members, and neighbors. We all work in the garden and share what is harvested.\u00a0 The garden also provides income for young adults from Groundwork ORV<\/a>‘s Green Team, who are hired seasonally to help weed, plant, mulch, and care for the living classroom.\u00a0 The Groundwork Green Team program provides teens with income and transferable skills that they can use to pursue future employment in the green industry.\u00a0 By participating in activities like the\u00a0Rockdale<\/span>\u00a0Garden community event, they learn the basics of creating healthy landscapes and get to\u00a0connect<\/span>\u00a0with organizations that model sustainable behaviors.<\/div><\/details>[vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

<\/i>Read recent Community Garden news and stories.<\/a><\/p>\n

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