The Children and Nature Network Conference in Austin on April 7-9 will feature Annie Bogenschutz, Community Learning Center Institute Director of Training and Development, who will speak about including nature partnerships as part of the transformation of school as neighborhood hubs.

Cincinnati community learning centers include a range of innovative nature partners, unique to the vision of each school and its community. A partnership between the Oyler Community Learning Center and Green Acres ensures that children in a dense urban neighborhood have a regular, year-long schedule of experiences on a working farm. Roberts Academy Community Learning Center, in partnership with the Metropolitan Sewer District, the Millcreek Watershed Council and the EPA, are transforming the 14 acre school campus into rain gardens, bio-filtration swales, walking trails, and landscaping to divert and slow rainwater runoff and provide a thriving outdoor classroom and beautiful natural landscape for the community.

The partnerships at Oyler and Roberts as well as green roofs, early childhood nature playscapes, therapeutic gardens and many other nature partners have been developed through the leadership of Leave No Child Behind, the Community Learning Center Partnership Network, which facilitates the development of these partnerships. The Cincinnati Leave No Child Inside Network was founded and is led by Betsy Townsend, Chair of the Board of the national Child and Nature Network.

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