The Nature of Community

In The Nature of Community: SCIENCES, we share the lessons learned from an innovative partnership designed to leverage the strengths of two nonprofit organizations—a large cultural institution and a smaller, deeply-rooted community-based organization, both of which offer informal science education expertise.

You’ll read first-hand reflections of how staff members, community leaders and members, children, and adults experienced this partnership: the expectations, surprises, challenges, successes, and lessons learned. We hope the description of this partnership inspires other organizations to reach outside of their comfort zones, to try something new, to falter, to listen and learn, to collaborate, to build on complementary strengths, and ultimately to reinforce connections to nature and science wherever you live.

Suggested citation:

Breen Bartecki, S., Kelly, L.-A.D., & Marks, T. (2019). The nature of community. SCIENCES: Supporting a Community’s Informal Education Needs—Confidence and Empowerment in STEM. Brookfield, IL: Chicago Zoological Society.