Cleveland is one of nine cities across the country that was selected by the National Park Foundation to serve as a focus city for the Every Kid in a Park Program. This national program gives fourth grade students, and those accompanying them, free access to more than 2,000 federally managed lands and waters. It also supports special activities for fourth grade classes.
In addition, Cuyahoga Valley National Park was selected to receive a $210,000 field trip grant from the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks, to support the Every Kid in a Park program. The grant, part of the Foundation’s Open OutDoors for Kids program, will support transportation for fourth grade classes. Park rangers and program staff from Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center will engage fourth-graders in free programming with a goal of bringing over 8,000 area students to the park between Sept. 1, 2016 and Aug. 30, 2017.
The selection of Cleveland as a focus city enables participation by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Inner Ring Suburb districts. Special classroom-based activities will take place to engage students in national park themes, and fourth grade classes will visit Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Beyond the focus cities of Cleveland, Baltimore, Seattle, Miami, Houston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Los Angeles and San Juan, every fourth grader in the country can download an Every Kid in a Park pass to access most federally managed lands and waters, including national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and marine sanctuaries for free with accompanying adults. Click here for details.
