Ohio
CONNECTING EVERYONE TO THE OUTDOORS IN 2025 AND BEYOND
Connecting Everyone to the Outdoors in Ohio!
The astounding vision of migratory birds in flight. The splash of cold water when a canoe paddle breaks the surface of a lake. The laughter of friends picnicking at the park. These simple, yet profound, moments in nature are vital.
In our fast-paced, ever-changing, and sometimes uncertain world, publicly accessible outdoor spaces remain essential. They nourish our well-being and remind us that each day holds the promise of renewal. That is why, like you, Trust for Public Land is standing up for the outdoor spaces that bring us joy.
In Ohio and across the nation, YOU empower us to advance our mission to create, enhance, and protect the outdoor spaces that uplift and connect communities.
At a time when communities are more fragmented than ever—by race, income, and political identity—urban
parks are vital bridges. Closing the park equity gap in Ohio remains a top priority for TPL. That is why TPL works hand-in-hand with residents and local partners to overcome barriers to build the parks, trails, and playgrounds necessary for healthy, thriving communities and ecosystems.
When we unite to achieve our goals, the possibilities are endless. Together, we are shaping a future that prioritizes resilient communities and access to nature for all. Thank you for standing with us today as we create a greener, healthier, and more sustainable tomorrow for everyone.
Sincerely,
Sean Terry Associate Vice President Ohio State Director
Beaver Marsh, Cuyahoga Valley National Park PHOTO BY MCKINLEY WILEY
Ohio Community Schoolyards: The Park Solution Hiding in Plain Sight
TPL is dedicated to improving community health, climate resilience, and education outcomes in Ohio’s schoolyards. Our vision is for dynamic, nature-rich schoolyards to be a model for creating more equitable communities. TPL partners with local schools to transform underutilized schoolyards into vibrant, inclusive, green spaces that improve the daily lives of students, educators, and their surrounding community.
Our schoolyard transformations promote healthy lifestyles, reduce disparities, and improve educational outcomes while making vulnerable and underfunded communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change. According to teachers and school administrations, attendance, behavior, and test scores all improve after schoolyard renovations, and these park-like spaces offer the added benefit of being open to the community after school hours. We look forward to extending these benefits to communities across the state.
First Ohio Schoolyard Completed at Caledonia Elementary
In May 2025, community leaders, stakeholders, neighbors, faculty, and students came together to celebrate the groundbreaking for a revitalized schoolyard at Caledonia Elementary in East Cleveland. Students, teachers, and residents designed the new schoolyard through a collaborative process. During the design phase, students gathered resident input, engaged with public planning principles, and learned how these spaces work to improve the environment, and by extension, individual and community health, parks equity, and climate resilience.
When the schoolyard is complete, this new green space provides 2,658 neighbors within a 10-minute walk of the school and the 250 students room for everyone to play, gather, and learn. The new park includes basketball hoops, musical playground instruments, a jungle gym,
At Caledonia, we’re not just building a schoolyard—we’re creating a space where children can learn, grow, and thrive.”
— Dr. Henry Pettiegrew, Superintendent and CEO of East Cleveland City Schools
A New Partnership with Akron Youth
Momentum is building for schoolyards in Akron. TPL has engaged in months of strategic conversations with Akron Public Schools (APS) and recently secured approval to launch an Akron Community Schoolyards program. Through collaboration with district leaders— and analysis using TPL’s Schoolyard Prioritization Tool— we have selected two pilot schools to engage students in our hands-on design process.
Twenty-five high school students took part in TPL’s signature participatory design sessions this summer, earning their OhioMeansJobs-Readiness Seal, which certifies these students have gained essential skills for workforce and higher education opportunities upon graduation. The design concepts they produced will be used as a launch pad for future student participatory
design lessons. TPL staff Kaela Geschke, Director of Ohio Parks for People, and Tait Ferguson, Parks Program Assistant, served as mentors for these students through the seal program.
Currently, 93 percent of Akron schools meet Title I Eligibility. Seventy-one percent of Akron’s students identify as minority students. APS schools are already open to the community after school hours as part of their community learning centers model. With equity as a driving factor for investment, TPL can be a partner to ensure that all students have access to high-quality, green, learning spaces they need to thrive.
Caledonia Elementary School groundbreaking. PHOTOS BY TIMOTHY FITZWATER
Building Civic Power
Parks are the foundation of healthy, thriving communities, supporting recreation and relaxation, social and cultural engagement, and resilience from climate impacts like extreme heat and flooding.
But today, nearly 20 percent of Cleveland’s population cannot access a park within a 10-minute walk of home. Moreover, decades of disinvestment and exclusionary policies have carved out deep inequities across the city. In Cleveland, residents living in neighborhoods of color have access to 13 percent less nearby park space than those living in white neighborhoods, and residents in lower-income neighborhoods have access to 14 percent less nearby park space than those in higher income neighborhoods. This park equity divide contributes to broader disparities in Cleveland, such as obesity and asthma rates, property values, environmental injustices, and impacts from climate change.
For almost fifty years, TPL has been working to improve park access in Cleveland. We have expanded park lands, developed research tools, built coalitions of stakeholders, and secured millions of dollars in public and private funding.
TPL helped organize community groups, public agencies, and other diverse stakeholders into the Cleveland Parks & Greenspace Coalition in 2020. The following year, the Coalition called for a standalone City of Cleveland Parks and Recreation Department, which had previously been folded into the department of public works, diluting its resources. In response to our call, Mayor Justin Bibb reinstated the parks department as an independent agency and elevated the parks director to the cabinet level, increasing its influence in the government.
The renewed Parks Department enlisted our help in developing a master plan. With the Coalition, we organized highly successful pop-up community feedback sessions in city parks to ensure adequate community input. The Cleveland Parks and Recreation Plan the first in more than 40 years—was completed in May 2025 and will guide the city’s park system for the next 15 years.
As the City of Cleveland prepares to renew its outdated and inequitable park system, TPL is leading a broad movement to eliminate disparities in park access and remake parks with community members.
TPL will continue to engage residents and support the formation of park stewardship groups. We will help cultivate community leaders, provide training opportunities for park professionals, and foster collaboration. And we will advocate for policies and practices that center transparency and community participation in park planning and activation. And to show our belief in these efforts, we’ll continue to support innovative pilot projects that power deeper resident engagement in parks.
Lakeview Terrace. PHOTO BY JOSHUA DOBAY
Community Powered Parks
Access to nature strengthens social connectedness among neighbors, enhances physical and mental health, and improves climate resilience. In Ohio, we work handin-hand with communities to achieve these benefits.
Our park creation process is not just about the park itself. It is about becoming a part of the community: attending celebrations, listening to concerns, and understanding that members of the community know their needs better than anyone else. We are proud of the relationships we have built, resulting in communities that are empowered to advocate for themselves and to make lasting changes.
Tillman Triangle Park
Creative placemaking—a fancy term for making sure the parks and public spaces we create reflect the arts and culture of the communities where we were—comes to life at Tillman Triangle Park. Now, two original art installations are making the space more inviting and engaging for residents and students from nearby Garrett Morgan High School (GMHS).
We hired artists at Snack Break Studio to co-create a sidewalk mural and interactive sculpture with students from GMHS, reflecting their desire for a peaceful and
safe space. The interactive artwork draws students and neighbors through the park and immerses them in a celebration of the legacy of Cleveland native Garrett Morgan. Morgan invented two transformational safety devices, an early gas mask and a stop-go traffic signal. As a pioneering Black inventor in the early 1900s, Morgan’s legacy is an example of perseverance and innovation to GMHS students and neighbors alike.
Kerruish Park
Kerruish Park is one of the city’s largest and most cherished green spaces, established in 1943 and spanning 76 acres. Thanks to a partnership between TPL, the City of Cleveland Parks and Recreation Department, the International Mountain Biking Association Trails Solutions Team, and Syatt, the design and development of the park is moving forward with a bold, community-led plan that includes a mountain bike trail.
In the coming months, TPL and partners will host structured community rides to help expose neighborhood youth to mountain biking, bike maintenance, and other bike skills. We are also fostering community stewardship in the neighborhood, supporting resident efforts to clean Arthur Woods Johnston Park, located 1.5 miles west of Kerruish Park.
Left: Edison Woods, Erie MetroParks. PHOTO BY MCKINLEY WILEY; Right: Tillman Triangle Park. PHOTO BY TPL STAFF
At the Root of Environmental Justice
Broadway-Slavic Village is a cultural enclave on Cleveland’s southeast side. The formerly redlined neighborhood is reshaping itself after a history of toxic industry, economic disinvestment, and the effects of the mortgage crisis. To address economic injustice, poor health outcomes, and racism in the community, the Broadway Slavic Village has become an Ecodistrict, a neighborhood committed to sustainable development with a focus on community resilience, environmental justice, and remediation. They aim to redefine the neighborhood as a safe, affordable, and communityoriented place to call home. One way the Ecodistrict plan supports this is by investing in local green spaces, urban reforestation, and tree canopy.
TPL, with funding from the Cleveland Tree Coalition, is piloting an innovative case study on a vacant and contaminated one-acre tract of land. Alongside resident volunteers, we are planting poplar trees to study the efficacy of phytoremediation to clean the land for future community use.
Phytoremediation uses trees and plants to absorb heavy metals and other pollutants from stormwater runoff and soils. Plants like poplar trees and sunflowers can do this by absorbing and storing harmful pollutants,
pulling contaminates from the top layer of soil, and storing the toxic elements inside the plants. It’s eco-friendly, cost-effective, and provides beautiful plants that increase the community tree canopy.
In spring 2025, we planted 40 poplar trees at two sites and will add additional site improvements like fencing and educational signage to the sites in the fall. The Slavic Village Green Team, resident stewards from the neighborhood, are leading early tree maintenance and care. Additionally, the pilot site at Chard & E. 48th is the gateway for Cleveland Metroparks’ planned Slavic Village Downtown Connector trail.
We aim to show that phytoremediation can help detoxify lead and other heavy metals from the soil over 10 years. And as the land is remediated, we will engage residents in long-term site planning for their future green space once the site is safe for use.
With an estimated 15,000–20,000 vacant lots scattered across the Cleveland area, and increasing demand for more accessible green space across the city, the Broadway-Slavic Village phytoremediation pilot project is the first small step towards a scalable nature-based intervention that offers strong empirical results.
Tree planting day. PHOTO BY TPL STAFF
THANK
YOU for doing your part to ensure communities across Ohio can connect with the outdoors. We could not accomplish this crucial work without supporters like you!
OHIO ADVISORY BOARD
Thomas Tyrrell , Chair, CollaboRx
Stephen Abdenour, retired, Cleveland Clinic
Dylan Beach, Goodyear
Mark A. Biggar, Jones Day
Sara Robinson Enaharo, Milliken & Company
Raymond Evans, retired, FirstEnergy
Kenneth G. Howe, retired, Cargill
Michelle L. Johnson, SmithGroup
Karl Kleinert, Leapfrog Services Inc.
Christopher Kuhar, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
Dave Mayer, Carbon Arc
Samira Malone, Urban Sustainability Directors Network
Kenneth Paull, Sequoia Financial Group
Christine Rupert, Cargill
Siu Yan Scott
Kimberly Woodford, Journey on Yonder
Deb Yandala, retired, Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Join Us
Help ensure everyone has access to the outdoors. Every park we create, schoolyard we transform, trail we extend, and landscape we protect is thanks to supporters like you. tpl.org/donate
Community Schoolyards: Donate today to grow our community schoolyard efforts in Ohio, and help us create engaging, inclusive, nature-rich spaces for outdoor recreation, exploration, and education.
Land Protection: Help us safeguard priority lands in the face of increasing threats to fragile and essential landscapes.
Trails: Your support will enable us to design and build the new mountain bike trail in Kerruish Park— and encourage people to get outside, get active, and connect with their community.
Leave a Legacy: Create an even bigger impact by making a gift through your will, trust, charitable gift annuity, charitable remainder trust, beneficiary designation, or appreciated assets.
Trust for Public Land: Give a gift to connect everyone to the outdoors in Ohio and beyond.
Sean Terry Associate Vice President Ohio State Director sean.terry@tpl.org
Laura Hnat Ohio Director of Philanthropy laura.hnat@tpl.org
1250 Old River Road, Suite 202 Cleveland, OH 44113