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Chicago Botanic Garden Wins National Honor
View the IMLS brochure | View Chicago Botanic Garden brochure
On October 19, the Chicago Botanic Garden received the nation’s highest honor for excellence in public service at museums and libraries.
For its extensive and effective role in educating the next generation of plant scientists and environmental stewards, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Washington D.C., bestowed the 2004 National Award for Museum and Library service on the Garden.
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 Programs that Cultivate Our Community
The Chicago Botanic Garden serves more than 800,000 visitors at its free public garden. Community-based initiatives, which bring gardening to public schools, communities and organizations, touch the lives of an additional 200,000 youths and adults each year. Through teacher programs alone, the Garden trains 1,000 teachers annually, ultimately benefiting 25,000 students. In addition, the following programs were recognized:
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College First
Developed in 1994, College First is a summer apprenticeship program that encourages inner city youths to raise their aspirations and consider academic futures beyond high school.
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Science First
Science First, developed in 2002 to serve upper elementary school students in Chicago public schools, nurtures students’ curiosity with a combination of classroom instruction, field experiences, journal writing, games and student projects.
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Primero la Ciencia
Primero la Ciencia was developed in partnership with Gads Hill Center in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood in 2004. It’s an “Urban Environmental Science Camp,” which essentially translates the Garden's onsite Science First program into an inner-city, community-based organization serving a culturally-specific population.
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Chicago School Garden Initiative
Since 1997, the Chicago School Garden Initiative collaborative has established gardens at 34 Chicago public schools in many of the city’s most distressed neighborhoods, serving as laboratories and outdoor classrooms, as well as settings for graduation ceremonies, harvest festivals, and even neighborhood barbecues.
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Neighborhood Gardens
While the formal Chicago School Garden Initiative collaborative has concluded, the Chicago Botanic Garden continues to establish gardens at schools and community sites through its Neighborhood Gardens program, guiding future planning and resource allocation across 230 square miles of city neighborhoods.
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Green Youth Farm
The Green Youth Farm serves high school students from the northern suburbs whose demographics approximate inner city Chicago, a pilot program. The Farm offers older adolescents opportunities in urban agriculture and the green industry.
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An Honor to Serve Together
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Inside IMLS
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an independent federal grant- making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners.
IMLS fosters leadership, innovation and a lifetime of learning by supporting the nation’s 15,000 museums and 122,000 libraries.
The Chicago Botanic Garden, one of six 2004 recipients of its annual Award, received $10,000 from IMLS to support its education programs.
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According to IMLS Director Robert S. Martin, Ph.D., award recipients “embody extraordinary public service. They connect with their increasing diverse communities and serve as centers of lifelong learning. They share a view of collaboration as the strategy for success and have expanded their outreach with strong sustainable community partnerships.”
“The Chicago Botanic Garden is a dynamic programming center providing education and scientific assistance to the citizens of Chicago, the nation and even to our international partners,” said Barbara Whitney Carr, the Garden’s president and chief executive officer. “This education is vital in preparing the next generation of scientists to care for earth’s plants, which we all need for food, medicine, clothing and shelter. We are honored to received this prestigious award and accept it on behalf of the many community partners who are vital to the Garden’s mission and success.”
Those partners include the following:
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin; Congressman Mark Kirk; Cook County Board of Comissioners; the City of Chicago; Chicago Park District; Chicago Public Schools; Chicago Public Libraries; the Honorable John H. Stroger, Jr., Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance; Openlands Project; and 63 other individual schools and community groups, plus a variety of advisory groups and committees.
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Grow with Us
In only 32 years, the Chicago Botanic Garden has become a pre-eminent teaching and research institution. But the programs that help so many cannot continue without a continuing stream of support.
YOU and our many partners make it possible for the Garden to help children grow!
Open new opportunities for children to connect with earth sciences by making a contribution to the Garden’s Annual Fund for 2004 or 2005.
For more information on the many appreciated partners whose generous contributions support these programs, visit www.chicagobotanic.org.
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Volunteer It takes many dedicated people to maintain excellence at a large public garden, and volunteers are an integral part of the process.
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Join the Garden as a member.
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life-changing programs.
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