December ‘25 Update
🎉Park Advocate Celebration 🎉
On Tuesday community advocates, city staff, and nonprofit folks braved the snow and came together to share our 2025 wins for Cleveland parks and greenspaces 🌳❤️
It was a hard year, but we’re closing out 2025 reflecting on the positive, community-led work being done across our city.
12
Cleveland neighborhoods represented
14+
Community-led park and greenspace groups
4
Park activation kits distributed
Stay tuned for our next Park Advocate Night where we’ll highlight another Cleveland neighborhood and the advocates who live there… coming early Spring 2026!
Just Dropped + Seeking Feedback:
Park Advocacy Handbook
Find Resources Best Practices Grow!
We’ve been working on a first-ever digital + print Park Advocacy Handbook for Cleveland park advocates — and we need your help!
The first draft of the handbook is done, and we need your feedback to let us know what’s missing, and how to make it the best one-stop-shop for park advocacy information! Even if you just have 5 minutes, let us know what you think:
💡Funding Opportunity Spotlight💡
Ohio Environmental Education Fund
Letter of intent due January 9th
The OEEF is an Ohio EPA program that funds education projects that increase public awareness of environmental issues and allow communities to make informed decisions and act, particularly K-12 students. Requests can range from $500-$5,000 and are offered twice annually. Learn more at the Ohio EPA website:
Need help? Email us: ParksCoalitionCLE@gmail.com
Do you have a new City Council Member?
All votes have been counted from November 4th’s local elections for Cleveland City Council and Mayor. One race was decided by just 9 votes!
See who won the race in your neighborhood:
Upcoming events and opportunities
Cleveland Better Streets Social & Celebration, Thur. Dec 4th, 6pm: Learn more about Bike Cleveland’s city-wide Better Street Committees. These resident groups advocate and volunteer for greener, safer local infrastructure. There might be one in your neighborhood! Learn more here.
Accelerate Proposals Due, Fri. Dec 5th, 11:59pm: Accelerate helps turn community-improving ideas into transformative initiatives. It culminates in a pitch competition on February 26 where citizens of all ages share their visions to make Cleveland a better place in hopes of winning funding and making invaluable connections to bring their ideas to life. Learn more and register here.
Training: Hosting an Engaging Park Program, Thur. Dec 11th, 2pm-3pm: Are you trying to launch new park program? Join Trust for Public Land’s park experts and discuss how to drive engagement, long-term support, and community impact. You can RSVP and learn more here.
Become a Ward 8 Network Weaver, App due ASAP: Do you live in the new Ward 8? You can help connect the neighborhood and host Neighbor Nights as Network Weaver. This is a paid opportunity, 5-7 hours. per month. Find the application here.
Neighbor Nights, All month, various dates/locations: Join Neighborhood Connections for Neighbor Nights—spaces for neighbors and changemakers to connect, collaborate, and brig ideas to life. Learn more on their website.
[FUNDING] More opportunities: Ag Futures Cleveland has compiled a list of local funding opportunities for neighborhood groups and small nonprofits. Explore here
Want your resident-focused parks and greenspace event featured here?
Email us: ParksCoalitionCle@gmail.com
Register for the City’s NEW 311 service request portal! Submit broken park amenities, playground needs, garbage in parks, tree maintenance needs and more:
