Our panel discussion will highlight a two-year project funded by a National Environmental Education Foundation grant program titled "Centennial and Beyond". The program aimed to build on the 100th anniversary year of the National Park Service and the highly successful Find Your Park campaign in 2016 that encouraged people throughout the country to connect to their National Parks. Locally, the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park held a series of events in all six National Park units, including our three urban park places: Orchard Knob, Missionary Ridge, and Moccasin Bend National Archeological District. Our goal through the Centennial and Beyond project in 2017-2018 was to deepen the connections the National Park Service made with new and diverse audiences through the Find Your Park events, and to continue to build relationships with historically underserved residents in the neighborhoods surrounding our urban parks.
We'll share success stories and lessons learned from the various project initiatives, which included community outreach and listening sessions; National Park Service interpretive programs that highlighted the African-American experience in and around Chattanooga before, during, and after the Civil War; the Reconstruction Era and Voting Rights Amendments exhibits created by the National Park Service at the Chattanooga African-American Heritage Museum; and the walking tour of African-American historic sites around downtown Chattanooga. The panel will discuss how the work continues now that the formal grant project has ended, and the importance of making everyone across the community truly feel that their National Park and every National Park in the country is a welcoming and inclusive place for them and their families to enjoy. We'll also take a look at initiatives that expand diversity to include English as a Second Language speakers; those with disabilities; and more.
