Reds Community Makeover restores green space, community pride

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - The Cincinnati Reds are not just all about home runs and strikeouts. For the last 16 years, they’ve taken their skills out of the diamond and into our neighborhoods, revitalizing local environment and community pride.

The Reds Community Fund has been revitalizing local neighborhoods since 2010. Charley Frank, the executive director of the Reds Community Fund, says that with the help of local partners, they’ve expanded their makeovers to include more than just ballparks.

“The [Cincinnati] Zoo brings it to life through their horticulture and through their design and brilliance, and Cincinnati Children’s [Hospital] adds all their touches, and then these things begin just to flourish,” Frank said.

This year’s Reds Community Makeover is happening in Walnut Hills.

The makeover includes a new urban learning garden and outdoor classroom at Dr. O’Dell Owens Center for Learning and a redesigned playground and STEM Lab at Frederick Douglass School. This is also where the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden is installing solar panels.

“They’re not just reading about solar in a book. They can go walk outside and say, ‘That’s my solar,’” said Mark Fisher, the vice president of facilities at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. “They have access to the metering and the monitoring to actually see how it works and why it works.”

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Jerome Stenger, a senior horticulturist at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, says their mission is more than just restoring green space around Cincinnati. He says projects like these restore pride in the community.

“We don’t want to lose beauty in the equation,” Stenger said. “The horticulture department is really good at creating awe-inspiring landscapes with out designs that will pull people into the garden much like a pollinator would come to a flower.”

Frank encourages those wanting to get involved to take care of the gardens and green spaces that have already been restored.

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