Project Description
This suburban Detroit park agency has made a substantial investment in nature education. After operating programs and facilities for nearly 40 years, they felt it was time to reassess and refine their efforts. The department’s Request for Proposals said that they were seeking “a nature education audit and evaluation of the County’s nature education program including two (2) nature centers”—Lewis E. Wint Nature Center and Red Oaks Nature Center. It added, “Staff desires additional market information about the communities served by current offerings, potential for expansion and targeted programming and financial needs.” They would use the resulting report, they said, to guide possible changes to sites, buildings, exhibits, and services in order to better serve the people of Oakland County.
My approach to the project included the following elements:
- On-the-ground inspections of their nature centers and other parks used for programming
- Interviews with staff, volunteers, and other stakeholders involved in the department’s work
- Analysis of current customer experiences expressed in interviews, online reviews, and a customized survey
- Review and assessment of competing nature centers and nature education programs in Oakland and neighboring counties (over a dozen)
- A final analysis and recommendations that included five possible business models for the program as a whole