Elephant Trek will be a state-of-the-art habitat offering an engaging, family-centered visitor experience while putting the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden on the leading edge of elephant care and management for years to come.  Five times the size of the current elephant space, it will be the largest habitat project in the Zoo’s history and will ensure that elephants continue as a visitor favorite for all ages.  

Grants awarded in December:

CET – Public Media Connect, $75,000.  Quality, trustworthy and entertaining educational programming is the hallmark of CET’s outreach to children of all backgrounds.  This happens 70 hours a week on flagship station WCET, 24/7 on a dedicated Kids Channel, and through Internet streaming and other features on the station’s web site.

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, $50,000.  CSO’s core educational and community engagement programs program typically provide low-cost or free comprehensive, standards-based learning to nearly 20,000 students at Young People’s Concerts at Music Hall, through visits by musicians to classrooms and community centers, and at educator and career workshops.  Programming in 2020-21 was virtual or online to accommodate Covid-19 restrictions and a similar approach is plan is in place for 2021-22, though a shift to in-person Young Peoples Concert may take place in early 2022.

Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, $250,000.  Elephant Trek will feature space for elephants to thrive, better visitor engagement opportunities, and a multi-generational herd more akin to how elephants live in the wild, to encourage breeding.  Features will include:  Next Gen Elephant Management & Facilities; World-class Breeding Program; Enriching Indoor & Outdoor Herd Environments; Naturalistic, Park-like Habitat; Optimal Visitor Experiences; Environmentally Sustainable Design.

Comprehensive Community Child Care, $20,000.  The Advancing to High Quality program will provide training and coaching to networks of childcare providers, who must be quality rated “high quality” (three, four or five stars) by a 2025 deadline in order to serve families who pay through state assistance.  Nearly 1,000 were helped to reach a minimum rating by last year’s deadline.

Literary Network of Greater Cincinnati, $30,000.  In honor of Grants Coordinator Beth Broomall’s 30 years of service to the Dater Foundation, this special grant was made for the Children’s Basic Reading Program and other initiatives that encourage young people to become passionate readers.

The Dater Foundation makes grants to non-profit organizations in the Greater Cincinnati area to carry out programs that benefit young people and focus in the areas of arts/culture, education, healthcare, social services and other community needs.  Information about the grantmaking process and guidelines and links to an online grant application website are available at www.DaterFoundation.org.

The private foundation was established by fourth-generation Cincinnatian, businessman and philanthropist Charles Dater (1912-1993) to ensure that his resources would continue to fund worthwhile community programs after his death.  The foundation has made more than 3,400 grants totaling over $60 million since its inception in 1985.

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For additional information regarding this news release, contact Roger Ruhl (513/598-1141).

The Charles H. Dater Foundation, Inc. is located at 700 Walnut Street, Suite 301, Cincinnati, OH 45202.