Your Centerville-Washington Park District is serious about providing the park and recreation opportunities you want! CWPD perpetually seeks resident and stakeholder input to build strategic plans, master plans, programming plans, capital improvements plans and budgets. This allows us to align resources with community priorities.
Our most recent Community Needs Assessment was conducted in 2022 — and in 2019 before that! Resident feedback generates great ideas and opinions, and we would like to share the many improvements that are a direct result of your input. So, every two weeks from July to November, we will post a short message about what’s been added, fixed, improved or expanded to meet your requests!
Howdy Partner!
CWPD prides itself on cultivating meaningful partnerships that make an impact on the community. We are fortunate to be in a community with high-performing entities and organizations. When we pool our resources and talents, the end result becomes an even greater benefit to residents. In 2023, we partnered with several notable organizations — the City of Centerville, Washington-Centerville Public Library, Washington Township, Centerville City Schools, Centerville-Washington History, Centerville Noon Optimist Club, Centerville Rotary Club, Dayton Children’s Hospital, House of Bread, SICSA, Shoes for the Shoeless, local scout troops and more.
The Centerville-Washington Park District was recognized three times in 2023 for our partnership efforts!
- January: Ohio Success Award for Grant Park McEwen Entrance Improvements in partnership with Centerville Rotary, Ohio Business Magazine
- May: Community Partner of the Year from the City of Centerville
- November: Honorable Mention ‘I Partner with my Public Library Award’ from Let’s Move in Libraries, nomination by Washington-Centerville Public Library
I Partner with my Public Library Award
On Friday, November 3, the Centerville-Washington Park District was awarded an honorable mention for the inaugural ‘I Partner with My Public Library Award’, sponsored by the national non-profit Let’s Move in Libraries. The award shines a light on those who collaborate with public libraries to transform their communities.
The Washington-Centerville Public Library and CWPD have been collaborating partners for years – providing the community with robust joint programming such as nature walks, book discussions, poetry walks, a Race to the Holidays 5K and more. In 2023, WCPL and CWPD introduced a seed library to provide the community with free seed packets – grown and packed by CWPD and distributed at WCPL.
In their award nomination, WCPL wrote “Washington-Centerville Public Library was selected as a host for The Wall That Heals, a ¾ replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. in July 2023. The vast exhibit was too large for any of the library locations, but when asked to partner with us, Centerville Washington Park District jumped in to provide the perfect landscape – Yankee Park. Not only did they provide the actual space for the exhibit, but they volunteered their staff and crew (even the Executive Director, Kristen Marks!) to assist in the construction and deconstruction of The Wall That Heals, and provided electric and trash collection for the duration of the exhibit. Ken Carter, Park Operations Manager, even took an overnight volunteer shift for the exhibit when we were short-handed. We quite literally could not have done it without them. An estimated 4,700 people visited Yankee Park over a five-day time frame for the exhibit and we heard many wonderful compliments on the beauty and cleanliness of the park.”
Through partnerships, we have planted trees, cleaned parks, provided inclusive activities, taught thousands of students the wonders of nature, and enhanced park spaces and programs for our community. We are grateful to our partners and look forward to continuing to maximize our impact in 2024!