Committee advances Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights after John Marshall students' presentation

The Cleveland City Council Workforce, Education, Training and Youth Development Committee on April 22 advanced Resolution 436-2025, an emergency resolution adopting a Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights, after students from John Marshall High School presented the 12 rights they drafted and community partners described outreach and planning work.

The measure, introduced by Council members Brian K. Casey and Stephanie House Jones and co-sponsored by Councilwoman Jasmine Santana, declares the city's commitment to providing access to parks, trails, playgrounds, pools and other green spaces and to expanding quality outdoor opportunities for every Cleveland child. The committee voted to send the resolution to the full council for a final vote.

Committee members and partners said the resolution is intended to address green-space inequities and to formalize the city’s support for outdoor access for children. Mary Kennedy Brown, a science teacher at John Marshall High School who guided the student project, said the class reviewed survey data and community input as part of their work. "They poured over data from over 400 surveys," Brown said, describing how students distilled that research into the proposed rights.

Students read portions of the proposed preamble and each described a right they championed, including the right to clean parks and water, safe trails and tree-lined streets, the right to play in snow, to plant and tend gardens, and to learn and hike in nature. Ashley Susino, a senior at John Marshall, read the draft preamble: "Whereas studies have shown that children who learn and play in nature are healthier, happier, and perform better in school.... Therefore, we adopt this Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights in which every child in Cleveland has the right to" the enumerated outdoor experiences.

Matt Sohn of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and Chief Sonia Pryor Jones (city administration) described earlier city and regional work that fed into the proposal, including partnerships with the National League of Cities and the Children & Nature Network. Committee members, including Councilwoman House Jones and Councilman Casey, praised the students for leading the drafting and recommended specific follow-up steps — for example, public posting of the rights at recreation centers and involvement of the mayor's student working group.

Councilman Brian K. Casey challenged the students' class to design improvements for Terminal Park in Ward 16 and said the city would pursue funding and construction if the students submit a design. "We're gonna have the youth of the city of Cleveland design our first park in Ward 16," Casey said, offering a concrete implementation step tied to the resolution.

The committee discussion also noted ties to the recently finalized Cleveland Parks and Recreation Plan and recommended ongoing partnerships with local nonprofits and parks agencies to carry out the rights in practice. Committee members emphasized education and community engagement as next steps and thanked the student presenters for their work.

The committee advanced Resolution 436-2025 to the full council; the chair indicated it will come before the entire City Council for a vote the following Monday night. If adopted by the full council, the resolution will be transmitted to the John Marshall High School Civic and Business Leadership Sustainability Club and entered in the City Council record.

Provenance: first related remarks appear in the committee presentation at 00:08:24 (intro by sponsor and description of Resolution 436-2025) and the committee action that forwarded the resolution to the full Council appears in the transcript at 00:54:15 (passage to the floor).