The Center for the City is currently seeking funding for an innovative volunteer training program to serve all Cincinnati cemeteries.
The Cincinnati Cemetery Corps (CCC) will address issues significant to Cincinnati-area cemeteries by providing a corps of volunteers trained in areas of high need and matching these volunteers with local cemeteries, saving these small non-profits the time and expense of recruiting and training their own volunteers.
Once funded, our goal will be to train hundreds of volunteers over five years through free training courses with expert instructors and then to match these trained volunteers with projects in partner cemeteries throughout the tri-state area. Volunteers will choose between thirteen distinct training courses taught by local experts and will be encouraged to train in more than one area.
CCC will work with course trainers to develop courses in the thirteen areas, will offer these courses under the auspices of the Center for the City, and will evaluate successful completion of the course by project volunteers. Concurrently CCC will work to build relationships with Cincinnati-area cemeteries and to assess their volunteer and project needs. Once trained and certified, volunteers will be matched with these partner cemeteries in relationships spelled out in volunteer commitment contracts. The goals and length of volunteer relationships will vary based on the needs of each cemetery.
Stay tuned for updates as this project develops.
The thirteen training areas are
- Grant Seeking
- National Register Nomination
- Preparation
- Archival Materials Conservation
- Historic Structures Documentation
- Landscaping Basics Survey and Mapping
- Gravestone Cleaning
- Gravestone Resetting
- Marketing, PR, and Social Media
- Event and Tour Planning
- Genealogical Research
- Site-Specific Historical Research
- Research Management (excel)
Chestnut Street Cemetery Clean-up
The Center for the City co-sponsored a gravestone cleaning event together with Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati to get the Chestnut Street Cemetery ready for the Jewish Bicentennial kickoff on September 26, 2021. Visit the Chestnut Street Cemetery for more information.
