A long-running wildlife and science engagement initiative is expanding to Chicago’s West Side this fall, offering neighborhood youth and their families hands-on conservation experiences right in their own community.
Brookfield Zoo Chicago is launching its popular Zoo Adventure Passport (ZAP!) Foundations program at the Austin Branch of the Chicago Public Library, located at 5615 W. Race Ave. The free three-part series takes place on three consecutive dates in October, marking the initiative’s first official expansion into the Austin neighborhood.
Created in the 1990s by a group of educators that included Dr. Jo-Elle Mogerman, now CEO of the Philadelphia Zoo, and refined across several Chicago-area neighborhoods over three decades, the program fosters multigenerational connections to nature through play-based learning.
The expansion follows years of dialogue between zoo leadership and local stakeholders, including Dr. Felice Binion of the West Side Ministers Coalition and organizers from the Rima Development Center. Graig Mason, a former curriculum director involved with the program, pointed to the neighborhood’s ongoing cultural and civic developments as a key factor in moving forward.
“We started to keep note of what was happening in Austin,” Mason said. “We recognize within our team and the work that we do the integrations and how everything is interconnected between environmental conservation and cultural preservation.”
Selecting the Austin Branch Library was strategic. Its proximity to Town Hall Park and other green spaces offered the program a location that was accessible to families while maintaining a connection to the natural environment.
Rather than bringing live animals into the facility, each one-hour workshop centers on specific wildlife through storytelling, interactive science tools and biological artifacts, such as pelts, bones, skulls and claws. The upcoming October lineup explores Asian wildlife, starting with tigers and leopards in the first session, Indian peafowl and other animals from India in the second, and orangutans in the third.
Participants complete a hands-on project to take home at the end of each session. Families who register and attend also receive complimentary passes to Brookfield Zoo, allowing them to see some of the animals discussed during the program in person.
A multidisciplinary team spanning biology, psychology, sociology and education developed the curriculum, framing complex conservation concepts through accessible entry points for young children.
“Kids can tackle big conservation concepts, but we don’t hit them the same way we hit them with adults,” Mason said. “We get them to first connect with the animals, then care enough to have a little bit of impact within their own day-to-day actions.”
The approach reflects a broader philosophy behind the program: Conservation is not the work of one person, but something built through collective action.
“Big-scale conservation efforts are not done by one individual,” Mason said. “They’re done as a collective.”
The program also encourages adults to participate alongside children, rather than simply observe.
Drawing on his background in formal education, Mason views learning as a two-way process in which children bring their own experiences and perspectives to the classroom.
“As an educator, I recognize the importance of the reciprocal process of teaching and learning,” Mason said. “Children really are the future of the work that we’re doing. As adults, we are doing everything that we can at this time, but our work is going to continue on because of how we inspire kids and how we respond to how they are inspired.”
Residents can attend a single workshop or participate in the full three-session series. For caregivers who may be hesitant to join in, Mason encouraged adults to experience the program alongside their children, rather than remain on the sidelines.
“I am one of those people that says, ‘Try it,’” Mason said.
Mason also referred to his daughter’s interests as motivation for him to explore the world from her perspective. That same sense of possibility, he noted, is part of what drew him to education and continues to inspire his work.
“That optimism by which a child looks at the possibilities of the world inspires me to continue to do the work that I’ve had the opportunity to be able to do and now bring Brookfield Zoo to the Austin community,” Mason said.