West Philly educator Carole Williams-Green, who founded the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center, will be honored by the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education with the 2016 Meigs Award. The award is given annually to a regional leader who embodies the spirit and leadership of Henry Meigs, one of the Schuylkill Center’s founders.

A former public school teacher and administrator, Williams-Green led a successful multi-decade effort to rehabilitate the historic Fairmount Park Police stables in Fairmount Park’s Cobbs Creek, creating an environmental education center. Founded in 1991, the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center opened its doors in 2001.

Williams-Green has made a substantial contribution to environmental education in the Philadelphia region, reaching communities often excluded from traditional environmental education. She explains that “it bothered [her] that children from West Philadelphia had to travel so far to get these kinds of experiences [in nature], ones that really excited children.” 

Today, the Cobbs Creek center trains Junior Docents who take leadership roles educating their community about the park. The site includes urban demonstration gardens, amphitheater, restored habitats like meadow and wetland, and Cobbs Creek itself flows just steps from the front door and is the beneficiary of monitoring and restoration projects.

The award presentation will take place on November 17. Williams-Green will give remarks and then join a panel discussion for a town hall meeting on environmental education and under-served audiences.

Past winners of the award include Governor Ed Rendell, then-Deputy Mayor Mike DiBerardinis, and Morris Arboretum botanist Dr. Ann Fowler Rhoads.