Empathy Champions Share-Out: Bringing Empathy to Local and International Partnerships

In our final share out from our inaugural cohort, three Empathy Champions will describe their projects with local and international scopes that focused on how messages resonate with audiences to increase impact. Alejandra Medina (Minnesota Zoo) focused on centering community voices and learning how Black, Somali, or African American community members in the Twin Cities Metro Area experience and view wildlife-focused spaces such as the Minnesota Zoo. Her project aimed to inform potential future outreach, programming, and partnership opportunities at the zoo. Chis Berg (Shedd Aquarium) utilized prior connections to the Pangolin Conservation and Research Foundation to establish a collaborative partnership that focused on expanding empathy-based conservation messaging for pangolins to explore how messaging strategies can expand educational reach, engagement goals, and strengthen community partnerships. And finally, Jessica Schellhorn (Blank Park Zoo) targeted naturalists working at county conservation boards and other environmental organizations across Iowa. By conducting her outreach, Jessica aimed to bring seemingly disparate groups together to highlight shared missions and amplify impact. 

Who are Empathy Champions?  

Empathy Champions are Members or Affiliates who are active in the ACE for Wildlife Network, passionate about empathy work, interested in peer-to-peer outreach, seeking professional development opportunities to develop leadership, communications, partnership development, and advocacy skills, and are interested in recruitment in support of ACE for Wildlife Network goals. This new leadership program helps develop the skills of Network participants who are passionate about championing empathy for wildlife to new audiences.