Shelby Beckner

Community Engagement Coordinator
sbeckner@civicgardencenter.org
513-221-0981 ext. 220

As the Community Engagement Coordinator, Shelby coordinates a schedule of ongoing volunteer opportunities and engagement initiatives across the Civic Garden Center's program areas. She also focuses on and develops partner relationships within the community.

Originally from South Carolina, Shelby received her degree in Environmental Studies from Winthrop University. She then started her career in environmental nonprofit work in Brooklyn, NY, as the education coordinator with the Gowanus Canal Conservancy. From there, she went to Asheville, NC, and worked with Asheville GreenWorks as their water quality coordinator, where she fell in love with hands-on fieldwork and bringing volunteers out to community project sites. In 2019, she found herself in Cincinnati, working at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, first in their education department with the corporate and community volunteer programs and then in the horticulture department, where she fell further in love with plants. This journey ultimately led her to the Community Engagement Coordinator position here at the CGC, where she gets to meld her love of people and plants together!

Outside of work, Shelby has a healthy obsession with houseplants, reading and her dog, Moe!