C&NN 2017 International Conference and Summit

There is a growing political movement to connect children and youth to nature, from the Obama’s Administration’s Every Kid in a Park initiative to numerous examples across the globe. Today's policymakers are seeing a budding constituency that wants to make sure that the next generation of youth have access to green space, a healthy environment and are inspired to become the next stewards. Please join this session to see examples of how this movement is taking shape across the globe

This session highlights three creative, innovative projects with practical ideas for replicating them in your community. Partners in the Bay Area Children in Nature Collaborative developed a Create-With-Nature Cart as a prototype for a San Francisco Festival in an area in flux, filled with people from diverse backgrounds, often alienated from each other and the natural world, affecting their social, emotional, and physical well-being.  The Create-With-Nature Cart was created as a portable oasis for the public of all ages to collaboratively create, using natural materials. The Cart is a replicable model for bringing nature to city dwellers in a way that promotes a connection with the natural world, as well as human connections that foster vibrancy and health. Even among participants with no spoken language in common, the language of collaborative creativity and the natural world speaks clearly. Today the Create-With-Nature Cart is a structural anchor for a Create-With-Nature Zones in natural areas including a table-top surface for universal access by people with and without mobility limitations.

Jose Gonzalez will share the story of the making of "Estamos Aqui: A Celebration of Nature y Cultura." The film made its premiere at The White House in Washington DC and is being screened in National Parks across the country. The film celebrates the many ways the Latino culture overlaps with nature and conservation, and offers renewed excitement for encouraging diversity in the outdoors along with clear ideas and answers for entreating diverse communities in nature programming.

To demonstrate how green space can be used by healthcare professionals as an effective teaching and health promotion tool, the National Environmental Education Foundation, the US Forest Service, Dimensions Educational Research Foundation and a large group of community partners formed a dynamic partnership in Conroe, TX. Together they created a nature-rich outdoor Nature Explore Classroom at the Lone Star Family Health Center. This is the first health center in the country to have a Nature Explore Classroom on its property.

It is a top priority for public lands and waters, national parks, wildlife refuges and land trusts to develop strategies to effectively and meaningfully engage diverse groups and new generations of constituents to visit and protect wild places. This panel will examine strategies implemented by U.S. and Canadian Parks systems designed to connect new communities to the natural world. This is an excellent opportunity for you to discuss ways that your program, policies or people can participate in these efforts.