Building Capacity to Connect People and Nature
“Great partnerships enable, empower, and encourage people to work together toward achieving success.”
Fred Gonzalez, R5 USFS Building Capacity to Connect People and Nature through Youth, Volunteer, and Hosted (YVH) Programs was a national workshop that took place April 15th through April 17th, 2008 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The agenda included presentations and comprehensive training on building Forest Service and external partnerships and expanding and enhancing capacity for YVH Programs.
Alison T. Young, Special Assistant to the President; Deputy Director of USA Freedom Corps, gave a dynamic opening address about service to America through volunteering. Dr. Emilyn Sheffield (photo at right), Department Chair of Recreation Management, California State University, Chico, CA, gave a highly informative presentation on demographics that provided insight into who volunteers and why.
Twenty-five external partners, along with about 70 employees of the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, worked for 3 days on identifying best practices, learning program specifics, and sharing ideas about how the Forest Service can improve its programs. As follow-up, workshop attendees are delivering training in their Regions/Stations/Areas, and a national YVH Programs Strategy is being developed.
Additional information available from this workshop includes:
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PARTNERING WITH THE FOREST SERVICE
