EE 2000 Welcomes Three New States
The Environmental Education Advocate - Summer 1997
The following information is provided to you as a service of the National Environmental Education Advancement Project (NEEAP). We encourage you to use it and please credit the National Environmental Education Advancement Project where appropriate.
California, Mississippi, and Texas were added in early 1997 to NEEAP's EE 2000 states working to build state capacity for environmental education. Each of the new states and its team of environmental education (EE) leaders brings a unique perspective to the challenges of broadening coalitions, communicating among far-flung committee members, and developing effective organizations in order to achieve comprehensive state-level EE programs.
California -California is working towards a cohesive EE network, bringing together the various players from throughout this enormous state. California's challenges are many; geographic and demographic diversity, and the sheer number of EE programs are just a few. Coming out of the 1997 Leadership Clinic, the California EE 2000 team is working on a series of steps geared towards coalition building, developing a future conference, and strategic planning. At planning meetings in April and May, the EE 2000 team shared goals outlined at the Leadership Clinic and began the process of communicating to committee members from the far ends of the state. An issues paper on environmental education will provide a historical perspective on California EE and the current status of EE in the state. Utilizing new electronic communication tools, the team hopes to identify issues which will be addressed at a multi-faceted conference next year. The conference will bring together all of the diverse EE providers in the state, address EE issues, and set direction for EE in California. The EE 2000 team plans to develop an EE master plan for California in the next couple of years.
Mississippi -It is an exciting time for EE in Mississippi. This year, state EE leaders launched the new Mississippi EE Association and held their first annual conference. John Guyton, EE 2000 state team leader, reports that the new association and its elected Executive Board have broad based participation from various constituencies around the state - utilities, schools, EE centers and schools, solid waste facilities, universities, state agencies and business. By bringing together the various EE providers and their supporters from around the state, Mississippi hopes to provide a forum for EE, improve communication and help coordinate EE resources and programs. The association is also providing opportunities for youth involvement with plans for a Youth Environmental Alliance. This fall a group of children from all over Mississippi will meet during the MEEA conference to begin planning their alliance and a spring youth environmental conference. State leaders claim that Mississippi’s selection as an EE 2000 state in February helped to build momentum for various EE initiatives underway.
Texas -Texas, like California, faces the logistical challenges of communication and coordination among environmental educators spread out over a wide geographic area. Many of the goals of their EE 2000 program are geared towards meeting this challenge and building a broad based network of EE providers and supporters. On April 10-12, environmental educators held their state environmental education conference in Houston. The conference, with 250 participants, provided presentations and debates with national speakers. State-level participants had the opportunity to respond to information presented by the national speakers and to begin planning for the future of EE in Texas. As a follow-up to the conference, the EE 2000 team held an EE 2000 meeting on May 21. The purpose of this meeting was to identify people to work on the EE 2000 plan and to develop a structure for the group.
EE 2000 Associates -Because of budgetary and organizational constraints, NEEAP was only able to bring on three new EE 2000 states this year. Wanting to extend some networking and informational services to the other qualified state teams that applied to the program, NEEAP created the EE 2000 Associates program. The states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, and Vermont are involved. NEEAP student intern, Hui'i Chiang, conducted a study comparing the goals and objectives of the EE 2000 states with those of the EE 2000 Associates in order to begin the process of building ties between states. States are currently at varying levels of achieving capacity for EE or comprehensive EE programs. The EE 2000 States and Associates have a wealth of resources to share with each other.
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