Host Your Own eeOpenSpace!

HOST YOUR OWN EE OPEN SPACE! 5/29/2020

KAEE is excited to announce a new summer eeOpenSpace program—one that YOU can make your own! The program allows our members and wider audience to host their own virtual Open Space or round table conversation around a topic of their choosing. What sparks your interest most these days? What would you like to chat about with others in our community? What ways would you like to connect during this unprecedented time? If you're looking for a couple of ideas, we’re happy to offer a few: ​

• Social: coffee hour, trivia, group outdoor activity (ex: group evening moth-watching, live outdoor scavenger hunt), happy hours, bingo

• Topic-specific: fundraising/sustaining operations, citizen/community science, equity and inclusion (including how to engage those without internet access!), summer camp alternatives, volunteers, social media/online communications, ideas for families to engage in local nature, educator self-care

We anticipate that these calls are likely to truly be engaging conversations, not formal presentations. If you’d like to lead a session, please do! We’ll be here to help you set up the time, online space, and more. ​Ready to get started? Email katherine@kaee.org with your idea for a topic or activity, a few times and dates that would work best for you, and any other details you’d like to share. And, of course, let us know if you have any questions!

KAEE 2020 ANNUAL CONFERENCE GOING VIRTUAL

Join us—virtually!—this September! The 2020 Kentucky Association for Environmental Education Annual Conference will be held online this year, allowing for expanded creativity, recorded sessions (so you can attend ALL of them instead of being forced to choose between offerings), virtual happy hours, and a tremendous amount of EE information and fun!

We know that for many of our members and friends KAEE’s annual conference is like “a big family reunion” and an in-person event not to be missed, and the decision to transition to a virtual event for 2020 was bittersweet. Our board of directors and staff had numerous conversations about options for hosting the conference, and in the end, we all decided that moving to an online format for this year was the best way to keep everyone—the individual participants and our communities at large—healthy and safe.

And there are countless perks to the new format: recorded sessions that participants can watch anytime; opportunities to incorporate creative technology into sessions; reduced registration costs; virtual meetups for special interest groups; regional outdoor activities tied to conference themes; virtual happy hours; and more.

​Call for Proposals

The call for proposals is open, and given our plans to transition to an online format, we have extended the deadline to submit a proposal to June 7. To submit a proposal for a virtual session, complete the form here.

This year's theme is "Community Engagement: Building Sustainable Communities through the Power of Environmental Education.” Conference strands for 2020 include Education (EE Curriculum Programs, K-12 Education, Adult & Family Education, STEM, Green & Health Schools, etc.), Partnerships & Innovation (Community Partnerships, New & Innovative Projects, etc.), Civic Action (Community Service Projects, Service Learning, Green Schools Community Projects, etc.), and Capacity Building (Outreach, Fundraising, Communications, Messaging, Branding, Technology, etc.)

MAKE AN IMPACT ON KENTUCKY GIVES DAY

Tomorrow is #kygives20, and so many of our members and friends are among the 246 organizations joining together with Kentuckians for a powerful day of action!

The eighth annual Kentucky Gives Day is hosted by Kentucky Nonprofit Network and benefits 501 c(3) charities and organizations in the fields of human services, health care, children, the arts, humanitarian aid, animal welfare, the environment, and more.

Lasting 24 hours, the event allows participating organizations—many of whom are, like our members, the “boots on the ground” in their fields of work—to raise funds that, now more than ever, are greatly needed and appreciated.

“COVID-19 has changed so much, but it can’t change Kentucky’s giving spirit,” said Danielle Clore, CEO of Kentucky Nonprofit Network. “Kentuckians are needed to rally for a powerful day of action on May 12 to support the causes that help keep our communities healthy and thriving. Together we can keep Kentucky strong."

Learn about all the participating organizations and make your donations at kygives.org/.