Coalition Notes 01-18-2012

1. The 6th Annual Houston Children’s Summit: New Media, New Messaging for a New Generation. On Wednesday, January 25th, from 8:00 am to noon, we invite you to attend The 6th Annual Houston Children’s Summit: New Media/New Messaging for a New Generation. Public officials, community leaders, and local and national experts will provide Harris County community members with an update on the status of our children. Summit attendees will delve into how creative tools and new messaging can change the way we think about advocacy and transform our ability to reach our constituents, legislators and ultimately, contribute to our children’s continued success. Visit www.childrenatrisk.org for more info, speaker information, and to purchase tickets.
2. Houston Environmental Education Summit. Environmental Educators Exchange, National Wildlife Federation, and Houston ISD are proud to co-host the 5th Annual Houston Environmental Education Summit at the University of Houston – Downtown on January 28, 2012. The summit will energize teachers, principals, community leaders, and environmental experts to use the outdoors as a living laboratory by offering engaging, hands-on workshops on everything from teaching students about our world-class birdlife to building a rainwater-harvesting barrel from a trashcan. Nationally known environmentalist Jarid Manos, director of the Great Plains Restoration Council and author of Ghetto Plainsman, will deliver a stirring keynote address at 8:45am that will address the benefits of nature for children, particularly at risk youth. Learn more about the summit at http://houstoneesummit.wordpress.com/.
3. Council for Environmental Education – Connecting Young Children To Nature. The Council for Environmental Education (CEE), was awarded $120,995 from the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen a national effort to connect young children to nature. CEE’s Growing Up WILD is a nationally distributed professional development program and activity guide that integrates environmental education into the early childhood curriculum. This program already one of the largest in the nation as over 40,000 educators and childcare professionals have been trained. Learn more about Growing Up WILD at http://www.projectwild.org/growingupwild.htm and read about at http://www.projectwild.org/documents/GUWEPAAward-PressRelease-web.doc.
4. Galveston Bay Water Quality Public Meeting. Galveston Bay Foundation is holding a meeting on January 18th from 5:30-7:30pm at Armand Bayou Nature Center’s Education Center. The meeting will cover the updates to the Implementation Plan to reduce bacteria levels in the Upper Gulf Coast Oyster Waters and spread awareness of bacteria issues around Galveston Bay. More at http://galvbay.org/.
5. H-GAC Kicks Off Public Portion of Sustainability Plan. Residents, business owners, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and local government representatives have teamed up in an unprecedented effort to develop a regional plan for the 13-county area. The region includes Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Harris, Matagorda, Montgomery, Walker, Waller, and Wharton Counties. This two year planning project is the first step in answering questions such as “Where will those residents live?” “How will they move around the region?” and “How will change affect quality of life?” Over the next two months residents will have an opportunity to give their feedback on what they think are the most pressing issues facing their communities and the region overall and share their hopes for what a better tomorrow may look like. More information, including meeting information, is available at http://www.ourregion.org/AboutUs.html.
6. Crab Trap Removal Week is Around the Corner! The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has announced that the abandoned crab trap removal program is February 17-26, 2012. During this 10-day period, all Texas bays will be closed to crabbing with crab traps, and any traps left in the bay will be presumed to be abandoned and considered litter under state law, thus allowing volunteers to legally remove any crab traps they find. Last year Galveston Bay Foundation volunteers removed over 175 crab traps from Trinity Bay. For more information email crabtrap@tpwd.state.tx.us. If you would like to volunteer to remove crab traps with GBF this year on Saturday, February 18th, please email jmintzer@galvbay.org to register and get details.