Calendar
Make Your Reservations for these Two Events:..AND
Join the prairie community of southeast Texas and coastal Louisiana as we celebrate the great work happening locally to save, restore, and teach prairies. We will present awards to prairie champions and enjoy a delicious potluck dinner. Register today!
Raise funds for the Lawther-Deer Park Prairie Education Program, honor Susan and Peter Conaty, participate in auctions, and test your prairie knowledge with this fun program.
On May 18, Kinder will offer the same great program spotlighting Stephen Klineberg and his transformational Kinder Houston Area Survey, along with insights from Rice University and community leadership. Proudly, they will also honor Rev. William A. Lawson for his many years of service to Houston and its people. All will be offered online for our entire community to enjoy freely, safely and comfortably.
Registrants will receive instructions via email on how to access the program closer to the program date.
11:30 a.m. Digital Registration
2020 Kinder Houston Area Survey and other materials made available to access online and download
12:00 p.m. Lunch-Out Program
Grab your lunch, and from the comfort of your preferred location, explore findings from Stephen Klineberg’s 39th Kinder Houston Area Survey, with insights from Rice University President David Leebron, Houston Education Research Consortium Director Ruth N. López Turley, and Kinder Institute Director Bill Fulton. The Lunch-Out will also honor Rev. William A. Lawson for his 60+ years of service to Houston and its people.
Carrin Patman
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Ellen Cohen
The event will feature a discussion with Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, led by METRO Chair Carrin Patman. Kanter was named one of the “50 most influential business thinkers in the world,” according to Thinkers50, the global ranking of management thinkers. She will speak about her latest book, “Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time.”
Center for Houston’s Future will also present the Vaughan Award to Ellen Cohen, a community leader who served as a Houston City Council member and Texas state representative.
A series of short films about Houston’s environment begins on the Anheuser-Busch stage from noon to 4 p.m. Participants are invited to view them throughout the afternoon. Urban Harvest and Churrascos food truck will be on-site serving healthy snacks and meals.
Throughout the day enjoy live painting by Houston artists completing murals that celebrate the richness and diversity of our community, culture, and natural environment. The 13 artists were chosen from 111 applicants for their designs that envision the Houston we want to see and inspire us to create that shared future together. Their work will be on display at the park through October 2021.
Impact Hub houston envisions a more prosperous, inclusive, climate-resilient economy, where finance flows to green projects and activities, and where motivated people are empowered with the skills and capacity they need to take action.
This progress can only be achieved through systemic change – change that includes innovation across business, investment, regulation, governance structures, values and mindsets. They invite you to join Climathon Houston to see the most promising ideas that emerge around Houston’s challenges, including:
Energy Transition: developing innovative ways to …
- Shift from extractive to regenerative energy production, capture and distribution technologies.
- Restore, protect, and enhance Houston’s natural ability to capture and store carbon.
Materials Management: developing innovative ways to …
- Reduce waste production and/or Optimize waste operations.
- Reuse or Upcycle materials into useful products, to lengthen their lifespan and keep materials out of streets and landfills.
- Recycle materials into efficient energy or new raw materials for manufacturing and production.
Building Optimization: developing innovative ways to …
- Reduce building energy use and maximize savings.
- Increase the healthfulness and utility of existing buildings for sustainable community use.
Regional Resilience: developing innovative ways to …
- Address clean water, access, retention and flooding issues
- Engage more people in building better habits that promote cleaner, greener communities
- Accelerate clean urban mobility
Parks and Natural Areas Awards
H-GAC established the Parks and Natural Areas awards program in 2006 to highlight best practices and innovative approaches to parks planning and implementation. H-GAC honors projects in the categories of Projects Over $500,000, Projects Under $500,000, Planning Process and Policy Tools, and Programming.
This program recognizes outstanding parks and natural areas around the region. No funding is associated with this award program.
Conservation Grants
Conservation Grants can be awarded to projects anywhere in Texas. In its first 25 years the Birding Classic has donated $1,071,000 in conservation funding to nature tourism and avian habitat restoration, enhancement, and acquisition projects throughout the state!
Number of grants awarded (and their amounts) are determined based on team registration fees (independent and sponsored) and corporate sponsorship dollars collected each year. The Birding Classic is a cost-recovery event, so once minimal event costs are covered all remaining funds go to conservation grants in Texas. Organizations are not required to register a team in the Birding Classic to be eligible to submit a project proposal.
All approved projects submitted by the May 1st deadline will be provided to winning Birding Classic teams to select which projects are funded by Conservation Grants.