Breakout session 1, Monday morning: Citizen Mobilization

Goals:

-Encourage people to be politically active
-Create a sense of community from a positive experience
-Educate a broad sector. Education leads to credibility and empowerment
-Start a cultural shift with the integration of the private sector and bipartisan groups
-Break down the notion that stewardship occurs only in the mountains. It takes place the minute you step outside—people should be engaged in stewardship on an everyday level

Actions:

-Create opportunities for ownership and leadership in volunteer programs, which leads to repeat participation. Use different types of volunteers and offer different projects
-Create streamlined messaging amongst the stewardship community that can be easily translated to the general public
-Move beyond polarization of politics: work with like-minded user groups on a broad level; engage with the science of restoration; focus on economics—stewardship is good business for restaurants, hotels, fishing/hunting industries, etc.
-Provide opportunities for business to engage in positive volunteer experiences, beyond one-time projects
-Reach out to private sector for pro bono PR, give them a stake
-Work with private retailers for volunteer opportunity outreach
-Work with school systems and administrators to get kids outside
-Use multi-cultural, Colorado-specific, inclusive messaging

Resources:

-Identify current stewardship organizations, what they do, and share models
-A central database for stewardship/volunteerism (existing ones include volunteeroutdoors.net, the Children and Nature Network)
-Funds for volunteer stewardship infrastructure
-Media involvement to get the message out
-Government and non-profit involvement and coalitions