Summit 2007 Report
The Leave No Child Inside Central Ohio Collaborative Summit
Post Summit Report
The first Leave No Child Inside Central Ohio Collaborative Summit was held on September 28, 2007 at Camp Wyandot in the Hocking Hills of Ohio. The beautiful eighty year old Camp Fire USA camp, was the perfect setting for the occasion. Sixty five attendees representing over thirty organizations made a trip to the woods to discuss how we can work together to get more central Ohio children reconnected with the natural world.
The summit was held on a beautiful and sunny autumn day. The attendees sat together in an inviting circle in the camp’s lodge, between the two roaring fireplaces that provided the only heat on a crisp morning. The lodge, constructed with trees from the 1930’s chestnut blight and local sandstone mined from a nearby hill, was cheerfully decorated with children’s nature art. Water colored rainbows, flowers, suns, and skies hung from the lodge rafters and twirled on the breeze reminding all involved why we had gathered.
Thirty kindergartners from Columbus School for Girls, a local school, also made the trek to the woods to open the summit with “Nature Needs Kids and Kids Need Nature”, an original song written by one of the organizers. These same kindergartners also visited a professional recording studio two weeks before the summit to record “Leave No Child Inside”, another original song specifically written for the occasion. The song was premiered in a DVD presentation also created for the summit, which presented statistics about Nature Deficit Disorder alongside photos of children playing happily outside, or, alternately, hooked up to video games. The photos and music made the message very poignant to those who already know of the problem and those just learning about it. One attendee said, “I definitely received a kick in the butt!” After the dvd was presented, there wasn’t a dry eye in the lodge. After the children were done singing, they spent the day exploring the surrounding woods. Their laughter and excitement could be heard in the distance as the discussions got under way.
The organizers of the summit, including representatives from Camp Fire USA, Action for Children, and two unaffiliated “concerned citizens”, chose Open Space Technology instead of a set agenda for the day. In the spirit of this facilitation model, the attendees themselves set the agenda. Each topic that was brought forth was announced and then posted on the wall. Some of the topics included “How do we diversify the LNCI movement?”, “LNCI legislation”, “Marketing our Collaborative”, and more. Whomever brought the issue forth would then lead a “breakout” session on the subject. At one time during the summit there were ten breakout sessions convened in the woods, as participants moved their chairs out of the lodge and into the open air.
In the spirit of true grassroots activism, and in order for all the attendees to stay connected after the summit, the organizers also launched the collaborative’s new interactive website
Although this was only the first step, and only the birth of the Leave No Child Inside Central Ohio Collaborative, much was accomplished in the single day. In the weeks after the summit, members have pledged their support by posting a “photo badge” on their Web sites, have worked together to support LNCI legislation federally, have received emails containing the notes from some of the small group sessions, and are working toward launching a collaborative events calendar and map to allow parents, teachers and child care workers to locate opportunities in nature in the local area. The web site has drawn participation from attendees, who have commented on posts ranging from teaching strategies, the price of a promotional material for the group, and the philosophy espoused in Louv’s book.
All of the attendees raved about the summit, and 100% of those surveyed agreed to continue participating in the future. The summit was hosted by Camp Fire USA and was sponsored by AEP and Chase Bank.
Jenny Morgan and Alice Hohl
Co-Chairs of the Leave No Child Inside Central Ohio Collaborative
