Should we have a project for National Day of Service, Jan. 19?

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This is from the NCLI Coalition – the ones leading the charge on the federal legislation for funding for environmental education.

National Day of Service on January 19th

The NCLI Coalition to Take Part across the Nation

President-elect Barack Obama has announced that January 19, 2009,
will be a national day of service ‘“ coinciding with the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and a day before the presidential
inauguration.

This presents a great opportunity for the No Child Left Inside
Coalition to highlight the work our members do to educate people
about the environment and our commitment to solving environmental
challenges.

Our goal is to have at least one event in every state. By
sponsoring events across the nation, we can generate interest in
the NCLI movement and make our name more widely known among key
leaders in Washington, D.C.

Here’s how your group can get involved:

Plan a service activity for January 19th in your community. This
could include a stream cleanup, tree planting, community meeting
about environmental conditions in your area, or any other activity
that allows people to get involved in making your community a
cleaner and greener place.
Register your event on the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s
website and be sure to list NCLI Coalition as a co-sponsor of your
event, along with your local organization.
Contact the local media and ask them to cover your event.
Share news about your events with the Coalition; send information
to Lucas Johnson. The more events that are co-sponsored by the NCLI
Coalition, the better our chances are of being highlighted by the
incoming presidential team.

We recognize that time is short, but early next month we will have
a set of materials to help you plan an event and reach out to the
media. Copies of those documents will soon be available on our
website.

Please contact us with questions or if you need other resources.
Help us make the national service day a great success!

No Child Left Inside Coalition Adds its 1000th Member!

The NCLI Coalition recently passed a major milestone as we welcomed
our 1,000th member. We reached this remarkable accomplishment as
part of an amazing Chicago wave of support for NCLI. In recent
weeks, a dozen organizations from the Chicago area have joined and
today the Coalition has 46 member groups from the state of Illinois.

Indeed, it has been a remarkable year. In December 2007, the
Coalition’s membership totaled just over 100 organizations. Since
then, we have grown ten-fold as more and more people hear about our
mission.

Today our membership reflects the involvement of groups interested
in the environment, education, conservation, outdoor recreation and
public health, as well as many businesses and faith-based groups.

In all, our member organizations represent a whopping 47.5 million
Americans!

It is that broad representation that has propelled our success.
Thanks to all of you, we won passage in the House of
Representatives for the No Child Left Inside Act this fall. This
victory gives us critical momentum toward winning final passage of
the Act in the next Congress.

As always, we thank Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Rep. John
Sarbanes of Maryland, our lead Senate and House sponsors, for their
tireless work to improve environmental education in America.

“The No Child Left Inside Coalition has brought together a diverse
group of individuals and organizations from across the country to
help us strengthen and expand environmental education in America’s
classrooms,” said Senator Reed. “I am pleased the coalition
continues to grow and build support for passing the No Child Left
Inside Act. In a tough economy and an even tougher appropriations
process, we’ll need a strong effort from coalition members
nationwide.”

Congressman Sarbanes also added his congratulations: I would like
to congratulate the No Child Left Inside Coalition on achieving
this extraordinary milestone. You were the driving force behind all
of our progress this year. With one thousand members and growing,
we will have an army of advocates to sustain our momentum during
the 111th Congress. I look forward to working with the coalition
to see No Child Left Inside Act through to law.

With the leadership of our sponsors and the support of more than
1,000 committed organizations, we are confident that our message
will continue to be heard loud and clear.

Abby Ybarra
Lucas Johnson

Grassroots Coordinator

No Child Left Inside Coalition