SELP's 23rd Annual Conference will be held Wednesday, November 17 - Saturday, November 20, 2010 at the beautiful Lied Lodge in Nebraska City, Nebraska!
SELP CONFERENCE
SELP’s annual conference is one of the many ways we support state environmental groups in becoming even smarter, more powerful and better run. Every year directors and senior staff of SELP member organizations meet to share information, develop strategies on how to affect environmental policy, and to participate in organizational capacity-building sessions. They are joined by representatives of foundations, CEOs of various national organizations, and experts on selected environmental policy and organizational issues.
Because many SELP participating groups are coalitions, their attendance at the conferences also gives a collective voice to the thousands of environmental organizations engaged in grassroots efforts across the country.
HISTORY OF THE CONFERENCE
In 1988, leaders from nineteen state environmental advocacy organizations came together in Washington, D.C. for the first annual state environmental leadership conference. They were looking for a place to share their experiences, compare strategies, identify national trends and build their skills.
Out of that first gathering--and the many that have followed—have come innovative ideas and energy, with many exciting results. The conferences have led to the creation of organizations such as the Environmental Support Center (ESC), the Clean Air Network, and the Clean Water Network. Directors have had opportunities to talk to one another about their experiences and provide support to new directors, which has helped strengthen state advocacy in general.
Organizational training by experts in various fields has strengthened management skills and helped groups retain their directors and consequently other staff. Through informal networking opportunities around policy issues, these leaders have been able to identify anti-environmental trends such as the proliferation in use of the environmental audit privilege, and participate in high-level strategic discussions about effective reactions to these trends. In many cases, one state's shared expertise in a particular issue area has given other states a head-start in tackling an emerging issue.
The gatherings have continued to occur every year since 1988 and have been held in many states, including California, Utah, Colorado, New York, Arizona, West Virginia, Tennessee, Washington, Texas, and Missouri.
