The Program At-a-Glance is available for download here.
Keynote: Working together to Leave No Child Inside
speaker, Martin LeBlanc
Martin LeBlanc's keynote will focus on how community-based strategies can be utilized to connect children with the outdoors. The keynote will begin with a history of the Leave No Child Inside Movement. It will then focus on the current actions being taken in both the public and private sector that focus on giving every child a special place in nature. Participants will receive information on how to empower their local communities, strategies to influence policymakers, and tips on how they can create non-traditional partnerships to ensure that every child has an opportunity to experience nature.
Martin LeBlanc's Biography
Martin LeBlanc is the National Youth Education Director for the Sierra Club, where he oversees the Sierra Club¹s youth programs and advocacy efforts relating to children and nature. His advocacy work has been focused on California, New Mexico and Washington State, as well as at the federal level. Martin has also been instrumental in forming partnerships with the military and health organizations. Martin is a founding Board member and Vice President of the Children and Nature Network, www.childrenandnature.org. He is responsible for helping build youth leadership with the Leave No Child Inside Movement. Martin was a troubled youth who had his life turned around through an outdoor experience as a teenager. He truly believes that ³we owe the next generation of children a special place in nature so they can be empowered to solve he environmental challenges of the future.² Martin has worked as an outdoor educator in Seattle, Washington, as well as an outdoor-education advocate for Texas Parks and Wildlife in Austin, Texas. He is the Chairman of the No Child Left Inside Committee in Washington State and a member of the North American Association of Environmental Education¹s Advocacy Committee.
Presented by:
Carolinian Canada Coalition, Parks Canada
and Essex Region Conservation Authority
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