LINK to Collaborative page

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Assessment Handbook Tool

The Institute and its partners developed Beyond Outreach Handbook: A Guide to Designing Effective Programs to Engage Diverse Communities pdf 798kb. This handbook represents an important new tool to assist National Park Service (NPS) managers and practitioners and their partners in developing programs that successfully connect diverse communities with their local national parks. It guides practitioners through an assessment that identifies gaps in readiness and informs the development of an effective engagement strategy.

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LINK to Collaborative page

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Superintendents Leadership Roundtable

The Superintendents Leadership Roundtable is a national program managed by the Conservation Study Institute that enhances the capacity of the National Park Service to seize leadership opportunities and meet the challenges associated with increasing complexity of park management. The Leadership Roundtable program, creates a national network of NPS leaders better able to negotiate complicated issues, embrace innovation, and build the commitment of a diverse public for the stewardship of our national system of parks into the next century.

 

 

Superintendents' Leadership Roundtable Program materials:
Brochure
Bibliography

Qualitative Evaluation of the Superintendents Leadership Roundtable
Full Report
Executive Summary

Best Practices for 21st Century Relevancy

Engaging an increasingly diverse population is critical to the future of our national system of parks and special places. The Institute, the Northeast Region Office of Interpretation and Education and the University of Vermont together are sponsoring research through a doctoral fellowship project to identify best practices for engaging new diverse audiences.

Engaging Community & Youth

The Institute and its parnters developed Beyond Outreach Handbook: A Guide to Designing Effective Programs to Engage Diverse Communities(pdf 798kb). This handbook represents an important new tool to assist National Park Service (NPS) managers and practitioners and their partners in developing programs that successfully connect diverse communities with their local national parks. It guides practitioners through an assessment that identifies gaps in readiness and informs the development of an effective engagement strategy.

The Institute, working with the Northeast Region Office of Interpretation and Education, and partners completed a web-based civic engagement manual, Stronger Together: A manual on the Principles and Practices of Civic Engagement (pdf 1.0MB)

Evaluation

The Institute is also developing evaluation programs to support engaging young adults in sustainability and conservation related careers. See the related narrative and PowerPoint presentation for details of evaluation research to Support National Park Service 21st Century Relevancy Initiatives.

Evaluating & Replicating Place-based Education Programs

In partnership with Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP, Green Mountain National Forest, Shelburne Farms and Northeast Office of National Wildlife Federation, the Institute participates in a place-based education evaluation collaborative to evaluate and support replication of programs such as:
A Forest for Every Classroom



The Benefits of Place-based Education: A Report from the Place-based Education Evaluation Collaborative
(2nd Edition) pdf 748 kb

"...place-based education fosters students' connection to place and creates vibrant partnerships between schools and communities. It boosts student achievement and improves environmental, social, and economic vitality."