EVERY CHILD HEALTHY OUTDOORS (ECHO) ACROSS AMERICA TOOLKIT: State and Community Action Resources
The Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK) is a national strategic partnership of organizations from diverse sectors with a common interest in connecting children, youth and families with the outdoors. OAK’s members are brought together by the belief that the wellness of current and future generations, the health of our planet and communities and the economy of the future depend on humans having a personal, direct and life-long relationship with nature and the outdoors. Yet, today children and youth face many barriers to getting outdoors and experiencing nature. Local, state and national decision-makers have a critical role to play to ensure that children, youth and families have the access, opportunities, skills and encouragement to connect with the great outdoors. We invite you to work with us to address this problem to ask your political leaders to work with you to implement proven policy solutions.
For more information on this issue, please visit our ECHO Resources to learn more.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
This guide provides tools you need to organize a meeting of leaders of organizations in your state or city, conduct an assessment of your state or city’s existing children, youth and families and the outdoors policy, set goals for policies that your governor or mayor can adopt, and launch a campaign to get your governor or mayor working on this policy agenda. You will find inside:
- A model email invitation to invite leaders of organizations in your state or city to an assessment meeting. You will find that education, conservation, recreation, parks, business, transportation, planning, public health and other organizations are all interested in connecting children, youth and families with the outdoors and can contribute to the solution, so make sure all these organizations are represented at your meeting.
- An assessment tool that will help you to determine which policy measures your state or city already has, and which ones are missing.
- A model letter to your governor or mayor asking for their support on this issue.
- A model governor’s or mayor’s proclamation that includes all of the most important policy measures on this issue.
- A model governor’s or mayor’s executive order that includes all of the most important policy measures on this issue.
Interested in implementing ECHO in your city/state?
Complete the contact form below to receive a copy of the ECHO Across America toolkit. Your e-mail will not be used for solicitations but will help us track where the ECHO toolkit is being utilized.
Thank you for your leadership on this effort. Let’s get our kids outdoors!
Outdoors Alliance for Kids 