The Recreation Forum Project March and April 2007: five regional Forums and a national Forum in Washington, DC National conveners: ARC and NFF Strong local host committees Initial template for forums revised to meet regional priorities More than 100 persons involved in planning, more than 2,000 involved in total

Kids in the Outdoors Emerged While the initial strategy called for all Forums to address access issues and then 1-3 other regional priorities, like volunteerism or links to tourism, the local host committees independently acted to put the connection between youth and the outdoors at the heart of the Forums All Forums had youth speakers, most had youth panels

Messages and Lessons Learned Cobb County demonstrated integration of recreation, education, senior services and health programs with “campuses” and interdepartmental cooperation in programming The Atlanta area Forum also introduced us to Geeks in the Woods.

LA : Recreation Rocks! Let’s Get Outside & Into Life Youth panel told us about trips to national parks – mostly through church groups Stories about cell phones – PCD (personal communications devices) – and Facebook Lure of social interaction – and importance of age-groupings No to brochures and visitor centers The story of In-and-Out Burgers vs. “your little brown signs”

LA Forum Action Results FS Researchers, FS San Dimas Technical Development Center, ARC and City of LA team up in Griffith Park – confirm lure of technology and discover the power of teams Summer 2008 project with Montana and California: fam trips reported on key social networking sites

Pacific Northwest Role of zoos in urban areas – and the surprising discovery of WOW morphed into ZAP! Kids tell us that getting to the outdoors isn’t easy, and links outdoor activities with family over friends Oregon State Parks leads the way with research efforts on youth and the outdoors

Chicago The discovery of partnerships among recreation programs, museums, schools and conservation groups Make the close to home areas demonstrations of excellence: forest preserves, lakeshore, and trails Let kids love winter!

An “Ah-ha” Moment During discussions about social networking, we found federal officials reserved in speaking up And then we heard a key reason: access to Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, iTunes and other sites is blocked by most Federal IT offices!

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