Building Coalitions to Vitalize Community Green Space

Friday, March 10 - Saturday, March 11, 2000. Hotel Morgan, Morgantown, West Virginia

The Mon Valley Green Space Coalition (GSC) and West Virginia University (WVU) invite you to this conference to address common issues and strategies for achieving community green space goals. If you care about your community, parks or trails, this conference is for you.

This conference, hosted by the GSC, will focus on how to build and maintain coalitions of government, business, non-profit organizations, and community residents to:

·Revitalize parks and trails
·Manage urban forests
·Implement rail-to-trail conversions
·Develop alternative transportation options
·Protect farmland & open space
·Find money to accomplish these goals

Conference participants will learn:

A. How to bring a community together
B. How to identify key participants
C. Real world examples of successful coalition building
D. How to find funding sources and achieve realistic fundraising goals
E. How to put your town plan into action

Friday, March 10th
8:00 - 8:30 am Registration @ Hotel Morgan
8:30 Welcome: Frank Scafella, Mayor of Morgantown, West Virginia
8:35 Panel 1: Building Coalitions that Work
– Dave Bassage, Director, Friends of the Cheat
– Terri Cutright: Director, Mainstreet Morgantown
– Pam Moe-Merritt: West Virginia Rivers Coalition
– Bill Wonderlin: President, Green Space Coalition
10:00 Coffee Break
10:30 Panel 2: Rescuing our Heritage: Park Restoration and Open Space Protection
-- Greg Good: Green Space Coalition
-- Jim McClelland: Greater Huntington Parks & Recreation District
-- Joyce McConnell: West Virginia Land Trust
-- Lavonne Paden: Eastern Panhandle Peoples Empowerment Coalition (EPPEC)
12:00 Lunch Break
1:30 Panel 3: Walking and Biking in a Small Town
-- Tim Buskirk: Alternate Transportation Advocacy Committee (ATAC), Parkersburg
--Mary Perry: WV Bike & Pedestrian Coordinator
-- Anita Mayer: Mon River Trails Conservancy
-- Regina Mayolo: WVU Health Center, Coordinator of Outreach Center for Aging
3:00 Coffee Break
3:30 - 5:00 Workshop No. 1: Your Town Vision
7:30 - 9:30 pm Banquet & Keynote Speaker: "Save Our Lands, Save Our Towns" -- Thomas Hylton

See a slide show presentation by Thomas Hylton, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Save Our Land, Save Our Towns. This book challenges land use practices and encourages reinvestment in our towns, thereby helping to reduce sprawl.

Hylton talks about the pressures sprawl is placing on many communities. He shows examples of towns across the country that are "growing smart" to preserve their sense of place.

Hylton is a journalist from Pottstown PA. His editorials advocating the preservation of farmland and open space in southeastern PA won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. In 1993, he received a fellowship to study comprehensive state planning from Vermont to Oregon. The book is based on his research.

Hylton is also active in coalition building, namely: 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, a coalition of civic groups dedicated to land use reforms and community building; organized Trees Inc, a non-profit that raised nearly $500,000 to plant and maintain street trees; co-founded Preservation Pottstown, an organization preserving Pottstown’s historic neighborhoods and enhancing the borough’s quality of life.

(Note: Thomas Hylton’s 1995 book, Save Our Land, Save Our Towns, will be available at the conference. http://www.GreenWorksChannel.org/landuse/saveland.htm )

Saturday, March 11th

8:00 - 8:30 am Tours of Rail-Trail

8:30 - 9:00 Registration @ Hotel Morgan

9:00 Panel 4: Urban Forestry: Public Trees in Small Towns

-- Dan Brown: WVU Tree Surgeon

-- Kasey Russell: Urban Forester, USDA Forest Service

10:30 Coffee Break

11:00 Panel 5: Creative Funding for Parks, Trails, and Trees

-- West Virginia Community Foundations

12:30 Lunch Break

1:30 Workshop No. 2: Implementing Your Town Vision

(Note: Speakers’ order may vary from program.)

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REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

The registration fee for this two day conference is $50 when received

by March 1st, and $55 after March 1st.

The registration fee includes conference materials, lunch on Friday

and Saturday, refreshment breaks on both days, and Friday night banquet dinner and keynote speaker.

The registration fee is non-refundable. It is payable by check and

should be made out to Mon Valley Green Space Coalition.

If you would like to share a hotel room with someone of the same sex,

let us know & we will try to match up roommates.

Limited scholarship funding is available. Please enclose a written

request for scholarship with your registration, to be mailed no later than

February 15. You will be notified by March 1, 2000. Be sure to include

your exact needs for scholarship funding (registration, lodging, travel, etc.).

If you know who you would like to share a room with, let us know.

TO REGISTER:

1. Visit our website at http://www.fsl.wvu.edu/gsc, or

2. Call (304) 296-3067 to request a registration form, or

3. e-mail us at MVGREENSPACE@YAHOO.COM to request a registration form.

Hotel Information:

The Historic Hotel Morgan, conveniently located in downtown

Morgantown, will offer a special conference flat rate of $85 per night. Room sharing is permitted. Conference participants must make their own hotel reservations in advance. The conference rate is available until February 28, 2000. You must mention the Green Space Coalition group rate.

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·Conservation and Development Forum

·National Park Service-Rivers,

·Trails Conservation Assistance Program

·USDA Forest Service

·WVU Division of Forestry

Bill Wonderlin, Mon Valley Green Space Coalition

(see our web page at http://www.fsl.wvu.edu/gsc/) _