The Intertwine Alliance has sister organizations in cities across the U.S.
We work together as the Metropolitan Greenspaces Alliance.
Nature doesn’t start or stop at geopolitical boundaries. Metropolitan conservation coalitions are large public/private/nonprofit partnerships that work across extensive natural landscapes. These alliances are adept at navigating both the complex ecosystem challenges, as well as the complex organizational environments of metropolitan regions. Current coalitions, in aggregate, comprise over 550 private, nonprofit and public organizations, and our regions contain 30 million people.
The Metropolitan Greenspaces Alliance includes Chicago; Cleveland; Houston; Los Angeles; Milwaukee; Portland, Oregon; and San Francisco. Recently Baltimore, Denver, Kansas City, Nashville, Seattle and St. Louis have begun developing coalitions and working with the MGA. Each of our alliances is different, but we work together to share best practices.
The Metropolitan Greenspaces Alliance holds an annual conference and retreat in the spring. It is currently also sponsoring a monthly webinar series. Webinars are the second Thursday of the month at 11:30 Pacific Time at join.me/MGAWebinar. Contact Mike.Wetter@theintertwine.org for more information.
MGA Webinars: For completed webinars, click the title to view a recording of the webinar
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Date |
Presenter |
Title |
Synopsis |
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4/18/2014 |
David Karstad, Frank Creative |
Our Common Ground: Selling Sustainability without Selling Out |
With environmental literacy on the decline and today's youth spending less and less time outside, reaching urban populations with environmental messages has become more important than ever. Yet many within the environmental community struggle to tell our stories in compelling ways, or to be heard in a highly saturated information marketplace. How is The Intertwine Alliance planning to meet this challenge? Check out "Our Common Ground: How to Sell Sustainability Without Selling Out." -- our free webinar with Frank Creative! Over the course of our hour-long webinar, outdoor brand expert David Karstad breaks down the thought process behind our fresh approach to selling nature in metropolitan regions. |
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6/12/2014 |
Ryan Branciforte, Trailhead Labs |
Collaboratively managing parks and trails information as a service to coalition partners |
Technology is an important vehicle in helping people explore outdoor opportunities but it can be difficult for parks professionals to understand and navigate the tumultuous realm of information technology. Ryan Branciforte and Jereme Monteau of Trailhead Labs, an outdoor technology company with deep roots in serving nonprofit and government parks organizations, will discuss exciting emerging trends. Themes will include open-source, crowdsourcing, social app analytics, citizen science, and service models that offer affordable pricing. Transit & Trails, an application that Trailhead Labs created in partnership with the Bay Area Open Space Council, an MGA member, will be discussed. is building a new Outdoor Technology Platform called OuterSpatial, that enables groups to manage and publish their recreation data online and build beautiful outdoor applications. The webinar will include a sneak preview of the OuterSpatial platform. |
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7/10/2014 |
Bruce Roll, Clean Water Services |
Wastewater utilities as conservation and community leaders: a case study. |
Bruce Roll, Director of Watershed Management for Clean Water Services in Hillsboro Oregon, will present strategies for leveraging local, state, and federal funding streams to accomplish parks and conservation outcomes at scale. Bruce will show how a wastewater utility has emerged as a community leader in working with federal agencies, parks departments, conservation groups, farmers, elected officials, and community groups to plant more than 1 million trees in stream corridors, establish new parks and trails, improve water quality in Oregon’s Tualatin River, and at the same time reduce costs for ratepayers. Encourage your local water utilities to participate in this MGA webinar. |
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8/14/2014 |
Mike Wetter, The Intertwine Alliance; Claire Robinson, Amigos de los Rios; and Chicago Wilderness |
Learn three different approaches for funding metropolitan conservation coalitions. This webinar is designed for those that are looking to build and sustain a working coalition in their cities. |
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9/11/2014 |
TBD |
Race, equity and inclusion in Urban Conservation |
To truly actualize their missions, conservation coalitions must reflect the diverse communities they serve. Yet too often parks and conservation organizations, which are often predominantly white, and organizations serving people of color, fail to connect or establish meaningful working relationships. This webinar will provide examples of approaches that have helped bridge the divide. |
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10/09/2014 |
Ole Amundsen, The Conservation Fund |
Creative Financing for Conservation |
All too often, conservation and environmental groups are under-capitalized or may not be prepared to pursue their priority projects within the time frame that the market demands. This webinar is designed to help conservation organizations enhance the business acumen of their organization. By understanding the art of borrowing funds or bridge financing a project, participants will be able to take an introspective look at best practices in their organization to determine whether their organization is on the right path to achieving their financial and conservation goals. |
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11/13/2014 |
Canceled |
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12/11/2014 |
The Intertwine Alliance, Chicago Wilderness, Open Space Council |
Developing Regional Conservation Strategies |
Developing sound, science-based conservation and biodiversity strategies can be a powerful tool for building and guiding metropolitan conservation coalitions. Three case studies will be presented for how such strategies are developed and used. |