AFNHA held our annual Stakeholder Meeting last month at historic Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg. We were joined by a attendees representing diverse organizations from Greenbrier County and across our region. We led with an informational presentation from our staff which included announcements about our new sub-grant and America250 programs. During the event we also held our annual membership meeting where we elected two new Board Members: Robert Burns (Director of Non-profits at Eastern West Virginia Community & Technical College) and Rexana McCourt (Forester at Pardee & Curtin Timberlands).
We spent most of the day getting to know our new and long-time partners and listening to their perspectives and priorities. We held two breakout listening sessions with attendees and a panel discussion featuring local leaders in southeastern West Virginia. Panelists shared exciting updates about projects in and around Greenbrier County such as the Meadow River Trail in Rainelle, rediscovering traditional West Virginia Christmas traditions through theater, the new Rhoda’s House exhibit space Home Among the Hills tour, the West Virginia Forest Farming Initiative, and the history of state forests in West Virginia.
Our breakout sessions identified the following priorities:
Conservation/Outdoor Recreation Breakout Room
Safeguards for Mon Forest headwaters and clean water
Integrating conservation information into outdoor recreation spaces
Wayfinding and interpretive signage with collaborative area marketing and activities
Trail development (people-powered: hiking, biking, birding, etc)
Attract accessible market customers by inventorying and promoting accessible infrastructure
Strategic planning among agencies for systematic conservation education
Opportunities for wellness and connection to nature
Attract new residents through investment in infrastructure
Heritage/Community Development Breakout Room
How can AFNHA help you?
Grant writing is an important skill; AFNHA wants to support smaller groups that don’t have grant experience.
Need to develop more training opportunities (interpretation, grant writing, outreach)
Community organizations need volunteers, especially young people
Use our volunteer portal! Reach new audiences and students for volunteer needs
AFNHA will be focusing on America250 program to reach different areas and tell diverse stories. Partners are encouraged to participate and submit stories.
View our full notes from the meeting at https://docs.google.com/document/d/13azqAgCIiIR-LoQEU8r_uPqhXafbuImtCvpDdNZQHtM/edit?usp=sharing
Thank you to everyone who attended, and special thanks to Carnegie Hall for hosting us, the O'Cafe for catering, the North House Museum for providing a tour, Danielle Parker and David McGill for facilitating, and to our panelists and presenters: Tammy Tincher (Greenbrier County Commission), Rhett Dusenbury (Office of Rep. Alex Mooney), Brian Belcher (Greenbrier County CVB), Matthew Campbell (Greenbrier Valley Theatre), Travis Miller (WV Division of Forestry), Margaret Hambrick (Greenbrier County Historical Society), Erika Marks (Yew Mountain Center).
See some photos from the meeting below:
