The Natural Leaders Network empowers a worldwide youth movement to strengthen the bond between children and nature.

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“I am a natural leader!”

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A movement is here. It has arrived and it needs leaders. A legacy lies ready to be written and the ink for that legacy is within the energy of a young diverse generation.


The Natural Leaders Legacy Initiative presents an opportunity to train, activate, and support some of the best young leaders of our time. We will do this by building strong intergenerational grassroots leadership in communities nationwide to solve Nature-Deficit Disorder. These leaders will be equipped with outings certification (to move their communities outside) and community leadership skills (to engage their communities in sustainable solutions for Nature-Deficit Disorder). We know that the path towards solutions runs through empowering communities--this is the way to build a legacy, to build a movement.



In 2012, young leaders will begin the work to solve Nature-Deficit Disorder based upon what author Rich Louv calls our Nature Principle. C&NN's Natural Leaders Network stands ready to answer this call.

Together, we will launch a search for these young leaders, the ones who will add their voices to a legacy built from the foundation of all generations past, present, and future.

Let's G.O.! 20011 Report
Let's G.O.!(Get Outside) Month was a huge success! An estimated 100,000 participants joined 539 events in 44 states and Canada. Thanks to all of you for playing, serving and celebrating in April and beyond.
[+] Download the 2011 Let's G.O. Report



There is an energy within us…can you feel it? It is in our genes. Generation after generation has ventured into the unknown with that energy. Now it’s your turn. The Children & Nature movement is growing and moving, and we invite you to reserve your seat on this awesome ride. We are a movement that celebrates every day the sun rises and sets, every day a child digs into dirt or builds his first mud pie. Let this not be the last generation that celebrates time outdoors.
 
In the month of April, the Children & Nature Network will launch a nationwide campaign to highlight you and your community’s efforts to connect all people with nature and make our mark as a movement on the rise. We have the opportunity to celebrate our joy for nature like no other generation before. This is not a call to action, it is a call for fun! Think of it as a party invitation, and the party location is all the green space around us. Community gardening, local hikes, river clean-ups, bird watching, fishing, biking, beach days—however you get outside, we want to hear about it!

We need your voice as we write the next chapter of this movement—so join us!




Juan Martinez
C&NN Natural Leaders Network Coordinator

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Sign Up Today to download the Natural Leaders Network Tool Kit. This tool kit is a guide for all youth around the world who want to start Natural Leaders action groups or networks. It’s like a road map to figure out how to get started and where to go with your work. It offers some cool ideas and gives examples of how you might build your own Network. You will find stories of current Natural Leaders and the work they are doing, as well as the history of the Natural Leaders Network and how Natural Leaders fit into the greater movement to reconnect kids to nature. Go ahead, download it now and start reading.

This movement involves youth in all environments, from rural to urban, and all economic and ethnic groups. The Natural Leaders Network brings together individuals, organizations, communities, and sectors in a non-partisan, inclusive, peer-to-peer network. The network focuses on three issue areas: peer-to-peer communication, diversity in nature, and outdoor green jobs.

Natural Leaders Network from children & nature network on Vimeo.

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NOTE: The role of the Children & Nature Network (C&NN) is to help build the children and nature movement, and to help youth and others learn about ways to get outside and connect to nature. Let's G.O.! (Get Outside) is an approach we wish to encourage. However, such events are organized independently and C&NN is not responsible for the actions of specific Natural Leaders or local Natural Leaders Networks. At any time, when youth are outside on their own, or with families and friends, everyone should take safety precautions and be mindful of risks.