Harry (aka Carolyn Auwater) from the Appalachian Mountain Club and Phil Henderson, from Osprey

Because the summit fell on Halloween this year, Harry Potter raised her wand to cast some magic over the three days of snow-covered workshops, program shares and new connections at the Calwood Education Center, in Jamestown, CO.

Despite over 12 inches of snow in the 48 hours before the event, the opening reception at REI was the perfect welcome! With folx from Latino Outdoors, Outdoor Afro, Next 100 Coalition and many more in force to welcome people to the Summit from around the country. And they truly came from far and wide: Detroit (one person by train!), Baltimore, Seattle, The Bay Area, Chicago, Florida, New York City, Kentucky and towns from all over CO were represented.

The trip up to Calwood, in the mountains above Boulder was wild, with snow-covered roads and a stop to put chains on the BOAT Bus, our amazing outdoor-outfitted school bus, we head up the snow-covered dirt road. The chains fell off. We put them back on and finally made it up the hill!

Program shares, where all programs with gear libraries or plans for them, share about their work, were a great part of the three days.

Colorado was there in a big way: Mighty little Get Outdoors Leadville shares its work.

The workshops, outdoor time with amazing, passionate people from all over were illuminating. Rafael Salgado, from Calwood gave us a lesson on bilingual education, and our Keynote speaker - Autumn Saxon Ross, drew rave reviews as she walked us through power and privilege through the "Crapshoot of Life".

We held our first annual OEN Awards Night and honored some incredible people for all they've been doing to further our mission. Awardees included:

Brian Arnoldt and Andrew Pringle: Network All-stars, for their long-standing work to make the Network thrive!

Osprey Packs: Corporate partner of the year!

The Appalachian Mountain Club’s Youth Opportunities Program: For starting the model way back in 1968, and providing a model to follow ever since!

Garrett Dempsey: Network Weaver 2019!

Brian Arnoldt of the Forest Preserves of Cook County was one of five honorees at our first Awards Night.

People enjoyed late, late nights by the fire, sharing and learning from one another, and built new relationships that we'll leverage for months and hopefully years to come.

Our members have told us, through surveys and stories, that the Summit is hugely valuable to them. It leaves them feeling like their work is bigger than just the day to day of what happens in their town. They meet people with similar challenges. They learn about new solutions. They are inspired to go back to their communities to work even more effectively to get even more young people outdoors!