The Affiliate Network Steering Committee (ANSC) is seeking 3-5 leaders from within the Affiliate Network to join a working group to help design updated structures, operating procedures, and activities that reflect our current and aspirational network capacity. We anticipate this working group will meet monthly through the remainder of 2020 and potentially into early 2021, with some individual work in between monthly meetings. 
 
Background:  
The NAAEE Affiliate Network provides affiliates with the opportunity to share and leverage resources, coordinate activities, build partnerships, participate in collective impact, and implement innovative strategies to strengthen the role of environmental education as a solution to our pressing environmental and societal challenges. (2012 Strategic Plan) The Affiliate Network is currently supported by an Affiliate Network Steering Committee (ANSC).  
 
With support from NAAEE, the Affiliate Network has become stronger and more effective over the last several years. Specifically, working groups have increased participation and impact along with more collaborative projects among affiliate organizations. The ANSC has been working to closely examine our practices, structure, and activities to build the infrastructure needed to support this growth.  We recognize that the world is changing and that together, NAAEE, the Affiliate Network and the ANSC have a unique opportunity to be an integral part of this change. 
 
The ANSC has recently engaged a consultant to facilitate a process over the next several months designed to:

• Develop a shared understanding of our common goals as a Network, our systems to advance change, and identify areas where the Affiliate Network can most effectively invest resources to advance environmental education through systems mapping. 
• Update our internal and external operating procedures and practices with a lens of equity and inclusion that will help the Affiliate Network grow and become more reflective of the communities we serve.
• Engage in a process to understand where the Affiliate Network is currently affecting change at a systemic level and where the Network can most effectively advance environmental education in collaboration with NAAEE and individual Affiliate Organizations.
• Refine a leadership model that allows us to effectively and efficiently meet our goals. 

During this time of transition and opportunity, the ANSC is eager to form an expanded working group with up to five additional Affiliate leaders who can participate in this process and inform our outcomes. The process will also include periodic updates to the full network with opportunities to provide feedback along the way.

To indicate your interest, please complete this google form by COB on August 20,2020. In the event there are more interested leaders than the working group can accommodate, the ANSC will form a group that brings the most diverse geographic representation, skill set, and organizational capacity. The working group meets from 1:30pm-3pm ET on the first Tuesday of each month beginning September 1.