Conservation Community Health & Sustainability
Thanks to generous grants from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and a partnership with Land Trust Alliance, Keep It Colorado offers programs that serves to advance statewide land conservation by supporting land trusts through diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) work and organizational development. Land trust participants are seeking to accomplish two vital goals: expand their work and missions to support community-centered conservation, and ensure that all Coloradans benefit equitably from land conservation while simultaneously sustaining their conservation efforts in perpetuity. As identified in Keep It Colorado’s Conserving Colorado: A 10-year Roadmap for the Future of Private Land Conservation, the next decade will be particularly important for securing a healthy, livable future.
Overview of the partnership’s accomplishments in 2023
Hosted a series of DEIJ trainings
Launched a DEIJ leadership peer learning cohort
Hosted an in-person DEIJ leadership retreat
Offered community-centered conservation and organizational development grant program, providing $172,000 in support to land trusts (read the news release)
Met with leaders and board members to establish priorities for organizational advancement
Conducted direct consultation meetings and training sessions, supported land trusts and leaders in transition, provided technical assistance contractors, supported re-accreditation, and provided an intensive leadership training and an implementation grant
This program reached 86% of Keep It Colorado’s member land trusts, plus nine additional Keep It Colorado members, such as public agencies, funders and conservation champions.
““Such a great cohort and retreat experience. I got so much out of the content alone but the connection with other organizations and individuals was invaluable. Having the safe space to dig into this content really made it hit home for me. I feel this retreat has made me a better conservation professional but also a better person.””
“Thank you so much for offering this training and doing this important work! This work is the reason I made a recent career change into the Land Trust world and I think that, armed with this knowledge and support, I can start to make the difference that I was hoping to make in this space, and in our local communities.” - DEIJ leadership cohort retreat participant
“I applaud and appreciate LTA and Keep It Colorado for doing this work to share and spread this knowledge across the conservation sector here in Colorado and soon nationwide. I also thank GOCO for recognizing and supporting this critical work. We are stronger together and we are long overdue for making land conservation work better for all people.” - DEIJ leadership cohort retreat participant
