The American Horticultural Society (AHS) is seeking session proposals for the 2019 National Children & Youth Garden Symposium: Building Blocks for a Sustainable Future taking place June 10-13, 2019 in Madison, WI. Proposals should be submitted online no later than December 31, 2018. With questions, please contact education@ahsgardening.org. 

Climate change, pollinator-species decline, and environmental degradation have become all too familiar themes in our lives and communities. As citizens and as educators, the strategies we deploy, the choices we make, and the values and messages we communicate have the potential for real impact. Providing the next generation with the knowledge and tools to create a sustainable environmental future and finding ways to maintain and grow the gardens and programs that nurture our youth is the focus of the 2019 National Children & Youth Garden Symposium. NCYGS will explore innovative sustainable gardening curriculum and practices, exploring “green” career resources, and highlighting model partnerships for attracting the human, financial, and intellectual capital needed to sustain youth gardening endeavors. Attendees will come away enlivened and energized with a vital set of tools and resources to enable their students to make a difference that counts.

Every year, NCYGS brings together educators, landscape architects and designers, staff at botanic gardens, non-profits, and more from around the country who are all working to engage children with gardens and the natural world that surrounds them. 

Begun over 20 years ago, the symposium explores and promotes the many opportunities offered by children's gardens: helping children develop social skills, enhancing school curricula, bringing families together, and creating an awareness of the link between nature and our food, clothing and shelter.