CDTC’s Community Outreach team is celebrating another successful Gateway Community Summit! “Hosting the Gateway Community Summit is always a journey of collaboration. We appreciate the participants who shared their experience and insight with us. It is so helpful to connect with other members of this program”, says Liz Schmit, CDTC Community and Outreach Program Manager.
For the first time, the 2023 Gateway Community Summit was hosted throughout the entire month of November. Each Wednesday, CDTC staff led a workshop focusing on a different element of how communities along the Divide are embracing and stewarding the Continental Divide Trail. Members of Gateway Communities and Trail Towns, CDT enthusiasts, and outdoor recreation professionals attended the sessions, contributing to productive collaboration and camaraderie.
During the Summit’s kickoff session, participants learned about the CDT Gateway Community program and discussed the biggest opportunities and challenges of being a Gateway Community in small groups. The following week, attendees learned more about the CDT Gateway Community Ambassador program, and shared their thoughts on the resources that would be most useful to Community Ambassadors. During the Summit’s third session, CDTC’s Policy and Advocacy Manager and Regional Representatives came together to lead an informative webinar about how participants could turn their passion for the CDT into action. They focused on demystifying trail policy, opportunities to speak out in support of the CDT, and strategies for community mobilization.
After a break for the Thanksgiving holiday, attendees gathered for the final time in a project incubator session. The Gateway Community and Trail Town members participated in a guided brainstorming session in which they discussed CDT activities and initiatives that they could launch in their own communities from hiker nights, to sustainable tourism initiatives, to events celebrating local ecology. Attendees shared that they look to the trail, and to those using the trail, to bring resources into their community and foster a sense of connection between the community and the trail.
Missed a session of the Summit? Don’t worry! Recordings of the session are available on YouTube and all of the resources discussed at the Summit can be found on the Summit webpage.
If you’d like to learn more about the Gateway Community program and other ongoing work at the CDTC, be sure to join the 2024 CDT Town Hall, taking place on January 24.
