The C&NN conference created a space for meeting long-time collaborators, colleagues, supporters, and funders, including C&NN Founders Cheryl Charles and Richard Louv, veteran supported and Board Member Nancy Herron, as well as leaders of C&NN’s Green Schoolyards Action Agenda and Outdoor and Nature-Based Early Care and Education Collaborative. Also noteworthy were meetups with Green Schoolyards America, the National League of Cities, Kaboom, Kompan’s Play Institute, and PlayCore’s, Center for Outreach, Research, & Education (CORE).

The Conference focused on practical, hopeful solutions that support both ecological resilience and the well-being of young people. With nearly 100 sessions, including technical talks, workshops, and panels, the conference provided a platform for sharing ideas and creating nature-rich futures for children. Highlights included discussions on universal design in green spaces, evaluating nature-based programs, and collaborative songwriting as a tool for community engagement.

A central initiative was the Green Schoolyards Action Agenda, aimed at all U.S. communities achieving access to green schoolyards by 2050, to improve climate resilience by reducing heat islands, managing stormwater effectively, and above all supporting healthy youth development and well-being.

Conference panels expanded on early childhood and youth development. A related session underscored the importance of time in nature and its impact brain development, emotional regulation, and healthy adult-child relationships.

A youth leadership panel highlighted the importance of connecting young people with the land, cultural practices, identity, and education. Panelists emphasized the integration of self-care and mental well-being into leadership, noting that grounded adults can more effectively mentor future environmental stewards.

Indigenous leadership played a vital role throughout the conference. Poet and scholar Kachina Yeager reminded attendees of the Dakota people’s deep-rooted relationship with the Twin Cities’ landscape. Shelley Buck, president of Owámniyomni Okhódayapi, presented her organization’s efforts to restore a sacred Dakota site in Minneapolis, a project praised by Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan. Flanagan encouraged attendees to continue nurturing children’s natural connections as a path toward healthy lives.

Dakota author Diane Wilson delivered a keynote highlighting kinship, reciprocity, and storytelling as means of reconnecting children with the natural world. She invoked the Dakota concept Mitakuye owas’iƞ — “we are all related” — emphasizing our collective responsibility to co-create a more hopeful and balanced future.

The conference concluded with the presentation of the Richard Louv Prize for Innovation in Nature Connection to CJ Goulding, co-founder of Boyz N The Wood, recognized for empowering youth through nature engagement and challenging harmful life situations.

Ultimately, the 2025 Nature Everywhere Conference was a demonstration of union-in-action — where professionals and youth came together not only to reflect but to envision and build a nature-connected world for all children.