Empowering Clean, Healthy and Thriving Communities

In October Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful held its Annual Conference in State College, PA celebrating 35 years of stewardship, sustainability, and environmental education. The conference offered valuable opportunities for our state affiliates, volunteers, partners and sponsors to come together, review our past achievements, exchange insights and ideas, and grow collectively as our mission is more important now than ever.

The Conference kicked off with a tour of the Penn State Arboretum, and an evening of networking in which all attendees were encouraged to wear an item that had been created from recycled materials. Our guests were very creative!

Our Keynot speaker, Dr. Lara Fowler, Penn State Dickinson Law, drew on her 30+ years of experience on the challenges and changes we face in building sustainable, resilient communites.

Jessica Shirley, Secretary, PA Department of Environmental Protection, spoke to the importance of grassroots involvement in Community Improvement efforts across the Commonwealth. Additionally, Ms. Shirley led the final session of "Affiliates in the Shark Tank", where 4 KPB affiliates presented their sustainability initiatives for a chance to win $3500 in funding provided by MPLX.

There were 4 breakout sessions offering attendees the opportunity to participate in serveral discussions:

1. Harnessing Solar Energy For Your Community

2. Textiles Close-up: Second Hand Markets and Recycling

3. Community Programming that Encourages Waste Minimization and INspires the Next Generation of Environmental Stewards

4. Leveraging Corporate Partnerships to Advance Your Mission

Based on a survey sent to all participants, the conference was an overwhelming success.