Yosemite Gateway Partners Summit
October 23rd and 24th Summit in Yosemite Valley
October 4, 2019 - Working in conjunction with the National Park Service, Federal, State and Local agencies, private enterprise and international entrepreneurs, the Yosemite Gateway Partners organization announces a special two-day landmark event.
International news and locals' personal experiences are vividly filled with images of a park and gateway region at times swamped by vehicles. The lack of workforce housing in gateway communities has touched gateway employers in those gateways and especially in Yosemite. That lack of affordable housing touches all local residents in one way or another and has reached a dire point.
The Yosemite Gateway Partners (YGP) is a 501(c)(3) organization which has worked for many years with the leadership of Yosemite National Park, its concessionaires and other park partners, and with all those members of the multiple counties and gateway communities having a common connection to Yosemite. And YGP has now stepped forward to bring innovative problem solvers together in a two-day Summit event in Yosemite National Park on October 23rd and 24th dedicated to initiating conversations, finding solutions: and inaugurating the process of putting them into action.
The continued sustainability of Yosemite National Park and the complex relationships the Gateways have with the park compels an exchange of innovative ideas, difficult ideas - adaptable ones, too. Off the wall ideas. From those who understand those challenges first-hand, and those who've created solutions elsewhere. A little healthy brainstorming may turn on unexpected new light bulbs and that's the goal. The YGP Summit line-up of presenters includes:
Yosemite is the undisputed crown jewel of the National Park System and draws growing numbers of visitors and vehicles each year. Those vehicles and visitors have a major impact on Yosemite and surrounding communities. But those visitors might ALSO be an opportunity for those communities - as attendees may be in the best position to discover.TRANSPORTATION - DAY ONE (October 23rd)
* Yosemite NP Superintendent Mike Reynolds, Yosemite NP Planning Chief Kathleen Morse and National Park Transportation Consultant Darren Brown will kick-off the day with a presentation focused on park transportation issues and engaging the private sector as partners/providers of solutions* Gregoria Ponce, Caltrans District 10 Office Chief, Rural Planning* Renee Tkach, President of the Columbia Gorge Tourism Alliance and: Friends of the Columbia Gorge's Gorge Towns to Trails Project Manager* Brian Deninger and team from Incredible Adventures - San Francisco-based Yosemite tour provider* Adrian Laurenzi, Founder of Totago: a company which has developed websites for mitigating car-dependence in National Park and other outdoor tourism destinations* Cindy Kelly, Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) Assistant Transit Manager* Megan Ramey, Bikabout* Denise Demery, Operations Manager for VIA Trailways bus travel
The individual presentations will give way to a roundtable featuring all the presenters in a brainstorming/development session with the attendees.HOUSING - DAY TWO (October 24th)
* Tony Lashbrook, retired Truckee City Manager, former Mariposa County Planning Director. Instrumental in Truckee's 2016/17 major housing initiative.* Jennifer Kreitz, District One Mono County Supervisor: experienced with successful examples of housing solutions that worked in Mammoth Lakes and Mono County.* Jim Evans - Chair of the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors Housing Programs Advisory Committee, President of Habitat for Humanity of Mariposa County, former director of the Mariposa County Housing and Community Development Agency.* Workforce housing panel discussion including business developer/investor Xav Dubois and Opportunity Zones/potential international investment, workforce housing finance, and area employers who already provide on or offsite workforce housing.* Innovative Housing alternatives multimedia presentation. The worldwide housing crisis and out of the box solutions for providing affordable housing.* Local housing initiative for Yosemite National Park housing.
Yosemite attracts the highest echelon of the National Park Service - the most experienced, responsible and best-educated employee base. This region also draws residents who appreciate the personal and professional value of living in proximity of Yosemite, and are the sort who contribute to their communities in many ways - but when new hires cannot find housing in those gateways, or end up having to live in far distant communities and commute lengthy distances to get to the park, it can be challenging to retain such employees. The same applies to businesses that interact with gateway employers and with the park. Housing and particularly, workforce housing represents great challenges which will only grow. The time to plan is now.
This very special two-day event is priced at only $60 per day (with meal catered by Yosemite Hospitality, concessionaire to Yosemite NP) or $100 for the entire two-day event. The Yosemite Gateway Partners organization is offering the opportunity of financial sponsorships which will allow our generous donors to receive gratitude and name recognition with our attendees, our experts and innovators - as well as with the Park Service and Yosemite's concessionaire as we confront ways in which we can all begin to solve these challenges. Those sponsorships will help defray the not-inconsiderable expense to the YGP (non-profit) organization in offering this Summit.
More information about the Summit with a link to registration and sponsorships will be found at: https://tinyurl.com/YGPSummitInfo
Information about the Yosemite Gateway Partners will be found at: http://www.yosemitegatewaypartners.org/
For more information, e-mail: info@yosemitegatewaypartners.org
Source: Yosemite Gateway Partners
