SEEA is the result of a formal agreement between the southeastern states’ NAAEE affiliate organizations for advancing long-term objectives that further the common interests of the member states. The eight southeastern states’ NAAEE affiliate organizations are the SEEA affiliate members. Each state has two representatives that collectively constitute the 16-member SEEA Leadership Team.
Latest Initiatives
• Conducting year-long landscape analysis of EE in the southeast • Creating and implementing a new SEEA work plan for the next few years • Planning a SEEA regional ee360 retreat that will bring teams of up to five from each state affiliate • Determining organizational structure and investigating the possibility of becoming a regional affiliate of NAAEE • Providing networking opportunities such as a SEEA meeting at the NAAEE Annual Conference. • Facilitating communication among affiliate groups through various means, including monthly conference calls, periodic email updates, and postings on the SEEA website around various topics of mutual interest • Sharing resources such as newsletters, conference attendance opportunities, and general organizational information
History
In 1998, EEA partnered with NAAEE and hosted its 27th annual conference in Atlanta. A session was convened to explore creating regional EE affiliates. The NAAEE representatives from several southeastern states met a couple times during the conference and enthusiasm was high.
The idea of a southeastern EE alliance emerged again with an informal meeting of affiliate leaders at the 2002 NAAEE conference in Boston, Massachusetts. Later, meetings were opened to all southeastern NAAEE members and were organized and held during NAAEE annual conferences beginning in 2004 and have continued every year since.
In 2012, the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance officially organized as an affiliate during the first regional conference held in Kentucky at Lake Cumberland.