The Howard Gilman Foundation commits to make available the use of the White Oak Plantation-an extraordinary conference center outside Jacksonville, FL-by the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and select other CGI members, for holding strategic retreats that will enable the development of innovative models and solutions for addressing global challenges.
As a first step, White Oak will be the setting for the first CGI strategic retreat, bringing together over 60 stakeholders and experts in four working group areas: Alleviating Poverty, Addressing Global Health, Improving Education, and Combating Climate Change. Participants will engage in discussions identifying areas in which CGI commitments could have the greatest impact, key parties capable of making such commitments, and the best ways to engage them. The results of the discussions will help inform and shape the efforts of each CGI working group in preparation for the 2007 Annual Meeting in New York.
CGI members may apply to use White Oak as a facility for appropriate meetings. The facility can accommodate up to approximately 50-60 participants, though it also works well for smaller meetings. Meeting participants are responsible for their own travel expenses.
This commitment will be measured by the quality and outcomes generated by strategic retreats held at the White Oak Plantation by CGI and its members.
Commitments are at the heart of the Clinton Global Initiative. CGI members, who include some of the world's most accomplished leaders and problem solvers from business, government, and non-governmental organizations, each make a commitment to take action. Given the impact that CGI commitments have had so far, it is important that CGI take a proactive role in engendering new commitments that will meet the challenges faced by our world. To this end, the Howard Gilman Foundation has committed to providing the ideal space and environment for CGI and its non-profit members where such strategic thinking can take place - the White Oak Plantation and Conservation Center.
White Oak an ideal place for a high level 'deep dive' meeting on issues of substance. Located along the St. Mary's River in North Florida, it has premier meeting facilities, housing, and more than 7,400 acres of pine and hardwood forest and wetlands. The White Oak Conservation Center provides conservation options for the future by maintaining genetically diverse populations of threatened species in spacious, natural facilities. With a complex of research, husbandry, education and conference facilities, the Center leads professional efforts to improve veterinary care, develop holistic animal management techniques, and better understand the biology of critically endangered species.
