Empathy Champions Share-Out: Encouraging State Agencies to Utilize Effective Empathy Practices

Three Empathy Champions from our inaugural cohort will share their projects that entailed partnering with various state agencies and encouraging them to utilize effective empathy practices in their conservation and educational messaging. Nicole Hennigan (Northwest Trek Wildlife Park) established a partnership with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Communication and Public Engagement Team, starting with an empathy focused workshop hosted at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park.  Sharon Spencer (Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Gardens) collaborated with the Florida Wildlife Commission and other local organizations to infuse messages about manatee coexistence with effective empathy practices to foster a stronger conservation mindset in the community.  Natalie Stier (Utah’s Hogle Zoo) collaborated with Utah State Parks to adapt Network resource for park interpretation and outdoor education usage. Together, these projects worked to identify how effective empathy practices translate across contexts and help people develop stronger emotional connections to wildlife and ecosystems. 

Who are Empathy Champions?  

Empathy Champions are Members or Affiliates who are active in the ACE for Wildlife Network, passionate about empathy work, interested in peer-to-peer outreach, seeking professional development opportunities to develop leadership, communications, partnership development, and advocacy skills, and are interested in recruitment in support of ACE for Wildlife Network goals. This new leadership program helps develop the skills of Network participants who are passionate about championing empathy for wildlife to new audiences.