No funding was allocated in the State’s budget for our initiative to Forever Green Tennessee, this year. Our steering committee had bet on the Governor’s interest and being included in his proposed State budget. Pursuing this course was the right thing to do. This was the right time and right request for Governor Haslam. Also, we calculated that our proposal was a good first step to building an organization and constituency, as we worked toward passing a bill in 2018 to establish permanent ongoing funding that we know we must have to realize our vision. We are grateful for everyone’s efforts over the last year. We thought we could win non-recurring budget funding and did not. This defeat was a set- back but if we continue to work together, our campaign will build and we will win. I believe we have momentum, support from key legislators, excellent partnerships in place, talented and skilled committee members, and a great proposal. We will reconvene soon to evaluate lessons learned and next steps. I hope we can count on you to continue our efforts to Forever Green Tennessee.

c