The annual Islands Summit is where the islands meet and get to know each other and help each other.

Click on the map below for a quick overview of the member islands in the alliance. More detail and more photos are in the island showcase below.

Our mission

The Great Lakes Islands Alliance encourages relationship building, fosters information exchange, and leverages resources to address shared challenges and embrace opportunities to benefit islands.

HEALTHY, SUSTAINABLE ISLAND COMMUNITIES.

Links for information and registration for the October 4-7, 2020 Islands Summit on South Bass Island, Ohio will be available here soon. Sponsorship information is below.

The Great Lakes contain the largest, most diverse collection of freshwater islands in the world. Of the 32,000 islands, nearly twenty continue to host communities of people, typically a mix of year-round and seasonal residents and visitors.

While present-day island communities are uniquely distinct from one another in character, traditions, and geography, they share a number of complex, inter-related challenges, including: access to public services and quality education; supporting a diversified economy; managing natural, cultural, and historical resources across public and private boundaries; and changing demographics (size, age, seasonality, ownership, economic status, etc.).

These challenges are hurdles, not immovable barriers. In fact, some island communities have already independently developed their own “island solutions to island challenges.” Island communities are finding they often have more in common with one another than to their adjacent mainland. There is great value in islanders learning from other islanders about best practices that work, as well as those that don’t.

The 2020 GLIA Summit host committee with representatives from Kelleys, Middle Bass, Pelee, and South Bass Islands seek sponsors and donors to support the 4th Annual Great Lakes Islands Summit!

Become a Sponsor of the 2020 Great Lakes Islands Summit Today

Reports from past great lakes islands summits