Together Outdoors (TO), a coalition of more than 100 outdoor recreation organizations committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the outdoors, chose nine recipients of its pilot round of grants today.
Applicants submitted 84 proposals requesting $775,000 for this inaugural grant cycle. Program grant funding is made possible by contributions from partner organizations including Thor Industries, Airstream and Winnebago Industries Foundation.
Airstream added another $25,000 to the available grant funding, more than doubling the awards to $54,000 during this cycle.
Airstream President and CEO Bob Wheeler said the company is pleased to provide support for Together Outdoors.
“The involvement of Airstream and Thor Industries goes back to the very conception of TO, and in addition to the considerable seed money that Thor provided to establish the program, this additional funding from Airstream will allow TO to make more grants to drive awareness and inclusion in ways that benefit all,” Wheeler said. “We hope that our support will spur others to do the same in our efforts to promote more diversity in outdoor spaces,”
This round’s grantees include:
- Arizona: Atabey Outdoors is a Black people, indigenous people and people of color-led (BIPOC) nonprofit organization in Phoenix. The organization provides organized outdoor adventures to BIPOC youth in the area. The TO grant will help with capacity building, in addition to the launch of a Junior Outdoor Mentor Program. BIPOC Youth, ages 13 to 17, will be trained to become future mentors and leaders to program members as they begin their outdoor journeys.
- Georgia: Center for Recreation Education Arts Technology and Enterprise (CREATE, Inc.) is a nonprofit that provides programs to underserved populations in middle Georgia. Their new program Create Outdoor Adventures includes gear library development, a demonstration campsite, and outdoors skills/leadership workshops.
- Kentucky: Pathfinders of Perry County is a non-profit citizen action group that promotes community well-being, engagement, outdoor recreation, and education in Perry County, Kentucky. The grant from TO will support the development and implementation of an environmental education pilot program in partnership with two schools in the community. The program will be designed to take 20-25 youths from underrepresented or impoverished backgrounds who lack access to recreation opportunities on trips to local natural areas.
- New Jersey: Bergen County LGBTQ+ Alliance is a nonprofit with a mission to advocate for Bergen County LGBTQ+ community equality and resources. Funding from TO will support the creation of an outdoor recreation focused day camp launching in summer 2023 for local LGBTQ+ identifying teens.
- New Mexico: Fly Fish NM is a nonprofit based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, created to provide youth fly fishing opportunities who would otherwise not be able to participate in outdoor fishing experiences. Funding from TO will support the purchase of fly rod kits for an additional 40-50 future participants and other program costs.
- New York: Hoods to Woods Foundation provides free year-round indoor and outdoor snowboarding programs to youth in underserved communities in the New York City tri-state area to tackle the lack of diversity in winter sports.
- New York: N8V Trails & Tales is a start-up initiative being developed by Ionah M. Elaine Scully (Cree Métis, Michel First Nation), a doctoral student in cultural foundations of education at Syracuse University focused on indigenous land pedagogy and outdoor recreation. The grant from Together Outdoors will support capacity building, the creation of resources and gear library development.
- North Carolina: ParaCliffHangers is a nonprofit that empowers people with all types of disabilities through adaptive rock climbing. Funding from TO will support the creation of a new chapter in central North Carolina that will build and foster a local indoor adaptive climbing program.
- Virginia: Humble Hikes, a program of the Humble Hustle Company is a Roanoke, Virginia-based initiative that aims to expose Black youth to the outdoors. The grant from TO will specifically support capacity building and providing outdoor recreation trips for 20-25 youth per trip. The program will collaborate with the Roanoke city schools for after school programming.
