October 23, 2020
A Smiling Kim at Bryce Canyon Natoinal Park
The Sierra Club Angeles Chapter welcomes Kimberly Orbe as the new Conservation Program Manager on staff at the Angeles Chapter office. Kim will be working with the Conservation Committee as well as the other regional groups and entities to help increase the effectiveness of the chapter. She brings years of experience working with diverse communities and grassroots organizations through an equity and social justice lens and is eager to engage in more local environmental issues.
Kim grew up in South LA and went to Cal State Northridge (Go Matadors!) where she earned a degree in Kinesiology and minored in Recreation. It was her passion for trail running during college that connected her to the outdoors, hiking, and camping. There was a hunger to learn more about Nature and the outdoors but more importantly, how to get others involved and experience the outdoors for themselves and hopefully, not at a later age as she did.
Kim at Bandelier National Monument (left) & Rocky Mountains National Park (right)
That hunger to be more involved in creating equity and access to nature and the outdoors for people of color created a drive for her to seek out outdoor leadership programs such as Outward Bound adventures DOLI (Diverse Outdoors leadership Institute) and Nature for All’s Leadership Academy. She has been very passionate about community organizing, working with youth, public lands policy, and advocacy. Before joining the Sierra Club Kim worked for the Forest Service and Nature for All. During her time with Nature for All Kim engaged in a variety of issues from access, transportation, public lands policy, leadership development, and water, working with local elected officials and representatives as well as various coalition partners and local grassroots organizations. Her goal is to continue working with committee members, partners and empower our communities of color to take action towards a sustainable, equitable, resilient future where we all are a part of the process in making decisions on how we live and work together.
Kim currently lives in South Los Angeles. In her free time, Kim enjoys trail running, backpacking, camping, hiking, and before COVID, traveling to new countries. She enjoys learning about our local flora and fauna and has recently gained an interest in birding and astronomy and is open to any recommendations on books that will boost her knowledge!
Let's give Kim a warm welcome in the comments!
Contact Kim at kim.orbe@sierraclub.org, or call 213-514-5802, Ext. 204