Diversity in the Outdoors

 

To our NYCICO Community:

First and foremost, thank you for engaging in the dialogue regarding issues of equity, safety, and justice in the outdoors and how this conversation is directly related to  ICO’s mission. We want to make sure we are clear on our position.

 

 

 

 

Our Values 

  

Access to the outdoors is a basic human right. We align with the goals of making the outdoors a safe and inclusive place for all. We will continue to work towards dismantling racism in all shapes and forms, a value which is directly aligned with the Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All Campaign, of which we are a part, standing with Michael Brune’s, Executive Director of Sierra Club, message of support “From Outrage to Justice,” and anti-racist movements such as The Relay for Ahmaud Arbery on Global Running Day.

For anyone unclear as to our guiding principles, please reference The Sierra Club’s Theory of Change document: “We will work in solidarity and collaboratively to ensure all people feel safe, welcomed, valued, and at home in our parks and public lands. We will develop opportunities for future generations to connect to their history and culture in parks and public lands. We will provide opportunities for all people to connect with nature, with each other and with themselves -improving their mental and physical health through those connections. By uniting together we will not only successfully defend the people and places we care deeply about, but also build the power and grassroots energy that can propel us forward for many decades to come. Together we can achieve our vision of a just, equitable, and sustainable outdoors for all.”

Our work lies at the intersection of the environmental and social justice movements, since these movements are intertwined and have a direct impact on one another. We are serious about our commitments to both of these issues. We are committed to interrogating our beliefs and our practices to actively dismantle racism in ourselves, our organization, and our society.

 

 

 

Our Work

 

ICO has historically been focused on providing funding, insurance, leaders, and transportation for trips.  For many years, to many of us, this has seemed like enough. Now, we are realizing that we need to do better. We must deeply examine historical and present-day discrimination within the environmental movement. We must look at ways our own organization upholds racist power structures. We must examine our own personal practices and behaviors. 

 We know there are so many ways we can grow. We can build partnerships with other outdoor and social justice organizations that represent historically marginalized groups. We can learn from what they are doing. We can work to create a more inclusive and diverse group of volunteers. We can work more collaboratively with our community partners. We must shift our focus from just leading excursions to leading excursions that contribute to larger systemic change. This is the anti-racist work we are committed to.

Creating a program that truly serves the needs of our communities means taking a hard look at our practices. In November of 2019, we began the work of assembling an Equity, Inclusion & Justice Committee, which has had a chance to form, discuss goals, and start the work of figuring out concrete practices that need to change.  

 

 

 

Our Commitment to Change

 

Photo Credit: Creator: Coast-to-Coast | Credit: Getty Images

In the past, we have not always spoken up to support historically marginalized communities. From now on, you will always hear us use our privilege as part of a large national organization to speak up against societal injustices and to do the work to be actively anti-racist. We hope you will join us. Speak up when there are opportunities to support traditionally marginalized communities, and we will continue to provide resources and education to do so.

Anti-racism is integral to who we are, and it’s time we start acting like it.

This is only the beginning of this dialogue, of which we hope ALL of you choose to join. We know this will be challenging work, and we won’t always agree with each other. We are all missing the outdoors. We are all grieving. It is easy to take our frustrations with the world out on each other, but in the end, this only hurts our cause. Let’s hold each other accountable and engage in courageous conversations with empathy, compassion, open-mindedness. 

With kind regards and great gratitude for all you do,

Katie George, Chair, NYCICO

NYCICO Steering Committee (Eric Becker, Danielle Eagan, Anna Jenks, Paulina Ortiz, Hersh Patel, Nicholas Radulescu)

NYCICO Equity & Justice Committee (Chinnell Davis, Kristin Lawlor, Kelsey Murphy, Rafi Patel)

To learn about the NYCICO Book Club, which was formed to grow our knowledge and discuss apply lessons of equity, diversity, compassion, history, representation, and more to our lives and to the environmental and social justice movement, please email nycico.equity.justice@gmail.com

https://www.sierraclub.org/atlantic/nyc-ico

https://www.sierraclub.org/outdoors-for-all