Welcome to Washington, D.C. Inspiring Connections Outdoors (DC ICO)!

DC ICO is a community outreach program of the Sierra Club that provides safe, enjoyable experiences in nature for DC youth.  DC ICO promotes personal development by linking cultures, fostering respect of self and for others, and providing leadership skills. DC ICO also promotes appreciation and protection of the local and global environments.

Certified Outing Leaders, all of whom are volunteers and are trained in safety skills, lead outings. Outing volunteers, who assist the outing leaders, typically are members of the Sierra Club but need not be.

Each DC ICO outing group organizes trips throughout the year. Our current outing groups run primarily day trips with children between the ages of 6 and 14. Activities are tailored to the interests of each outing group and typically include hiking, canoeing, swimming, camping, or other environmental education activities.

Most of our activities do not require any financial contribution from volunteers (and are always free for our youth participants). When an activity involves an entrance or admission fee that we cannot get waived, we sometimes ask volunteers to pay for themselves. If that is not possible, DC ICO will pay for everyone. We do not want money to be a barrier to participation for anyone.

We hope you will consider volunteering your time to DC ICO to help us continue to enrich the lives of youth in Washington, D.C. Thank you for your support!

Anne Marie DiNardo

DC ICO Chair