With the opening of 2015, we want to tell you what we have tentatively planned for the year. But before we do that, let’s review 2014.
This year, over 265,000 people went outdoors with Sierra Club Outdoors' trip leaders and volunteers through Inspiring Connections Outdoors (ICO), Local Outdoors and Military Outdoors. Local chapters and groups offered more than 15,000 mostly free outings. ICO, which has 54 groups nationwide, conducted over 900 outings for over 15,000 mostly youth participants, and the Club's Military Outdoors program went into the great outdoors with 13,000 service members, veterans, and their families in 2014. That was ALL YOU. Thank you for all you do!
Back at the office . . .
We launched the new and improved Sierra Club Outdoors website. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing, it is more agile, interactive, and is easier to scan, read and navigate, enabling visitors to find what they need quickly.
Twelve Sierra Club Outdoors volunteers, as well as partners from GrilTrek met in Hampton, GA for the inaugural Outdoor Leadership Training-For-Trainers! Since the training, they have conducted 8 workshops, training more than 125 people!! Register and apply now for the March 2015 T4T!
We’ve been developing relationships with a diverse group of organizations dedicated to getting more people outdoors (such as GirlTrek, Outdoor Afro, NOLS, and Latino Outdoors), and with our friends in the outdoor retail industry (Recreational Equipment, Inc., The North Face and Outdoor Research) to develop a sustainable base of support for all of our Sierra Club Outdoors programming.
Inner City Outings changed the name to Inspiring Connections Outdoors, leading Sierra Club in its effort to become a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization. Also in 2014, ICO received a grant from the Charles Hayden Foundation of New York, to establish a youth outdoor leadership academy in New York City which we hope will grow into a national program training diverse leaders for all Sierra Club Outdoors programs.
We started a groundbreaking study in collaboration with the University of California Berkeley’s Psychology Department and the Greater Good Science Center documenting the biological and emotional effects of spending time outdoors. The initial study was featured in Sierra magazine.
We broke ground on a multi-year study to analyze the effects of the outdoor resiliency program on service members. Project Cohort is a partnership between Sierra Club Outdoors, Project Rebirth, Outward Bound for Veterans, Georgetown University, Veterans Affairs VISN 17 Center of Excellence, Vet Center Program, the Military Veteran Peer Network in Texas and various Army active duty units. The project will develop a scalable continuum of care model integrating veteran peer support, experiential learning and evidence-based therapies, while communicating key findings as they emerge over the life of the project.
The Outdoor Leadership Team—a group of staff and outings volunteers—began creating a new volunteer national leadership structure built upon working with others in the community to help us meet the challenges of getting all people outdoors. In 2015, the team will empower the grassroots volunteers to move forward with initiatives and events that include the military community, provide continuing education to support and provide resources for our volunteer leaders, raise awareness and make connections with getting outdoors and public health issues, and to become a more welcoming, inclusive organization.
But that is not all we have in store for 2015! Check out the list below.
We sincerely hope your 2015 will be filled with many trips to the great outdoors!
- Sierra Club Outdoors Leadership Team
Bullet list of just some of what happened in 2014
- Over 265,000 people went outdoors with YOU
- Trained 12 OLT and First Aid trainers
- Provided Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training
- Launched a new public website
- Kicked off the Sierra Club Youth Leadership Academy (SCYLA)
- Started Awe & Project Cohort studies
- Engaged with Partners: Outdoor Afro training, African American National Parks Day, GirlTrek
- Created the ICO Final report
- Launched a new background screening service
- Held War, Sports, and the Healing Power of Nature panel
- Developed an online insurance reporting tool
- Provided funding for 12 teens to participate on National Outings Service Trips
- Provided funding for 21 Special ICO Outings
- Changed the ICO name
- Trained 18 ICO chairs
- Sent 3 ICO students on NOLS trips through their Gateway program
- Released the Sierra Club Military Outdoors Information Paper June 2014
- Started a multi-year study with Texas A&M to analyze the effects of the outdoor resiliency program
- Participated in Adventure Film School
- Organized Changing the Paradigm: The Effects of Nature and the Healing of our Veterans in the Outdoors
- Hosted four national and eight local events across the United States in partnership with Blue Star Families during April to connect military families to the outdoors.
Bullet list of 2015 Tentative Plans
- Provide more diversity, equity and inclusion training
- Work in partnership with the Sierra Club IT folks to improve technological tools like OARS and LEADERS
- Host another OLT Train the Trainer class March 20-22 in California (Check out the current brochure and the many other trainings on the training calendar)
- Build websites for ICO groups
- Revise the Outings Leader Handbook (current version)
- Host the Muir Campfire Discussion on Diversity and Relevancy with The National Park Service, Range of Light, BAWT & African American National Parks Day founder
- Conduct The Great Outdoors Lab in partnership with REI, and the University of California, Berkeley
- Continue the Awe & Project Cohort studies
- Develop and host a National Gathering of Sierra Club Outdoors Volunteers in October 2015
- Conduct an Outings Chair training
- Continue building the Sierra Club Outdoors Leadership Team
- Create volunteer leadership teams to develop ICO and local outings materials, to provide support and guidance for conflict reporting and investigation and deliver diversity, equity and inclusion training, materials and support.
- Roll out an online child abuse and recognition prevention training
- Improve the watercraft policy
- Provide trail building grants in partnership with the Nearby Nature Initiative.
- Provide special outings funding for ICO
- Work with National Outings to provide funding for ICO participants to go on National Service trips
- Work with NOLS Gateway to send 3 ICO participants on NOLS trips
- Continue improvements on the the public website
- Improve the Clubhouse site and resources
- Add climbing gyms to the list of acceptable concessionaire trips
- Build connections with conservation and outings programs in interested chapters
- Pilot conservation outings with the Our WILD America Campaign
- Launch five Project Cohort pilots in Texas and Washington
- Participate in the third Veteran Adventure Film School, and our fifth 911 Climb
- Start pilots of Veteran conservation outings in the Sierras, Wyoming, Utah, and Washington
- And we are pretty sure you all will go outdoors with more than 265,000 folks in 2015.
- AND A WHOLE LOT MORE!!
