Natasha Blakely, natasha.blakely@sierraclub.org
Next week, Detroit Outdoors is hosting and facilitating a virtual panel discussion featuring Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) athletes and advocates to share their experiences and advice about engaging in outdoor recreation. Join us for a conversation, and come with any burning questions you have about the outdoors!
Detroit Outdoors is a collaboration between Sierra Club, Detroit Parks and Recreation, and YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit in an effort to provide resources, training and opportunities for youth and the Detroit community to engage with the outdoors – both within Detroit and beyond the city borders. The majority of its programming happens in Scout Hollow, a campground in Rouge Park, but Detroit Outdoors also arranges for outings further out, like the one happening on February 8 through 12 to Michigan Ice Fest in Munising, Michigan. At Michigan Ice Fest, Detroit Outdoors will be bringing more than 20 people new to Ice Fest and climbing, hosting an introductory ice climbing course for BIPOC folks and hosting an all-ages social space.
The upcoming outing to Michigan Ice Fest inspired this panel discussion, which brings together three amazing guests to talk about outdoor access and building community for Black and brown folks in nature and outdoor spaces.
Phil Henderson has had 30 years of experience in the outdoors, traveling the world and volunteering for youth programs around the country. He led the first all-Black climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2018 and was the expedition leader of the first all-Black team to summit Mount Everest in 2022. He will also be at Michigan Ice Fest to present on the Mount Everest climb.
Alice Jasper is a Grand Rapids-based sustainability professional and outdoor enthusiast. Alice is also the creator, producer and host of “Color Out Here” a media platform and community organizing project intended to explore the opportunities and barriers to inclusion faced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in outdoor recreation and environmental stewardship.
Erin Preston Johnson is a Detroit-based artist, community organizer, attorney, educator and co-founder of Black To The Land Coalition’s Urban Forest School, which aims to build community with Black and Brown parents that want to share the reverence of nature with their children.
What: BIPOC Voices in Nature: Winter Edition
When: Thursday, February 2, at 1 p.m. ET
Where: Register online to get the event link or the recording of the discussion at sc.org/winter. You can also bookmark the event links on Facebook or YouTube.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.