Connect to our Leadership Network and Create Relevant Outdoor Experiences for Yourself, Your Family and Your Community

 

Tell Us About You:

*Are you an outdoor enthusiast who wants to lead creative and accessible outdoor events?
*Are you invested in leveraging the outdoors to improve Black family health?
*Are you inspired by the Buffalo Soldiers, Benjamin Banneker, Harriet Tubman,George Washington Carver and Wangari Maathai?
*Do you want to connect to a nationally recognized network of Black Americans who share your love for the outdoors?
If these questions resonate with you, APPLY TODAY to join the 2016 Outdoor Afro Leadership Team (OALT).

 

About Us

We Build Community

Outdoor Afro Leaders are deeply connected to each other and their local communities. Your term on the OALT begins at the annual Outdoor Afro Leadership Training. Leaders affirm Outdoor Afro values through a curriculum created and lead by existing OALT members. You will learn about trip planning basics, the health impacts of nature, conservation ethics, risk management, and effective social media engagement. New and returning leaders share their strengths with each other and immediately apply learned skills at the training.
This year’s mandatory training will take place April 7-9, 2016 in Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, CA.
After the training, leaders remain engaged the OALT community by sharing successes, strategizing on national campaigns and co-leading events together.

We Narrate Our Storied Landscapes

The OALT was founded to empower everyday people to draw inspiration from Black history, art, music, and radicalism to become confident and skilled outdoor leaders. Our leaders create relationships between our communities and the outdoors by telling known, little known, and unknown stories about Black connections to public parks, watersheds and wilderness.
We recognize that stewardship is a part of the African American legacy.

We Change the Conversation

Since 2009, we have evolved to become one of the few authorities on Black American community engagement in the outdoors.  We do not ask, “Where is the diversity in the outdoors?” Our starting place is that all Black people have a unique relationship with nature. Our leaders create accessible outdoors experiences in kayaks, with backpacks, around the fireplace, on skis, in the garden, at the city park, in the backcountry, at the vineyard,  on the mountain, at the bbq pit, in the woods, under the moonlight and at the beach.

We Strengthen Skills

We restore outdoor leadership back to the home. Applicants don’t need to have formal outdoor experience. We help ordinary people, the accountant, the student, the lawyer, the teacher and the musician, equip themselves with knowledge and confidence to be able to create lasting and relevant outdoor experiences for their families and their communities, drawing on the lessons of our parents and our ancestors.
Our leaders become outdoors instructors,   hometown heroes,  trusted experts,  sought after speakers, change makers , serve on the boards of leading environmental organizations, win recognition and awards from their local communities, and valued employees of national and regional park systems.

 

Here is what we require:

*Facilitate a minimum 1 Outdoor Afro sponsored event every month
*Participate in regular conference calls with other OA Leaders
*Develop two new Outdoor Afro Leadership Team ambassadors in your region
*Live within 50 miles of an REI store (preferred)

Leader perks include:

Select FREE premium gear and supplies from sponsors KEEN Shoes, REI, Klean Kanteen, and more!
Three day intensive training and unforgettable bonding with fellow Outdoor Afro Leaders in beautiful Yosemite National Park
Professional support, coaching, and outdoor skills development training
The ability to make a tangible and positive difference for your local community and the natural world
Apply now to join our diverse team from around the nation to bring the outdoors to more people in your community!

Next Steps to be Eligible for Consideration:

1. Familiarize yourself with Outdoor Afro. Join your local network and go on our next adventure. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Read our blog.
2. Complete the application—submit via email to [email protected] by Friday, January 8, 2016 and participate fully in the interview process via phone and video conference calls.
3. Interviews will take place from 5:30 pm – 10:00 pm January 11–22, 2016. Interviews will be designated on a rolling basis.  Due to the large volume of applications we receive, interview times will be assigned.
4. Save the Date for a mandatory in-person training from April 7–9, 2016 at Yosemite National Park (transportation not included).
5. The 2016 Class of Outdoor Afro Leaders will be confirmed and announced by February 12, 2016.
For any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. We look forward to meeting you!