Let’s Get Outside with our 2021 Leadership Team
We're Ready to get outside with you!
Announcing our 2021 Outdoor Afro Leadership Team!
We recently gathered virtually for our annual Outdoor Afro Leadership Training, and along with learning, connecting and reflecting on our love for nature, it was a celebration. We celebrated how our 103 Leaders who are teachers, doctors, grocery store managers, parents and outdoor employees among other roles, showed up this past year. Through the challenges we’ve all faced, they continued to show up connecting people to nature and each other.
This year, our inspiring volunteer leaders come from diverse backgrounds in 56 cities and the District of Columbia. These volunteers embody the promise and passion to continue what Outdoor Afro trail blazed more than TEN YEARS ago!
As we continue to transform the narrative about Black leadership in the outdoors, we are honored to welcome the volunteer leaders who will continue the success of the previous classes of Outdoor Afro Leadership. Each volunteer leader will create and guide monthly trips, leverage media and create collaborations to strengthen connections with the outdoors.
Learn more about our training here.
We invest in our leaders through our annual in person training. However, during our online experience this year, we dug deep into two sessions of risk management, broke into small groups by activity to “choose your own adventure,” were grounded in our story as we planned our own mission statements as outdoor leaders, and had so much fun with an OALT teambuilder. We are grateful for an amazing team who have worked diligently to create a meaningful experience to deepen relationships with each other and build on existing expertise. You can look back on our training journey with #OALT21.
Throughout the year, Leaders will affirm Outdoor Afro values through ongoing training that reflects not just outdoor skills, but building community and relationships as well. We celebrated that nature never closes, and look forward to getting outside with you this year.
Etiquette Tips For Camping with Friends and Family
Couples Camping © Steve Prezant/Corbis
You can’t change your friends and family, but you can change the way you camp with them. Some moderate planning can make a big difference in your camping experience together. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your camping trips with loved ones:
Shared Space
In some areas, the outdoors still has boundaries, and it’s important to honor both the environment and neighboring campers. If you are planning to visit a drive-up or RV campground, make sure you have reserved a site that can accommodate your entire group plus equipment, to avoid encroaching on neighboring sites. It’s also nice to offer neighbors a hand with tents or with getting a campfire lit. Good stewards leave no trace of trash, but leaving a bit of firewood for the next group in your spot is always a welcomed gesture.
Food
Plan your meals together at home and share the shopping tasks so there are no surprises. Meat eaters might eat vegetarian fare, but don’t expect your vegetarian friends and family members to eat the steak and bacon you brought, even if it is free range and hormone free! Decide on meal plans that accommodate everyone.
Kids
If you have kids, and are planning to camp with folks without children, discuss logistics, such as the possibility of hands-on help with recreation or watching over little ones. If everyone is bringing little ones, get a watch routine together, so all the adults can plan for breaks in the action.
Music
If your camping mates are all persons of color, don’t assume folks want to hear Li’l Wayne on blast all weekend. Bring acoustic instruments, like a hand drum or guitar that can be enjoyable and easy to play, even if you are not an expert. Singing or telling stories, while gathered around a campfire is classic, and timeless.
Booze/Drinks
Some drink, others don’t; some like Bud Light, others like Grey Goose. Discuss and get clear regarding alcohol consumption preferences, and know your campground policy on alcohol in advance (see Nancy’s comment below!).
Above all…just chill
Camping trips are a time to let go, and go with the flow. You might stay up ’til the wee hours to stargaze; your kids might eat a ton of s’mores, and all of you might laugh louder than you ever would at home after a long day at work. Enjoy it all! The best part of my own camping plan is to leave the city constraints behind and have fun!
What are some of your tips and experiences when camping with friends and family?
Black Firefighters Blazing Trails
Every month is Black History Month with Outdoor Afro as we seek to honor ancestors who’ve paved the way before us along with those who walk with us today.
While we recently honed our fire building skills, we acknowledged indigenous peoples’ methods of cooperating with nature to manage wildfires and Black history, too. In that same vein, we celebrate Chief Engineer Patrick H. Raymond and Abu Baker, an Outdoor Afro Leader and firefighter for 17 years in the Oakland Fire Department in California.
Raymond was the first African American fire chief in the United States. He was appointed Chief Engineer in Cambridge, Mass., in 1871 after serving in the US Navy, working as a journalist at the Boston Herald and later editor of the weekly Cambridge Press
He was born in Philadelphia, and his father escaped enslavement eventually becoming one of the first pastors at the African Meeting House in Boston. The Raymond family was well-known throughout the “lower Port” neighborhood in Cambridge.
As Abu Baker thinks of the fire service in Oakland in the 1870s, he pictures a segregated force where Black firefighters were forced to run behind the horse drawn fire engines. Raymond’s leadership adds to the pride he feels as part of the fire service. “I can imagine the strength of character he had to demonstrate at that time,” Abu said. “Being a firefighter, we take care of each other, we take care of our crews, and we take care of our communities. We have to move together.”
As the Chief Engineer, Raymond commanded a team of 79 officers and firefighters, expanded the fire department and advocated for safer standards. He tripled the annual budget, built two new firehouses and pushed for a fully paid professional fire department. During the Great Boston Fire of 1872, Raymond sent just about the entire department to help control the blaze.
Nature is the ultimate de-briefer, but also the ultimate reset.
Abu Baker, an Outdoor Afro Leader and firefighter in Oakland
Although we often think of firefighters in connection to disasters, Abu shows that they are routine stewards of the land – and of people. They occasionally perform trail rescues, and while stationed at the firehouse in the Oakland Hills, he’s learned about the wild and urban interface through reading weather patterns, managing vegetation, protecting waterfronts, and maintaining fire trails.
“Every now and then there’s down time where I hop in the gator and get to cruise the trails in my immediate district. We call this district familiarization,” Abu said. “These are some times where I can just relax in nature. It mitigates work stress and is a great time to plan my Outdoor Afro events.”
Both Abu and Chief Raymond share their dedication to serving their community, and we can conclude how Raymond’s leadership impacted other Black men in the fire service.
“When I decided to be a firefighter, I had the good fortune to attend classes taught by Mr. Richard Logan, who was then president of the Oakland Black Firefighters Association,” Abu said. Logan was hired in 1972, served with the Oakland Fire Department for 30 years, and demonstrated great care and interest in helping prepare many women and men for fire service careers.
“The motto of the Oakland Black Firefighters Association is ‘All I Am, I Owe’ and I owe much to those such as Chief Raymond and Mr. Richard Logan,” Abu said.
Chief Raymond served for eight years, and was also elected corresponding secretary of the National Association of Fire Engineers in 1873. Engine Company No. 5 was established in his honor in 1874, and is still in service today in the Inman Square fire house. He died July 28, 1892 and was buried in the Cambridge Cemetery.
Retired Assistant Chief Jack Gelinas shared that the current Cambridge fire boat, Marine 1, is named the Patrick H. Raymond and provides fire and life safety protection to the Charles River area.
With leading Outdoor Afro experiences, Abu said, “I enjoy when we are able to come together to inspire and share Black joy. I love that we come after others who blazed trails, and that we can continue to be trail blazers.”
Thank you to the Cambridge Fire Department for their contributions.