Dear Members,

Whether you have just joined our coalition or have been here from the very beginning, we would like to say thank you. Because of your continued support and involvement we have been able to grow this wonderful community and continue to amplify voices that deserve to be heard. We are so excited to deliver our first monthly member bulletin to you, and we hope you all enjoy it. Cheers!

The outdoor industry is notorious for its narrow idea of an “outdoorsy person.” For too long, scores of populations have been excluded from the conversations and narratives surrounding nature, outdoor recreation, and sustainability. Many organizations are striving to share different outdoor stories and celebrate intersecting identities. For Pride Month, learn about ten LGBTQ-led organizations working to redefine what it means to be queer in the outdoors!

Jenny Bruso (she/they), a Diversify Outdoors member and the creator of @unlikelyhikers, didn’t grow up hiking. Her relationship with the land and the outdoors began about a decade ago near her home in Portland, Oregon. “It was incredible, it was beautiful, it made me so curious about nature, and we really were just meandering, says Jenny, remembering a hike in Forest Park. That trip redefined her thoughts about hiking and led to her quickly becoming interested in learning everything she could about hiking.

Tis’ the season for making performative gestures. I know I am not the only one who cringes during times of year that highlight African-American “culture”. The corporations and organizations who dress up their emails and social media postings with celebrations for Kwanzaa, Black History Month, and, now, Juneteenth, may mean well but most come off as tone-deaf and insincere.

Congratulations to Ch8sing Waterfalls on receiving the 2022 Weight Watchers Wellness Impact Award! Read more about the award here.

“Ch8sing Waterfalls is empowering healing, forging diversity, and changing the narrative while increasing Brown faces in green spaces, one adventure at a time.”

—Deborah McGlawn, Founder

Congratulations to Aubri Drake on being featured in Trail Runner Magazine. Read Aubri's published article about their experiences as a nonbinary, queer, and trans hiker and check out their interview in this article about nonbinary runners that participate in ultramarathon races.

Hey content creators! Have you ever spent hours trying to come up with the perfect idea for an Instagram Reel or have gotten lost in the process of trying to beat the algorithm? You may ask yourself these questions: How long should my video be? What audio is trending right now? Which hashtags do I use? And what happened to the good old days when filtered images of lattes or sunsets were able to generate thousands of likes?