Partnership Opportunities
An individual’s likelihood of long-term participation in outdoor recreation is influenced long before they set up their first tent, sit in their first blind, or cast their first line into an eddy. The initial interactions that prospective participants have with outdoor industry representatives and enthusiasts can make or break their feelings of safety and belonging in the outdoors. Interactions with a salesperson at a gear store or dealership, operator at a campground, official with a land management agency, or fellow outdoor enthusiast at the trailhead are critical to how the industry creates welcoming and inclusive experiences for all.
Together Outdoors unites over 100 leading outdoor businesses, agencies, and nonprofits to help ensure outstanding outdoor experiences and enable lifetimes of engagement with outdoor recreation for underrepresented groups (e.g. Black, Indigenous and other Persons of Color, Disabled, LGBTQ+, different socioeconomic status, immigrants, and others). Administered by the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR) – America’s leading coalition of 35 outdoor recreation trade associations representing 110,000 businesses – Together Outdoors brings together diverse participants through monthly educational modules, guided self-reflections, forum discussions, and facilitated partnerships. This program design catalyzes change both internally within participating organizations and in the field where they interact with the public.
Through expert-led training, access to resources and best practices, community partnerships, and data-driven evaluation, these organizations learn how systemic racism, historic trauma, threats of violence, and socioeconomic differences have led to demographic underrepresentation of certain groups in the outdoor community and how to create a more inclusive space. With your support Together Outdoors can expand the capacity of the coalition through the following programs:
Ongoing Unrestricted Support
By financially supporting Together Outdoors with unrestricted funds, you will help the team in its mission to create it more welcoming and inclusive outdoor spaces by allowing the coalition to be nimble and seize opportunities as they present themselves. Your funding will allow the team to hold trainings, respond to comments and policy opportunities, evaluate progress, support facilitators and so much more.
Together Outdoors Advisory Council Fund
This fund will administer grants to support and scale grassroots organizations across the country who are committed to engaging underrepresented communities in outdoor recreation and/or helping businesses/agencies implement this work on the ground. These organizations will use funds to work with local businesses and community members and educate local entities on ways to foster more welcoming and inclusive outdoor experiences nationwide, yet retain a regional and local focus. The goals are to support organizations not always on the national radar, but who are doing the hard work, make the grant process streamlined, facilitate the greatest ROI, and avoid common barriers to affinity groups accessing grant dollars.
Together Outdoors Interactive Resource Library
This interactive database will be publicly available and enable the recreation economy and user community to search resources curated by the Together Outdoors team that describe known barriers, opportunities, case studies, articles, books, podcasts, videos, and other resources related to accessible and inclusive outdoor recreation by recreation activity, geography, and topic to advance organizational learning.
Together Outdoors Field Site Activation
For underrepresented groups, the outdoors can be a complicated space: a place that can represent complete freedom, and at the same time a place of discomfort, fear, or pain due to perceived and real threats such as historical acts of discrimination, harassment, acts of violence, or not being able to fully embrace their identity.
To address these tensions and help chart a path forward, Together Outdoors strives to plan events at recreation sites across the country in 2022 to celebrate and help foster spaces that are inclusive, safe, and fun for all through the Together Outdoors Pilot Site Signage program. This could include collaborative events at trailheads, retail stores, campgrounds, or water access sites in a variety of geographic regions to promote TO’s principles.
Considerations would include timing, location, potential permitting restrictions, marketing, and invitations to determine who might represent Together Outdoors.
Internal Education Programming
Together Outdoors could create a “Together Outdoors Month” for partner’s organization that would feature panels on accessibility and access for diverse user groups, highlight films, media, and other resources, and connect organizational leadership to Advisory Council members to learn more about specific accessibility needs for various underrepresented groups.
Product Partnership
Partners could designate one product from their product line to be the “Together Outdoors Model,” in which a portion of the proceeds are set aside for a grant program administered by Together Outdoors that funds underrepresented outdoor oriented groups. This would provide an opportunity for partner to put dollars to work in communities while highlighting the entry-level accessibility focus of its new line of products.
Partner Inclusion on Together Outdoors Website
All Together Outdoors partners will be highlighted on a page which provides a brief of overview of their organization, click through logo inclusion, and celebrates their support of the work. We will also continue press releases and coalition-wide emails mentioning supporters and their work in this area.
If you have any questions, or would like further information, please reach out to Gerry Seavo James, Together Outdoors Coalition Lead at 270.766.3822 or by email at gjames@recreationroundtable.org