Breaking Down the Barriers
Breaking Down the Barriers

Breaking Down the Barriers

Community

At Black Outdoor Adventurers, we believe in the power of Community. It is an entirely different experience to learn how to ski as a group of friends falling down a mountain together, than it is to be the only Black person or Person of Color in a group ski lesson. When we can be ourselves without code switching, we can learn and trust ourselves. The outdoors offer the promise of fearlessnessーand I believe all people deserve to have that promise realized.

In addition to enriching our community through shared experiences, our community adventures allow us to unlock economic efficiencies and reduce the financial barriers to experiencing the outdoors. (We even share tips with each other about where to find discounted gear, etc.)

This doesn’t mean we don’t want to be invited with your group/event just because everyone isn’t Black! If you identify as an ally, I invite you to look around ask yourself how diverse the groups you hike/ski/swim with are and how might those groups be more inclusive. It’s not always what you see, but instead taking the time to ask: whom or what don’t you see?

Democratize & Diversify

Black people have always had a TV view of nature, the outdoors and adventure as was fed to them by mainstream media and white models in expensive gear on magazines. At BOA we aim toーand will!ーdiversify and democratize adventure.

While our work is centered in our local community of the New York Tri-state region, we hope our outreach will create ripple effects for Black communities across the U.S. and the globe. We have the hard conversations, we share feedback openly and authentically, and we give ourselves permission to mess-up, learn and do better with encouragement and without judgement.

Own the Story

To make change we must stand against the BS flow of false narration to tell our own stories. We camp, ski, bike, practice yoga and wellness, swim, beach, rock climb, jet ski, hike, and much more. We now have more opportunities than ever to create and tell our stories of black people enjoying nature and the outdoors to the world with the democratization of information via social media and publishing platforms. We hope you’ll

join us for an outdoor adventure⁠

, and in

sharing your story with our community⁠

If you haven’t gone on an adventure with us yet, be sure to

follow us on Instagram⁠

where we amplify the stories of our community and expand our reach to engage in conversation via the comments and other social programming!

⁠

👉 Join Us:

Get Outdoors with Us!⁠

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Breaking Down the BarriersBreaking Down the Barriers