RELEASE: Outdoors Alliance for Kids 2018 Award Winners Announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 13, 2018

Contact: April Thomas, 206.321.3850,  contact@outdoorsallianceforkids.org

Outdoors Alliance for Kids 2018 Award Winners Announced

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK) announced the recipients of the 2018 “OAK Awards.” Awards were offered to a bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers including Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Representatives Mike Turner (R-OH) and Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ). Several OAK member organizations and individuals received awards during the annual meeting of the Alliance, including Blue Star Families, youth activists Robbie Bond and Joseph Goldstein, and the Detroit Outdoors project.

The “OAK Awards” are bestowed annually on bipartisan decision-makers and OAK members for significant contributions in advancing opportunities for children, youth, and families to learn, get active, and serve in the outdoors.

“Every single one of these individuals is being recognized because of the huge difference they are making to ensure that every kid in every community has access to the outdoors,” said Jackie Ostfeld, Director of Sierra Club Outdoors and co-founder of OAK. “In the past year we have thwarted attempts to hike fees in our national parks; we have protected and extended a program that offers every fourth-grader the chance to visit those parks; and we have continued to make progress toward a world that recognizes the value of universal access to nature for our kids. Thank you to our award winners for all their hard work to make that world a reality.”

OAK Tree Award Recipients (Decision-Makers):

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN):  Sen. Alexander was the Republican lead on the Every Kid Outdoors Act, and co-sponsored the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps Act and the Kids to a Parks Day resolution. Sen. Alexander has also been a consistent champion for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.  

Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI): Sen. Hirono has been a consistent and vocal advocate for connecting youth to the outdoors by co-sponsoring the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps Act and showing leadership during hearings related to National Park Service youth programs, and has been a key ally in pushing back on Park Service fee hikes.

Representative Mike Turner (R-OH): Representative Turner was was the lead Republican and original co-sponsor of H.R. 2943, the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Grant Program Act. He has been an early and consistent supporter of Land and Water Conservation Fund and a co-sponsor of H.R. 502, which would permanently authorize the Fund. Representative Turner also co-sponsored H.R. 2584 to establish the National Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund.

Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ): Representative Grijalva is a champion of public lands, diversity in the outdoors, and environmental stewardship. He is the lead sponsor on H.R. 502 to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund and was a co-sponsor of both the Every Kid Outdoors Act and the bill to establish the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps.

OAK Leaf Award Recipients (OAK Members):

Blue Star Families: Blue Star Families played an instrumental role in 2018 to help to raise the visibility of the Every Kid in a Park program with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. In partnership with the National Park Trust, Blue Star Families helped get more military kids outdoors and during a meeting with Zinke, shared over one thousand postcards from kids across the U.S. to demonstrate the widespread support for the Every Kid in a Park program.

Detroit Outdoors: The Detroit Outdoors project is making the dream of camping within the city limits of Detroit a reality for local youth. Under the leadership of Garrett Dempsey, a new coalition has emerged, including the City of Detroit, Detroit Parks and Recreation, Sierra Club, YMCA, REI, the Outdoors Empowered Network, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and the Kresge Foundation. Through this collaboration a long defunct group camping area, Scout Hollow, has been reopened, bringing life to the Rouge City Park and creating the first ever environmental education position in the City of Detroit.

OAK Acorn Award, a new category recognizing exemplary youth leadership in the field to connect young people with our parks and public lands

Robbie Bond: Robbie received an Every Kid in a Park pass when he was 9 years old and has been on a mission to visit and protect parks and monuments across the U.S. ever since. As the founder of Kids Speak for Parks, Robbie has been a vocal advocate for the Every Kid in a Park program, sharing his experiences and the importance of parks to kids like him on social media channels followed by thousands.

Joseph Goldstein: Joseph is at the forefront of youth-led conservation advocacy. A consummate advocate, speaker, and organizer, he is a champion for preserving the Boundary Waters. When he had leukemia, after careful consideration, his Make A Wish ask was to save the Boundary Water. When Make a Wish was unable to help, Joseph turned his wish into a mission, travelling to Washington, D.C., repeatedly throughout three and half years of chemotherapy to advocate on behalf of America’s largest and most visited water wilderness. After completing treatment this February, he founded a nonprofit called Kids for the Boundary Waters to inspire a generation of young wilderness advocates who are educated about and involved in the fight to defend the pristine waters, forest and wildlife of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness against sulfide-ore copper mines proposed within its watershed.

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About the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK): OAK is a national strategic partnership of organizations from diverse sectors with a common interest in connecting children, youth, and families with the outdoors. The members of OAK are brought together by the belief that the wellness of current and future generations, the health of our planet and communities and the economy of the future depend on humans having a personal, direct, and life-long relationship with nature and the outdoors. OAK brings together 100 businesses and organizations to address the growing divide between children, youth, and the outdoors.