by Jayni Rasmussen, Senior Campaign Representative for the Outdoors Alliance for Kids & Youth at Sierra Club. (Originally published on the American Heart Association's Healthy for Good Blog; cross-posted with permission) With the coronavirus disrupting daily life and increasing isolation, many people are turning to the outdoors for recreation. The increased interest in outdoor recreation [...]
News and Views
Making Sure Every Child Receives the Benefits of Time Outdoors
This blog was produced in partnership with the Rethink Outside campaign. Learn more. Ten years before the COVID-19 crisis and the nationwide uprisings for racial justice, Sierra Club, YMCA of the USA, Children & Nature Network, REI and others set out to form a coalition and address an urgent crisis among America’s children and youth: social disconnection and an obesity epidemic caused by far too [...]
How to Connect Young Students to Nature During the Pandemic?
by Jackie Ostfeld, OAK co-founder & chair, Sierra Club's Outdoors for All campaign director; text originally published in SIERRA Magazine (photos added here by author) Our kids are not all right. It’s been more than six months since schools across America closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sending children home and, in many cases, into [...]
A Trailblazer
Working for Latino Outdoors, Ruby Rodriguez wants to ensure that others can more easily follow in her footsteps “Today, I’m the person I knew I could be—if given the opportunity,” says Ruby Rodriguez. That includes connecting her community in Fresno, California, to Yosemite National Park. The project is funded by the National Park Trust, and [...]
RELEASE: OAK Statement on Racism in the Outdoors
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, May 28, 2020 ContactIan Brickey, ian.brickey@sierraclub.org Washington, DC -- The Outdoors Alliance for Kids’ Chair & Vice Chair Jackie Ostfeld and Paul Sanford released the following statement on racism in the outdoors following the incident in Central Park’s Ramble. “No one should fear for their lives when stepping outside. Yet, far [...]
Advocating in Challenging Times
This article first appeared in the May edition of Parks & Recreation Magazine We are living in strange and difficult times. At the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK), we know this international pandemic is challenging for everyone. Physical distancing and sheltering in place are particularly difficult for people who know the value of spending time [...]
Resources from OAK Members: Safely Engaging with Nature During COVID-19
As communities across the world work to "flatten the curve" of COVID-19 with restrictions on daily life, it's more obvious than ever that access to the outdoors, especially close-to-home outdoor recreation, is a necessity, not a nicety. Maintaining your relationship with the outdoors is undeniably difficult right now, but OAK members, supporters and partners are [...]
Our Parks Have a New Superhero
by Jackie Ostfeld | This post was originally published on February 19, 2020 on the Sierra Club blog here. Featured photo courtesy of Marvel/Disney. Photo courtesy of Disney / Marvel. I just got home from paradise, where I had the distinct honor of meeting Marvel’s newest superhero. Robbie Bond has a superpower—teleportation. With great power [...]
RELEASE: Outdoors Alliance for Kids 2019 Award Winners Announced
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 3, 2019 Contact: April Thomas, 206.321.3850, contact@outdoorsallianceforkids.org Outdoors Alliance for Kids 2019 Award Winners Announced Washington, D.C. — Today, the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK) announced the recipients of the 2019 “OAK Awards.” Awards were given to a bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers including Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Ron [...]
RELEASE: Outdoors Alliance for Kids and Scholastic Announce All Kids Outdoors Essay Contest Winners
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:April Thomas206.321.3850, april.thomas@sierraclub.org Outdoors Alliance for Kids and Scholastic Announce All Kids Outdoors Essay Contest WinnersNearly 2,000 Kids Nationwide Submitted Entries Washington, D.C., (May 23, 2019) -- The Outdoors Alliance for Kids and Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, are proud to announce the winners of the All Kids [...]
