“PAW+” Act Protects Public Lands, Promotes Outdoors Equity FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Friday, February 26, 2021Contact: Ian Brickey (202) 675-6270 or ian.brickey@sierraclub.org OAK Statement on Passage of Outdoors for All Act in Public Lands Package “PAW+” Act Protects Public Lands, Promotes Outdoors Equity WASHINGTON, D.C. --Today, the United States House of Representatives passed the Outdoors for All [...]
News and Views
Join us for OAK Week 2021!
OAK Week 2021 is February 16 - 18! Although we can't be together in DC this year, we're looking forward to connecting with OAK members, prospective members and partners over an exciting week of virtual sessions, workshops and networking events. About OAK Week OAK Week, which includes OAK’s Annual Meeting and Advocacy Day, serves as [...]
RELEASE: After Pressure, Interior Extends Every Kid Outdoors Pass
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Wednesday, October 28, 2020 Contact: Ian Brickey (314) 238-6766 or ian.brickey@sierraclub.org After Pressure, Interior Extends Every Kid Outdoors PassOutside Groups Had Asked for Extension Since August Expiration WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, October 28, the Department of the Interior announced plans to extend the 2019-2020 Every Kid Outdoors pass into 2021. The move comes [...]
Helping More People Benefit from Positive Experiences Outdoors
This blog was originally published on the Rethink Outside website, and produced in partnership with the Rethink Outside campaign. Learn more. Recently appointed Vice President for Education and Chief Equity Officer for the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) Autumn Saxton-Ross, Ph.D., didn’t experience America’s national parks until she was an adult. She went to [...]
Every Kid Outdoors: Lily’s Story
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 [...]
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 [...]
