In awe

Two years ago, I was approached by the Outdoor Industry Association to become an ambassador for a new nonprofit they were creating, Outdoor Nation. After reading all the jargon on how it would empower youth to reconnect their generation to the outdoors, I figured that it would just be another non profit that recognizes youth that are already doing the empowering and give them a pat on the back to raise funds, but no more. The organization started out much like I thought it would be, with online survey and the works, then the amazing happened - they put on a HUGE outdoor summit in New York that had representation from all 50 states and looked like a cutout of america: black, white, urban and suburban. By the end of the summit discussing the barriers that are holding our generation back (yeah, us, not them, discussing us), I was almost in tears just seeing the inspiration around me.

After that spark of amazingness, my brother, what is now the leadership team, and I pulled an all nighter writing our Outdoor Nation declaration. Without any adult prompting, we spent from 7PM until 6AM writing a document that we didn't even know was going to be used. And that was AFTER a daylong summit in 100 degree heat. Used it was, and the results from that experimental summit have influenced policy for AGO, the Obama administration's campaign to get kids outside.

One year and some growing pains later, I was beginning to get wary. Our voice was heard, but legislation and the government campaign weren't very prompt in their results. There was so much momentum at the original summit that I felt could have been harnessed. The Denver summit, one of five planned regional summits, was approaching, and I didn't know what to expect.

Its a good thing I didn't know what to expect, because if I expected anything, it would have been blown away. Not only were the issues established quickly and solutions sought, but the solutions led to programs, and four of the highest voted programs received funding. I'll say it again. Four youth created and led regional programs are being funded. Multiply that by 5 and, well, you have 20 programs going this year under one roof. Next year there may be more. And since AGO listened to us last year, with our even greater groundbreaking success this year, who knows who will pick us up within the year to come? Outdoor Nation has not only the chance to spark a revolution, but to foster it into a wildfire.

Burn Baby Burn