Access to outdoor experiences is not guaranteed for all populations. Many communities do not have the opportunity to participate in uplifting and positive experiences in the outdoors for a variety of reasons, including:
- Financial barriers and cost of programs or equipment
- Lack of information about outdoor opportunities
- Safety concerns
- Inability to travel to our program locations
- Parent or guardian permission or support
- Feeling unwelcome or experiencing discrimination
Our Commitment
We strive to provide experiences to any youth who may not otherwise have the opportunity to recognize the benefits of outdoor adventure and education. Lasting Adventures’ Scholarship Program is committed to supporting youth from all over the country and youth from any and all backgrounds and communities including underrepresented groups.
Our Goals
- Lasting Adventures aims to foster a culture of inclusion amongst our team, participants, and the communities where we operate.
- Lasting Adventures will collect data to support measurable action toward our commitment to JEDI and our mission to provide disadvantaged communities with positive experiences in America’s National Parks and natural spaces.
- Lasting Adventures will not tolerate any disrespectful words or actions towards any group of people from our staff, participants or communities. Our trips, workplaces, and communities are safe places for all people and groups.
Approach
We know that minority groups have traditionally faced more barriers to accessing outdoor spaces. Lasting Adventures is actively working to remove these barriers through our scholarship program, partnerships, data collection and evaluation, and accountability.
Scholarship Program
Please see our scholarship page for more information or to apply for a scholarship. Lasting Adventures’ primary avenue for providing outdoor experiences to disadvantaged communities is through scholarship awards to youth and families who might otherwise not have the resources and/or opportunities to attend.
Partnerships
Lasting Adventures partners with a variety of programs in order to further expand our reach to underserved communities. Two of our major partners in this mission include Camp Bob Waldorf and Determined to Succeed. Lasting Adventures also seeks partnerships with local Native American tribes who have historic rights to the land where we run trips in an effort to bring tribal youth who may have limited access to the outdoors.
Through their Witherbee Wilderness Program, Camp Bob Waldorf (located in Los Angeles, CA), in partnership with Lasting Adventures, seeks to provide enriching outdoor opportunities to youth without access to wilderness experiences. Participants of the Witherbee program get the chance to go backpacking and rock climbing in two of our program areas: Joshua Tree and Yosemite. Together, Lasting Adventures and Camp Bob Waldorf have uplifted and empowered youth from the Los Angeles area to realize their potential as future leaders, both in the outdoors and in their daily lives.
Lasting Adventures has also had the privilege of working with Determined to Succeed, an organization that provides academic and holistic wellness support to underserved youth. We partner with them to provide backpacking trips to their students as a way to relieve academic stress, strengthen relationships and build leadership skills.
If your organization is looking for outdoor programming to support underserved youth and could benefit from a partnership with Lasting Adventures, please reach out to our JEDI advisor at Groups@LastingAdventures.org.
Data collection and analysis
As the largest user of the Wilderness in Yosemite National Park, and also having an ever-expanding presence in our other program locations, Lasting Adventures is in a unique position to study the diversity of wilderness users in an effort to create an inclusive space for everyone in the outdoors. We recently improved our data collection and analysis process to better understand the demographics of our participants and guests for the purpose of increasing the general knowledge of access issues faced by minority groups in the outdoors.
Our JEDI team
Lasting Adventures has 2 full-time employees belonging to our JEDI Team to accomplish the above-outlined goals. JEDI is a part of everything we do from hiring, to advertising, to running successful backpacking trips. Our JEDI team ensures that Lasting Adventures stays current on JEDI issues and is inclusive through all aspects of our operation.
Continuing education and progress
Lasting Adventures is constantly seeking to improve our education on JEDI issues. Some ways that we work on this is through an annual JEDI training for our staff and administration, as well as ongoing education through our partnership with Camber Outdoors.
