As of this month, Outdoor Adventure Girls is proud to have become a member of the Outdoor Citizens collective.
Founded by YHA, they formed a community of practice to bring together small charities, not-for-profit groups, and organisations that are working to support more people to access the outdoors.
The membership community of Outdoor Citizens connects members to funding, resources, shared learning opportunities and more, to support and grow their work. Outdoor Citizens is funded and supported by YHA and forms part of YHA’s response to increasing access to the outdoors, including the Outside Voices project.
As part of YHA’s strategic priority to support local communities, they are using the strength, influence, and experience of the community to support organisations already working hard to increase engagement in the outdoors. These are groups who share YHA’s commitment to increasing participation and access to nature, culture, and heritage.
We are proud to have worked alongside YHA for over two years now and we work incredibly closely with them to ensure we are suppporting access to the outdoors for both women, under our own mission, and young people, through the work YHA does.
Why is this community needed?
- The UK outdoors is not diverse in participation and workforce. Outdoor Citizens members are working hard to address this in their own communities.
- Starting a new group with limited resources can be challenging. Many groups are run by volunteers. Writing funding bids takes time and positioning your work to appeal to funders isn’t always easy. The outdoors is full of lingo, tradition, spaces and facilities that can be exclusive and inaccessible.
- YHA and their partners want to use their resource and influence so Outdoor Citizens can more easily access the things they need to continue their work. And to make sure that barriers are removed permanently by challenging systems and processes, and amplifying the work of grassroots groups.
- YHA wants to learn from Outdoor Citizens to make their own services more inclusive and continue to focus on their ‘all means all’ priority.
- Outdoor Citizens is a place for practitioners to access practical things, influence change and connect with others to help each other grow.
Supporting partners
