FIVE outdoor brands and the charity, Hatch Enterprise, are asking for UK grassroots organisations to apply to their Changemaker Programme.
The Opening Up the Outdoors programme returns for its second year this October and focuses on making the outdoors a more diverse, accessible and equitable space for all.
It aims to break the racial divide in outdoor adventure and exploration, as findings suggest that white people have more interaction with nature than other racial categories.
The programme offers skills support, development and mentoring to people of colour who are at the start of their journey and looking for advice and guidance on how to set up, launch and grow their special enterprise, business or organisation.
The issue of making the outdoors somewhere that could be accessed by all continues to be a challenge.
A study by Natural England found that nearly six in 10 (58.4%) white people had visited the natural environment at least once a week over a 12 month period compared to four in 10 people who were not white over the same period.
This study was based on the 2021 census for England and Wales, where there were about 9.5m people who identified themselves as Black, Asian or minority ethnic or as having multiple ethnicities.
The Opening Up the Outdoors Changemaker Programme is an initiative formed by outdoor brands and experts, allies and changemakers.
It began with a shared passion and love of the outdoors and a commitment to creating momentum for the progression of continued inclusion within outdoor spaces.
Last year’s successful pilot of the OUTO Changemaker Programme supported eight founders and changemakers working across the diverse outdoors space.
These included founders like Haroon Mota of Muslim Hikers, a grassroots initiative created to help empower Muslim communities to get outdoors more.
As well as Yvette Curtis whose Waves Wahines is on a mission is to provide girls with affordable and supportive access to surfing.
Also Marlon Patrice, who founded We Go Outside Too, which supports intergenerational Black community members across Birmingham, the Black Country, and the West Midlands to take part in walking and holistic workshops.
The second Changemaker Programme starts in October 2023 and aims to support 15 changemakers across the UK.
They plan to support initiatives to further break these barriers to the outdoors down, and get more people from ethnically diverse communities participating in outdoor activity.
Over three months, the changemakers will take part in a bespoke development programme, accessing mentoring and masterclasses to grow the impact, sustainability, and reach of their community group or business.
They’ll then be able to apply for development grants of £1k to invest directly into their organisation.
The programme will be delivered by Hatch Enterprise, an award-winning enterprise support charity that over the past decade has supported more than 7,800 founders from underrepresented backgrounds to launch or grow their businesses and organisations in the UK.
Jade Baker, Co-Head of Programmes at Hatch Enterprise who will deliver the support programmes says, “What’s become abundantly clear in the past few years is how spending time outdoors is so important for our mental and physical wellbeing.
“But for a lot of people of colour from the UK, getting out in nature is not as easy and necessarily welcoming as it should be.
“Whether that’s being made to feel like they simply don’t belong in the outdoors, hostility and discrimination from others, or simply lacking the confidence or networks to try something new, these are barriers that the changemakers were looking for on the programme can help to challenge.”
