A Successful Summit!

We did it!

"As a gear library manager, it was extremely helpful to speak with and brainstorm with operators of other gear libraries around the country. I was able to broaden my perspective and see the bigger picture. I got tons of useful and practical ideas that I am going to try to implement at work here in the Bay Area."-   

Ashley, Bay Area Wilderness Training Equipment Manager

This month, ten organizations from across the country came together in California to attend the first ever Outdoors Empowered Network National Summit!

Nestled in the gear room of our local affiliate, Bay Area Wilderness Training, we swapped stories, discussed challenges, and planned for progress. With each organization presenting on their current work and hopes for the future our common missions and goals came to the forefront of the conversation. As a growing network made up of organizations with incredibly varied capacities, working in very different parts of our organizational life cycles, peer groups formed.  As a growing network made up of organizations with incredibly varied capacities working in different regions, peer groups formed between organizations, and as action oriented as this crowd is, calls were set up that will take place this month.  These exciting, early conversations will continue!

Ultimately, we were all there for one reason - to connect and grow our network that empowers youth through the outdoors, by training and providing gear to the adults that work with them everyday.  

Soon, resources were being shared and challenges sought to be overcome through 
encouragement and collaboration. We received fabulous insight from thought leaders like Mary Roscoe and Dr. Nina Roberts only to have their words spark more ideas and methodology.

On our final day, we toured the Camping at the Presidio Program to witness first hand what a campground placed in the middle of a city could look like. Our guide Zak spoke to every aspect of running an urban camping program: how to manage the land, store gear, and build community involvement. 

Zak Klein shows off the Camping at the Presidio program's drying room for wet gear. 

Over the course of the three days, our energy only grew stronger, and the words "We are the Network" kept coming to fruition in all conversations. Through partnerships and friendships we watched our Network grow enormously in three short days - and we're still looking up. 

If you missed the action and want to learn more - we want to share with you. Take a look at our Summit Resources to learn from the presentations and handouts. Or scan our photo gallery to see what this year's activities looked like.  If you know of a person or organization who might like to be involved, we'd love to hear from you!

Summit Time- Ten Cities and Counting!

With just under two weeks to go, we wanted to share some exciting news about our first ever National Summit. We've been planning for months on hosting all of our existing Program Affiliates. And we recently confirmed registrations for our incoming 2015 affiliates from Chicago and Boise.  

But what we didn't expect was that we'll now be welcoming representatives from three more cities who registered today, bringing the total to TEN CITIES from nine different states. And this is year ONE!  

We are thrilled to be meeting the following

• Ron Griswell (Wilderness Inquiry, Natural Leaders Network) Minneapolis, MN
• Mike Larson (Urban Ecology Center) Milwuakee, WI
• Brooke Burkett (Portland Gear Hub/Camp Ketcha) Portland, ME

Mike is running the gear libraries (3) for the Urban Ecology Center where they rent canoes, bikes, snowshoes, fishing rods and.... wait for it..... ICE SKATES of course!   read more

Jill and I, along with the rest of the team over here in San Francisco are so excited to connect to everyone and begin building the ties between the people that are already making this Network THRIVE. 

If you can't make it this year, or are just interested in learning more about what will go on, check out our Agenda, and be ready for the announcement about where we'll be next year, as early as January.  Lastly, make sure you stay tuned, and contribute the the summit conversation via twitter at

#OENsummit

Chicago gets creative, Gets Camping in the City!

"It is so city, but still, we're here in this peace," said Cynthia Anthony-Harris, who brought her 14-year-old son to the park for the family's first camping experience.

Anthony-Harris, 57, was among dozens who participated... in a Chicago Park District event that aims to give first-time campers an experience without a big financial or time commitment.

For Chicagoans hesitant or unable to leave the city, the growing program aims to draw new recruits to the hobby and expose them to some of the more pastoral corners of the city — in some cases just steps from their front doors.

The Chicago Tribune article reports "The CTA's Green Line clacked in the background, but the trappings of city life didn't deter the dozens who had erected tents and roasted hot dogs around campfires on the lawn of Garfield Park Conservatory one recent weekend."

Photo: Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-urban-camping-met-20140829-story.html

Its because of programs like this that Outdoors Empowered Network is proud to announce that it is working with two of the most well established, respected conservation and recreation agencies in the country.  The Chicago Park District, and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

Families spend the night camping in a somewhat unlikely setting: the Garfield Park Conservatory grounds on Chicago's West Side. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

"We try to highlight our natural areas. Places we try to go are where you feel away from the city because you're surrounded by nature," said Matthew Freer, who organizes the Park District's urban camping trips.  Matt is the lead partner for the Park District and is collaborating with the Forest Preserve to build a new program that will be hosted at brand new campgrounds (under contstruction summer/fall 2014) on Forest Preserve land.   Read about the Master Camping Plan that the Forest Preserve recently completed.

Sharing Gear, Breaking Bread

My friend Juan Martinez @jdlovesLA says to me "Hey Kyle, let's figure out a time to break some bread together". I like it!  

Eating a meal together is so fundamental to who we are that it brings us together, as humans, under almost any circumstances.  Say, camping for instance.  Many of the youth that get outdoors overnight through our Program Affiliates are first time campers.  And a recent trip supported by our Seattle Affiliate, Washington Trails Association (WTA), proved no exception.

But there was something extra special going on.  Using the newly minted kitchen kits - put together with the generous support of GSI-  A group of 20 youth from Neighborhood House's High Point Center in West Seattle took a trip to Lake Sammamish State Park. They borrowed their equipment, including cook stoves and the kitchen kits from the WTA gear library.  Many of the youth in this group are part of recently immigrated Somali families were observing Ramadan, and camping for the first time. As Andrew Pringle, the WTA Program Director put it "cooking during the day on next week's camping trip will help to mark an important transition."  

Break bread! 

Thanks GSI Outdoors! The tools we need and share, to cook the meals outdoors, that make the smiles happen.