Impacts of Outdoor Equity Funds in North Carolina and New Mexico
North Carolina and New Mexico announced their Outdoor Equity Fund recipients earlier this year.
North Carolina
North Carolina’s Outdoor Equity Fund, established by MADE X MNTS, distributed $125,000 to 20 organizations. The twenty grantees represent small businesses, sole proprietors, non-profits, and community groups working to increase outdoor recreation access and economic opportunity across the Western region of North Carolina. These grants were made possible through funding from the Dogwood Health Trust, a private foundation based in Asheville, North Carolina with the sole purpose of dramatically improving the health and well-being of all people and communities of 18 counties and the Qualla Boundary in Western North Carolina. The funding is part of a three-year “Accelerating Outdoors Grant,” awarded to the MADE x MNTS Partnership.
“Together, we can create a more inclusive and vibrant outdoor industry, unlocking the vast potential of diverse voices and experiences to drive entrepreneurship and economic growth, foster community wellness, and lead the way towards a more inclusive and sustainable future,” said MADE X MTNS Partnership Director, Amy Allison.
Photo Credit: Latinos Aventureros
For Latinos Aventureros, one of the NC awardees, the grant was transformative. Latinos Aventureros is a bilingual community of outdoor enthusiasts dedicated to helping everyone experience the joys of nature. With a primary focus on the BIPOC community, their mission is to facilitate transformative encounters with the great outdoors, offering support, education, and opportunities for personal growth in both English and Spanish.
Executive Director of the organization, Vivianette Ortiz, shared how this grant made an impact on their organization.
“The Outdoor Equity grant was transformative for us, enabling the launch of our first-ever Encuentro de Líderes Aventureros (Adventure Leaders' Summit). This summit served not just as a gathering but as a critical intervention to disrupt systemic barriers that have historically excluded Latinos from outdoor spaces and leadership roles. By covering the costs of lodging, food, materials, travel stipends, and even providing a Spanish-speaking interpreter, the grant made the summit accessible in a way that went beyond the financial—it made it culturally resonant and welcoming.
”Our programming ranged from organizational strategy, medicinal herbs, smokies biodiversity, indigenous place-based history, indigenous Hñahñu culture, Estamos Aqui, Inclusivity in the Outdoors, and stewardship training to Wilderness First Aid certifications, serving as both a space for skills development and an incubator for Latino leadership in the outdoors. The grant's impact reached a critical milestone when 15 of our leaders achieved Wilderness First Aid certification—a skill often gatekept behind language and financial barriers,” said Ortiz.
“The Outdoor Equity grant was transformative for us, enabling the launch of our first-ever Encuentro de Líderes Aventureros (Adventure Leaders' Summit).
“This summit served not just as a gathering but as a critical intervention to disrupt systemic barriers that have historically excluded Latinos from outdoor spaces and leadership roles.”
“But the real seismic shift lies in the long term. The Outdoor Equity Fund didn't just sponsor an event; it sponsored a paradigm shift in who is seen as a steward of the outdoors in North Carolina. Notably, 90% of our volunteer leaders had no previous experience in outdoor leadership, breaking through the cycle of systemic exclusion. More so, this grant offered a rare but essential space for leadership training and community building in Spanish, challenging the status quo that often renders Spanish speakers invisible in outdoor and leadership contexts,” Ortiz added.
Flying Bike is an electric bike tour in Asheville, NC. It is a tour company operating in Asheville, NC. Its motto is “We believe in moving people. That’s why we ride powerful bikes and tell powerful stories!” The Outdoor Equity Fund grant award will help purchase an adaptive bike designed for a person who requires the use of a wheelchair to increase accessibility, visibility, and mobility of the disabled population on bikes in WNC, and increase the possibility to hire a disabled person.
Photo Credit: Yadkin Valley Adventure
Yadkin Valley Adventure is a disabled veteran-owned guide service, whose mission is to help foster a unified and equitable outdoor professional ecosystem. They strive to provide the best service possible to create sustainable access and adventure. They are also awardees of the Outdoor Equity Fund and will use their grant to facilitate all-inclusive adventures for underserved communities, provide access and opportunity to anyone wanting to go outdoors who may not have the proper equipment to do it and align with regional BIPOC groups to increase climbing access to the Pilot Mountain area.
New Mexico
Last month, New Mexico also announced its recipients for the first round of the fiscal year 2024 grant cycle.
The New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division, a division of the N.M. Economic Development Department (EDD), announced the inaugural award recipients of the Outdoor Equity Fund. It awarded $1.7 million to 54 programs in 16 counties, getting 20,000 kids outside.
The grant was first created in 2020 to allow all youth equitable access to the outdoors and continues to support transformative outdoor experiences that foster stewardship and respect for New Mexico’s land, water, and cultural heritage.
“Investing in youth access to the outdoors is economic development," Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Alicia J. Keyes said.
"By getting more young New Mexicans outside, the Outdoor Equity Fund builds a rung on the career ladder for these kids to find jobs working with our remarkable lands and waters. The grant opportunity also advances education for the next generation about the importance of a healthy environment to the state’s future. I want to thank lawmakers and other donors to the fund for making this a reality."
Photo Credit: Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions
Mountain Mahogany Backpacking in the Chiricahua Wilderness (SIWI)
Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions is one of the 54 NM awardees. They are an organization located in Albuquerque, NM offering unique expeditions focused on outdoor learning adventures for youth from all backgrounds. Members of the organization shared how the OEF has impacted them as an organization.
“Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions creates outdoor learning adventures for youth from all backgrounds that foster personal growth, strengthen community, and inspire stewardship of the natural world. At the Gulch, we believe in the power of speaking to young people about their environment and culture, and getting them outside to move their bodies, experience nature, work together with their fellow students, and reflect on their own social-emotional learning. We do this through summer camping and backpacking experiences, and partnerships with over 25 New Mexico schools during the spring and fall semesters. Over 1,500 children and youth participate in our programming each year, for over 6,000 days outdoors.
Every experience at Cottonwood Gulch, whether a day hike, a week-long backpack, a shared meal on the road, or sitting together around the campfire, is dedicated towards discovering who we truly are and who we want to be. We firmly believe that getting outdoors is essential in developing critically thinking, compassionate and capable young people. We know that sleeping under the stars and exploring with friends build memories that last a lifetime.
“…Although Cottonwood Gulch, founded in 1926, was traditionally a fee-based organization, in more recent years we have focused on creating wider access to our programs for New Mexico youth in particular. We increase accessibility by providing scholarships each summer, and by offering deep discounts to Title I schools for spring and fall programming. In 2023, we gave $112,300 to 42 individual summer trekkers.
This grant from the Outdoor Equity Fund will allow us to provide 7-10 week-long programs to Title I schools for a discounted rate. This programming will serve at least 350 students from underserved schools. We are so appreciative of this funding that helps us reach underserved students in New Mexico.”
The school programs they offer are:
Energy, the primary theme of this program is energy usage, conservation and climate change.
Photovoice, environmental appreciation through photography.
Water, a study of water–a major component of our environment–and how we use it, conserve it, keep it clean.
Environmental Restoration, studying areas that have been adversely affected by humans and completing an environmental restoration project.
Students in Wilderness Initiative (SIWI), exposing students to the natural world and introducing them to environmental concepts, ecosystems and public lands.
Plan Your Own Adventure, although students and teachers will determine their own curricula, the stated goals of our programming will be to get outside, meet environmental science standards and learn about our connection to the natural world.
Center of Southwest Culture, Inc./Story Riders is another grantee of the Outdoor Equity Fund. Story Riders empowers Indigenous, Mexicano/Chicano, and youth of color to reconnect with their natural and cultural heritage while providing practical training in bicycle safety, maintenance, and guided cycling experiences in which participants explore local stories and spaces. In partnership with Pueblo Resurgents, Story Riders will expand the cultural components of this program to engage Isleta Pueblo youth with language, storytelling, and land-based knowledge sharing.
New Mexico Dream Team (NMDT) is a statewide network of Latinx, immigrant, undocumented, and LGBTQ+ youth and supporters providing holistic wellness, mobilization, and leadership development. The UndocuHealing Outdoors program lowers barriers for underserved youth and young adults to foster participation in outdoor activities. UndocuHealing centers on the reclamation of immigrant, undocumented, and mixed-status youth participants’ connections to their environment, fostering healing from the trauma of displacement through engagement with the outdoors of New Mexico.
Outdoor Equity Funds such as these created by organizations like MADE x MNTS and the Outdoor NM Recreation Division are making major impacts on the lives of youth, their families, and their communities. It is why we are working endlessly to pass The National Outdoor Opportunity Act. It is essential for all states, nationwide, to have access to funds to provide youth and their families with outdoor experiences to secure programs like the ones provided by local organizations that provide equitable access to the outdoors and foster stewardship and respect for the land.
The National Outdoor Opportunity Act will secure funds from private donors and organizations to provide grants to state-based opportunity funds and other in-state organizations that expand outdoor opportunities for local youth and their families.
How to Get Involved
If you would like to get involved and help us create more opportunities and make life impacts for youth and their families, please visit our Get Involved page to support The National Outdoor Opportunity Act and learn more.
