AORE Partners with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Urban Spaces to Wild Places: AORE Partners with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and United States Forest Service to Provide Urban Youth Populations with Educational Outdoor Adventures on State, Federal, and Tribal Lands
ANN ARBOR, MICH. – June 30, 2016 – On Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education (AORE) President-Elect, Lance Haynie, attended the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) National Conference in Orlando, FL on behalf of AORE to enter into an official partnership with BBBSA, the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center (ACNWTC) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) to collaborate on a new initiative called Urban Spaces to Wild Places. The purpose of this initiative is to leverage the unique and valuable resources of AORE, BBBSA, ACNWTC and USFS to provide educational outdoor adventure opportunities to underserved youth populations across the United States.
The Urban Spaces to Wild Places initiative will work to expand youth awareness, understanding, and support of public lands and wilderness; inspire and nurture life-long connections between people of diverse cultures and public lands and wilderness; and nurture a new generation of future stewards and scientists.
AORE President-Elect, Lance Haynie, said of the initiative "This partnership means that AORE member programs will have the opportunity to extend their community reach by connecting with identified youth populations. The Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center and US Forest Service will support AORE member programs in facilitating outdoor experiences for these youth and their Big Brother and Big Sister mentors. The work is essentially focused on decreasing the gap between American youth and their outdoor, natural spaces."
By bringing together public land managing agencies, youth mentoring organizations, and organized university students, the initiative will build capacity to connect underserved youth to fun outdoor experiences close to home. This builds confidence among youth, creates lasting networks of community through multi-generational relationships, grows leadership skills among university students, and provides stepping stones for careers in natural resources.
AORE Executive director, Jeannette Stawski, is hopeful about the potential this initiative has to create a pipeline through which future outdoor leaders will be intorduced to the outdoors and eventually develop the interest and skills to become professionals in the field. "Through introducing a diversified population of youth to positive experiences with the outdoors, this partnership has the potential to inspire future leaders in the field of outdoor recreation and education."
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About AORE
The mission of the Association is to provide opportunities for professionals and students in the field of outdoor recreation and education to exchange information, promote the preservation and conservation of the natural environment, and address issues common to college, university, community, military, and other not-for-profit outdoor recreation and education programs. Visit us at www.aore.org.
About BBBSA
The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. http://www.bbbs.org.
About USFS
The mission of the Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the
Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The FS manages 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands, comprising 30 percent of all Federal lands and including millions of acres of designated wilderness and thousands of miles of wild and scenic rivers. http://www.fs.fed.us.