On behalf of our board, staff, and the communities we serve, THANK YOU for supporting Outdoor Outreach! In 2022, your generous support allowed us to provide 2,180 youth with meaningful outdoor experiences and opportunities to share new experiences, cultivate belonging, and discover their strengths. Here are just a few highlights from our incredible year:
Exploring New & Unique Locations
Our programs support many youth in visiting some of San Diego’s amazing trails, beaches, and parks for the very first time. In 2022, we expanded our programming to new locations, helping to make our nature-based programming more accessible and adventurous! We have branched out to include outdoor rock climbing at Descanso Wall, hiking at Daley Ranch, and overnight camping at Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Each of these locations played a critical role in helping to provide programs for North and East County San Diego communities.
Our partnership with the UC San Diego Natural Reserve System also helped us to advance equitable access to the outdoors. With their support, we were able to reach over 200 youth with 31 surfing, tidepooling, and team building programs at Scripps Coastal Reserve. This partnership was invaluable for our coastal programs, as Outdoor Outreach programming is typically held in the South Bay. With many South Bay beaches closed due to pollution, the Scripps Coastal Reserve provided access to 25 outings that would have otherwise been canceled.
Overnight Experiences
Overnight experiences are some of the most anticipated trips of the year. These programs are incredibly impactful, as they provide youth with opportunities to build a strong community of peers, learn what it means to contribute to a positive group dynamic, and explore their own independence as they step away from their home
environments for one evening. In 2022, we offered 14 special overnight opportunities, including programs to
Joshua Tree National Park, YMCA Camp Surf, and Twenty Lakes Basin in the Eastern Sierra. These programs supported partners like Rady Children’s Hospital, where Outdoor Outreach provides programming for youth being treated within the Hospital’s Behavioral Health Services program.
Elevating Youth Voices
In 2022, we expanded our efforts with our Outdoor Voices Club, a youth-led council that develops a policy platform to further Outdoor Outreach’s mission while supporting youth in gaining mutual support, mentorship, and civic engagement training. In May, eight members of the Outdoor Voices Club traveled to Northern California for a four-day road trip that ended at the State Capitol in Sacramento for Park Advocacy Day.
Youth participants had an opportunity to meet with California Natural Resources Deputy Secretary of Access Katherine Toy and several members of the Assembly and State Senate. Youth participants also had the chance to connect their stories of park access in advancing key legislative priorities, including Assembly Bill 2975, which would authorize a community access agreement to include free or reduced-cost access within the state park system for the public. Outdoor Outreach sponsored Assembly Bill 2975, and while we were not successful in the 2021-2022 legislative session, we are looking forward to continuing our efforts in 2023.
In August, the San Diego County Park Department kicked off the ‘Experience the Outdoors’ program at the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve. This campaign aims to increase awareness, inclusion, equity and accessibility of San Diego’s robust park system. We are proud to partner with the County of San Diego in providing rock climbing lessons to bridge the equity gap in removing cost, equipment, and training barriers to the outdoors.
One of our program graduates and members of the Outdoor Voices Club, Keanu, was invited as a guest speaker. He shared the following at the inaugural event:
“…access to the outdoors is not always within arms reach. It also takes a lot of courage to participate and step foot into a kayak. Outdoor Outreach has closed these gaps that are often unattainable. They helped me gain confidence in my abilities and opened possibilities for advocacy work to make the outdoors more accessible to all.”
See the image above to checkout Keanu while he spoke alongside Sonia Diaz, Policy Manager at Outdoor Outreach.
Our Team is Growing!
To meet the demand for our programs and ensure that our staff can meet the increased cost of living in San Diego, we created new positions, expanded others, and adjusted our entry level rate for field instructors to align with San Diego’s living wage ordinance (rather than minimum wage). The growth of our team brought new initiatives to keep our staff equipped to support San Diego youth and families.
In 2022, we hosted over 30 trainings, ranging from skill-based instruction, to team building and Diversity,
Equity, Inclusion and Justice training. As we kick off 2023, we continue to prioritize new opportunities for
professional development, as we know these initiatives translate to greater impact for the youth and
families we serve.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
From all of us at Outdoor Outreach: thank you for believing in our mission and our youth! We want to
extend a special thank you to our community partners. Our impact would not be possible without them,
including over 50 schools, youth serving organizations, land managers, and the support of multiple
individuals, foundations and business. Thank You!
Outdoor Outreach is a San Diego-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that connects youth to the transformative power of the outdoors. Through our programs, we’re helping youth build resilience in the face of challenges, and confidence in their power to make a difference.