Venture Outdoors Initiative to Bring Minorities Closer to Nature

Venture Outdoors Fest kicks off new programs and summer events

(Pittsburgh, PA –May 1, 2009) – Venture Outdoors aims to engage minority populations in outdoor recreation through a multi-year Family and Community Programs Initiative kicking off at the Venture Outdoors Festival, Saturday, May 16.

For eight years, Venture Outdoors has served the Pittsburgh community as a nonprofit organization, now engaging over 30,000 people a year through Kayak Pittsburgh and public and private programming. The organization’s membership exceeds 5,000, a definite sign of a growing outdoors community. However, only five percent of those who participate in these programs are not Caucasian, whereas 16 percent of Allegheny County is African American, Hispanic and Asian. Venture Outdoors would like to close that gap.

The initiative’s official kickoff event, the Venture Outdoors Festival, will be held at Point State Park, Saturday, May 16 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. This free festival is part of the city’s Great Outdoors Week. A Family and Community Programs booth will be set up where participants will try bike bowling and have the opportunity to meet the organizations working on this initiative. Venture Outdoors is working with the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Kingsley Association and the AGH Northside Partnership.

“The Venture Outdoors Festival itself brings together the numerous outdoor recreation groups of the region,” said Sean Brady, Assistant Executive Director of Venture Outdoors. “This year we are putting special emphasis on growing the diversity of the outdoors community to include even more people from urban neighborhoods through our Family and Community Programs initiative.”

African Americans, for example, make up 12.7 percent of the population of Allegheny County, which translates into over 150,000 residents of this demographic being largely disconnected from natural amenities and related healthy lifestyles. Most Pittsburgh communities have parks, trails and water access nearby, but many area residents lack the experience and awareness of how to fully access those resources in ways that are safe and rewarding. Created as a pilot program in 2008, the Family and Community Programs Initiative seeks to diversify the populations using parks, trails and waterways for outdoor recreation by reaching out to children, adolescents and families in diverse communities.

Venture Outdoors is providing the community with a series of progressive steps to break through cultural and economic barriers, and while doing so, the organization will further combat the increasing “nature deficit disorder” among American citizens. A detailed schedule of Family and Community Programs can be found at http://www.ventureoutdoors.org/familyprograms.aspx

Three free Family Outdoor Festivals 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM

• June 20 at Frick Park, corner of Forbes & Braddock Avenue
• July 25 at Mellon Park, corner of 5th & Penn Avenue
• August 29 in Allegheny Commons park, Northside

Activities will include the Climb Pittsburgh rock climbing wall, Tyke Hike crafts, an REI environmental stewardship demo, an L.L.Bean camping demo, healthy foods cooking, and the Pitt African Drumming Ensemble. Each event will offer giveaway items such as trail maps, bike lights, Heinz Pickle Pins, pedometers and water bottles to further promote outdoor recreation engagement. All programs will be beginner friendly.

National Trails Day will be co-hosted on June 6 in the Hill District by Venture Outdoors, REI and Allegheny Cleanways. Tools and refreshments will be provided for building a trail connecting Kennard Field, the Oak Hill Housing Development and Landslide Community Farm. 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. This event is nationally sponsored by the American Hiking Society.

Family-focused programs will include year-round activities for the entire family, starting May 23. Programs include hiking, biking, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, and portable climbing walls. Free activity passes gained from any of the festivals will be redeemable here. These programs will also be coupled with the Aviary and Children’s Museum for group experiences. For more details and activities schedule, go to http://www.ventureoutdoors.org/familyprograms.aspx

Outdoor Leadership Workshops provide skills such as risk management and group dynamics in order to promote civic engagement and volunteerism. Five hundred Venture Outdoors programs provide opportunities for applied learning, as well as personal and professional development.

Community Outreach will include the Climbing walls of Climb Pittsburgh at community events to promote the Family Outdoor Festivals and Family-Focused Outdoor Programs.

Past efforts to reach minority communities have yielded positive results. More than 50 percent of participants in Venture Outdoors’ Youth Programs are from minority communities. Venture Outdoors’ Youth Programs serve over 2,000 regional youth per year by providing outdoor programming such as biking, kayaking, fishing and geocaching. Developing a program that focuses on parents as well as children aims to encourage entire families to “get outdoors” and develop healthy, active lifestyles together.

The Venture Outdoors goal is for the outdoor community to mirror the diversity of the Pittsburgh region. Venture Outdoors hopes to create a model for the nation to reconnect minority communities to our shared natural amenities. The goal of this 3-year initiative is to introduce over 11,000 people to the outdoors.

Family and Community Programs are supported by the Richard King Mellon Foundation, The Grable Foundation, L.L. Bean, The Buhl Foundation, and the Robert and Mary Weisbrod Foundation.

“The Pittsburgh community is fortunate to have strong support from the foundation community and retail companies, who understand the importance of natural amenities to quality of life for people in this region,” Brady said.

Venture Outdoors, a local non profit organization, seeks to transform the Pittsburgh region into a place where the outdoors is an integral part of our culture, our identity and our lifestyle. VO does this by increasing participation in outdoor recreational activity. In turn, this creates a sense of community among participants, an increased awareness of the region’s excellent quality of life and a better understanding of and deeper appreciation for the environment and wilderness among the residents of and visitors to Western Pennsylvania.

For more information, visit www.ventureoutdoors.org or call 412.255.0564.
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