Before surfing YouTube, watching television and playing video games on electronic devices became the recreational norm, “playtime” meant going outside to climb trees, dig dirt, smell flowers and play hide-and-seek.
However, if neighborhood parks are littered with broken bottles and used needles, and lack spaces to hike or fish due to overgrowth and contamination, inside activities often trump outside ones.
“If there’s a perception of safety issues in the neighborhood, parents and children are less likely to explore nature,” says Bennett Knox, Parks Administrator, Jefferson Memorial Forest in Fairdale.
Knox notes that outdoor recreational programs and amenities in west Louisville, for example, lags behind central, southern and eastern Louisville, which has parks with safe hiking trails and playgrounds and fishing access for boats.
This concerned Knox, whose position includes outreach for African Americans and residents from low-income areas. Before he could pursue outreach projects, Knox needed to understand the issues associated with why African Americans are not active in the outdoors.
His research startled him. “It’s a misconception that people who reside in urban areas, particularly African Americans, don’t like outdoor activities,” says Knox. “They do.”
It’s an inaccuracy further perpetuated by the media. “When was the last time you saw an African American participating in an outdoor activity in an advertising campaign?” he asks.
The challenge then becomes providing accessible, affordable outdoor activities in safe spaces, and telling the neighborhood that this community does, in fact, exist.
Dispelling Myths
Outdoor Afro, an organization where “black people and nature meet” does just that. In 2009, Rue Mapp, a former Morgan Stanley analyst combined her love of nature, community and technology into an organization that reconnects African-Americans to the outdoors through activities such as camping, hiking, biking, fishing, birding, skiing and gardening. Outdoor Afro depends on social media and volunteers to organize meet-ups. Today, the Oakland, Calif.-based organization’s 7,000 members participate at 18 meet-ups across the country.
Once Knox discovered Outdoor Afro, starting a Louisville chapter became a no brainer. Except for one thing: It needed the right leader.
Enter SteVon Edwards. In her role as Community Health Empowerment Specialist with Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness, Edwards was already involved with citywide physical activity program management. Knox connected Edwards to Mapp, and Louisville’s Outdoor Afro pilot program begin in 2013.
As Louisville Leader, Edwards attends a yearly retreat and training session with other Outdoor Afro city leaders where they discuss social justice issues, brainstorm trip ideas, learn skills and planning. She also plans and facilitates local events.
Outdoor Afro is open to all ages, and Louisville’s participants range in ages from seven to 70. “We’re especially geared towards families and skill levels that everyone can relate to,” Edwards says.
Half of her attendees are outdoor novices, while the other half are grateful to share their interests with like-minded people in the great outdoors.
Since its formation, Outdoor Afro biked in the Mayor’s Hike, Bike & Paddle event, fished at the Falls of the Ohio and camped at Jefferson Memorial Forest.
To keep costs down, Edwards works with organizations such as the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife who donated fishing poles, bait and tackle, and Jefferson Memorial Forest who lent the group tents and camping supplies.
Their biggest event to date took place in Shawnee Park this past July during West Louisville Day Appreciation and Camp Out. “The last weekend in July 200 black families gather for family reunions. In the past I noticed families left their grills and equipment overnight. I thought, ‘why not invite people to spend the night?'”
Edwards arranged for extra Louisville Metro Police on site. She planned fishing and canoeing events, nature hikes, a bicycle pump tract, rock climbing wall and campfire.
Jefferson Memorial Forest donated tents for usage and waived camping fees. “One of the major barriers people face from getting outdoor experiences is the price of buying a tent or paying for a camp rental. Jefferson Memorial Forest has been very supportive and helpful,” says Edwards.
Jefferson Memorial Park even invited Outdoor Afro as their guests to attend the opening of the Go Ape Zip Line and Treetop Adventure.
“Zip-lining was awesome,” says Shawn Gardner, who attended with his daughter and a boy from his community center. “The price was right. It’s not that I wouldn’t want to go zip-lining for $60, but there is a reality to paying that cost.”
Gardner, who is president/founder of the nonprofit 2Not1: Fatherhood 7 Families, Inc., on West Chestnut Street, is a regular on Outdoor Afro fishing and camping trips. He believes Outdoor Afro is important to Louisville’s west Louisville African American community.
“It goes back to the premise of things that black people ‘supposedly’ don’t do,” Gardner says. “It really boils down to awareness and resources. Outdoor Afro provides an opportunity to do something many of these people would not ordinarily do. For example, the youth I took zip-lining has seven siblings and a single mom. There is no way he could have the resources to do this without Outdoor Afro.
“SteVon is making it happen,” he continues. “No one in our community was saying, ‘hey, let’s actively go out and do these things.’ She took the lead and now she has a following.”
Celebrating Culture, History
Outdoor Afro doesn’t just celebrate and inspire African American connections and leadership in nature, but the program, attendees and leaders lead the way for inclusion in outdoor recreation, nature, conservation and heritage. Each event begins with an opening circle discussion about the cultural significance and black history of the event.
“Outdoor activities are part of African American history,” says Edwards. “Most of our participants may be city dwellers who have never been to a forest before, but we are not far removed from this part of history. We know the outdoors as evidenced by the Underground Railroad or Mammoth Cave.
“Slaves excavated the caves. A lot of people don’t know that history. This is a way for us to embrace and support it,” continues Edwards, who has taken Outdoor Afro groups on Mammoth Cave Historical Tours.
On September 12, the group traveled to the Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park in Nicholasville, Ky., for the 2015 Camp Nelson Civil War Days living History Event. Camp Nelson provided the Union Army with more than 10,000 African-American soldiers, making it the third largest recruiting and training depot for African Americans in the nation.
Long-Term Community Impact
Edwards’ long-term goals for Outdoor Afro are simple: train more leaders. “I would love to see a more diverse range of African Americans lead trips,” she says. “Further, I want to motivate children to pursue education in environmental studies and work with Jefferson Memorial Forest to diversify their workforce. If African American kids come to the forest, having staff that looks like them increases the likelihood that those kids will pursue these type of activities and career paths.”
Knox shares Edwards’ sentiments. “During the hiring process, for careers in environmental education and recreational outdoor activities we find that we have few minority candidates who have the necessary experience. It’s primarily white and affluent people applying for those jobs. These are problems,” he says.
Outdoor exposure at an early age, through groups like Outdoor Afro, instills a love for the environment while teaching inquiry-based learning that enhances academic performance in school. It also improves health and wellness.
“Any 20 minute outdoor activity helps lower blood pressure and calms you down,” says Edwards. “Outdoor exercise is usually easily accessible, free and fits into our culture.”
Can a program like Outdoor Afro save west Louisville?
Edwards thinks so. “Getting people outdoors is more than an event—it’s violence prevention. It’s about sharing skills, leadership development and self-efficacy. It’s about lending and borrowing equipment. It’s about saying, ‘if I can do this once, I can do this again and bring people with me,” says Edwards. “It’s not just, ‘let’s get together.’ Our message is, ‘You are not alone. Many folks enjoy these activities.'”
Outdoor activities lead to re-discovery and new accomplishments. The hope is that once children and families become invested in the outdoors they carry that interest back to their local parks and neighborhoods.
“Engaging west Louisville in outdoor recreation at the neighborhood level will recreate a generation of kids who are park users,” Knox says. “Then we can build upon it. Those kids may become adults who apply for park jobs and become park users.”
From family bonding and educational opportunities to health and wellness and job training, the positive outdoor experiences found in Outdoor Afro breaks down stereotypes and builds stronger communities, one tent at a time.
For more information visit: http://www.meetup.com/Outdoor-Afro-Louisville/.
