For City Kids Wilderness Project, connecting youth with nature and the outdoors is the central mission. It isn’t just a cool theory; it’s a lifestyle. The DC based organization has provided transformative outdoor experiences for local middle and high school aged youth since 1996. Over a seven-year journey, each cohort of these participants utilizes their time away from school to build amazing memories and key life skills through adventures in the great outdoors.
During the school year, youth participate in out-of-school time programs after school and on the weekend. Trips include weekend day trips and overnight adventures in wilderness spaces around the DC, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area, including Rock Creek Park, Shenandoah National Park, Whitetail Ski Resort, local rock-climbing gyms, and the Potomac River. In the summer, youth attend a residential summer program in Jackson Hole, WY where they participate in adventures such as white-water kayaking, backpacking, horseback riding, and explorations of national parks like Grand Teton and Yellowstone.
With help from the Trust’s Access to the Outdoor Fund, the City Kids Job Experience Trainee(JET) program took advantage of their Spring Break to trek into Shenandoah National Park, in preparation for an intensive summer backpacking trip out west. They focused on honing essential skills, such as balancing a backpack, creating a bear hang to safely store food, and setting up a campsite. These outdoor experiences do more than just teach outdoor skills; they also teach collaboration and leadership skills.
For Senior JET Program Manager, Ginny Brooks, this is a crucial step for leaders developing through the program. “It’s just a good check-in point of how they are feeling about the summer. How are we feeling about them in their position? And it’s really fun because before this point, they do some backpacking overnights in D.C., but not a lot of longer backpacking trips in the area,” Ginny added.
When planning this City Kids trip to Shenandoah, Brooks focused on taking a youth-led approach. Participants were able to make important decisions about what routes would look like, food choices, and which sites they wanted to see. Having this autonomy made an enormous difference during this journey. Experiences like this impact not only their leadership skills within the City Kids program but also give young people the confidence to be leaders when returning to their communities, and also when they eventually transition out of the program.
“We are just very grateful for the Trust’s support and for connecting us to Margo [Roseum, Education Program Manager in Shenandoah], to give us some feedback and ideas,” Brooks shared. “It’s fun to have another partnership where it’s like, we love this park, and you guys love this park. It’s just a really great energy to be around,” Brooks emphasized.
The Trust’s Access to the Outdoors fund exists thanks to a gift from the Christopher Johnson McCandless Foundation and supports experiences like this for people of all ages. Because there’s nothing like the peace, beauty, and adventure that Shenandoah National Park offers.
To learn more about the Access to the Outdoor fund and its impact, visit https://www.snptrust.org/access-to-the-outdoors/