Latino Outdoors: Building a National Network

Latino Outdoors is on a mission to make the outdoors a place where all Latinx communities can enjoy nature as safe, inclusive and welcoming — a place where nature is a setting for sharing and celebrating stories, knowledge and culture, developing leadership and stewardship, and engaging communities in volunteer work and transformational experiences.

While the organization is based in southern California, their vision and volunteer network stretch across the country. In 2017, Latino Outdoors requested assistance from the National Park Service - Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program (NPS-RTCA) to help facilitate ideas to expand their network and develop a multi-year strategic plan to build organizational capacity, outreach and program delivery.

Through a series of facilitated conversations focused on the history, success and goals of Latino Outdoors, NPS-RTCA helped put forth a plan that contained culturally relevant outdoor connections and best practices. Just one year after completing the plan, Latino Outdoors’ outdoor and stewardship programming grew by 65%, along with significant increases in volunteer leadership and strategic partnerships across the nation.

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For more than 30 years, the National Park Service - Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program  has been moving the needle on conservation and outdoor recreation in communities across America. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.