A unique collaborative project that is working with grassroots groups and other partners to remove barriers and increase participation in the outdoors, has received a funding boost from the Pilgrim Trust.
Outdoor Citizens, a free membership community established by YHA, has received a £75,000 grant from the independent charitable trust which funds activities that bring about social change and preserve the UK’s heritage.
The recent grant brings the total donated to Outdoor Citizens by the Pilgrim Trust to £125,000. The charity is a longstanding supporter of Outdoor Citizens. Alongside Sport England, Natural England, and Cotswold Outdoor, the Pilgrim Trust was one of the original funders in 2022 when the community was established.
Since 2022 Outdoor Citizens has distributed more than £350,000 to grassroots organisations, not-for-profits and small charities. Funding is designed to enable recipients to continue their work and deliver events or activities that increase participation and access to nature, and heritage for people from under-served communities.
Charlie Simpson, our Director of Development and Supporter Engagement, said: “We are immensely grateful to the Pilgrim Trust for its continued funding of Outdoor Citizens. It is making a very real and tangible difference, helping increase participation, remove barriers to access and tackle systemic inequalities in the outdoors.”
Sue Bowers, Director of the Pilgrim Trust said: “We are delighted to continue our support for the Outdoor Citizens initiative. Many groups of people do not feel the countryside is ‘for them’. Given the huge health, wellbeing and educational benefits, it is crucial barriers are removed so more diverse communities feel connected to the outdoors and are able to capitalize on all that nature has to offer.”
We will now spend the Pilgrim Trust’s recent grant to support members of the diverse 115 organisation strong Outdoor Citizens community. Outdoor Citizens’ members include small charities and community groups, including Black Girls Hike, Rewilding Youth, Active Muslims, Deaf Rhinos and Every Body Outdoors.
Outdoor Citizens builds on learning from their own trailblazing projects – Generation Green and Outside Voices. These pieces of work respond to the lack of diversity in the UKs outside spaces which can feel exclusive, inaccessible, unwelcoming, uncomfortable or unsafe to many parts of the population.
Explaining how we see its role in helping make the outdoors more inclusive and accessible, Charlie added: “We believe that frontline community organisations hold the key to tackling inequality of access and that YHA, through our network of youth hostels, and links to funding organisations, is a conduit to enable this. It’s not a problem we can solve alone, rather in collaboration.
“Through funding from charities and organisations like the Pilgrim Trust, we have been able to support grass-roots members to build their capacity and engage more people from their communities in outdoor activity or nature connections.”
In addition to grant funding, Outdoor Citizens offers members access to free training and networking events, meeting room space in our network of youth hostels in England and Wales, as well as discounted accommodation.
To find out more about Outdoor Citizens and becoming a member, please visit our Outdoor Citizens page.
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