The Outdoor Foundation released its third cohort of Thrive Outside Communities in Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., growing the Thrive Outside Initiative to 12 regions nationwide.
The Outdoor Foundation also welcomed two new funders, Amazon and Carhartt, as Thrive Outside Community Leadership Partners.
The Foundation’s Thrive Outside Initiative awards multi-year, capacity-building grants to diverse communities, directed at building and strengthening networks that provide children and families with repeat and reinforcing experiences in the outdoors.
This community-led initiative is built with trusted local and national partners and is supported by three years of funding.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the growing support of Thrive Outside by the outdoor industry and nonendemic businesses. Our new leadership funding partners and our legacy funding partners make this expansion possible,” said Stephanie Maez, Outdoor Foundation Executive Director. “We look forward to continuing to support Thrive regions in historically under-resourced communities across the country who are utilizing a collective impact model to help make the outdoors accessible for all.”
The Thrive Outside Communities were chosen by the Outdoor Foundation Board of Directors, based on written applications, virtual site visits, interviews, and third-party consultant research. Each Thrive Outside Community grant requires the recipient community to provide a 1-to-1 funding match to help ensure the long-term sustainability of the network.
One backbone organization in each community will manage the grant and facilitate the work of the network partners.
Announced in 2019, The Outdoor Foundation’s Thrive Outside Community Initiative has made multi-year grants to eight communities: Atlanta; Grand Rapids, Mich.; the state of Maine; Oklahoma City; Philadelphia; San Diego; St. Louis; and the Twin Cities region in Minnesota.
The Thrive Outside Community Initiative, and its growing impact, would not be possible without the longstanding support of Community Leadership Partners L.L.Bean, Patagonia, REI Co-op, Thule, VF Corporation, and the VF Foundation, Winnebago Industries, Wolverine Worldwide, and Yeti.
To date, the Thrive program has connected more than 50,000 youth and their families to the joy, wonder, and benefits of the outdoors, created stronger networks of equity and inclusion, and improved access to the outdoors in diverse communities. Over the next 10 years, the initiative plans to grow the number of invested regions to 32.
For more information, visit outdoorfoundation.org.
