Creative Director and Co-Founder of BALANCE Edutainment Aaron Ableman shares information on their inspiring flagship initiative–Pacha’s Pajamas! Let’s turn all the mini-Afros into Nature Superheroes!

I once heard it said that you are what you eat. Well, it’s also true that you are what you listen to and what you watch on YouTube! In fact, I was with a classroom of 4 year olds the other day and half of them could quote the entire verse of a Jay-Z song, with degrading lyrics and all. Then, I asked them to describe …

 
Dear Outdoor Afro Friends,
2011 has been a terrific year! Through the power of social media, we have seen our community steadily grow, and help people make culturally-relevant connections to nature and outdoor recreation.
Throughout my travels this year, the hot topic has been relevancy: “How can we connect more diverse audiences to the outdoors?” people ask. While there is not one neat and tidy answer that can work for everyone (nor should we expect there to be), what we have discovered is that people embrace what is important to them. So …

As many of you know, this month I had the pleasure of keynoting in Seattle the Groundwire Connector Award that honored the great work of the Washington Trails Association, an innovative online community that successfully connects people to nature.  Read more to learn about this event; Groundwire, and the many collaborations that make it all possible.
It was an amazing experience spending time with Groundwire, and its community of supporters who are passionate about the need to merge technology with social change.
I thank the staff of Groundwire for all their welcoming …

This may be old news for those of you who follow our Facebook Page, but I am still so tickled to be honored by The Black Weblog Awards, an annual celebration of Black social media excellence — Outdoor Afro was recognized for Best Green Nature/Outdoor Blog!
This was the first time this category was made a part of this important online distinction, therefore I hope Outdoor Afro can pave the way for more sites to emerge and engage new audiences with the Great Outdoors.
The Black Weblog Awards was founded in 2005 …

Just got word that Outdoor Afro was nominated for Best Green/Nature/ Outdoor Blog for the Black Weblog Awards!
Please take a moment to vote for us — this is such a wonderful honor! The category we appear in is on page 5 of the ballot:
Click Here to VOTE!

The Black Weblog Awards was founded in 2005 to give recognition to Black bloggers.` What started out as a barely-known event has now grown into an international showcase. With participants from over 90 countries, the Black Weblog Awards stands out as one of the …

This week, I had the honor of presenting at the American Camp Association (ACA) the topic: Recognizing and Cultivating Diversity in Family Camp in beautiful San Diego, California at their annual conference.
ACA is a community of camp professionals who, for nearly 100 years, have joined together to share knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. ACA and Outdoor Afro have recently formed an educational partnership to help camps connect to the diverse Outdoor Afro community; and also help Outdoor Afro community members become more aware of …

Chris-Tia Donaldson, Author

People always ask me who visits Outdoor Afro? Well, here is a snapshot of who Quantcast thinks you are (don’t ask how they come up with these numbers), although the data is actually pretty consistent with my own survey results from last year:

Compared to other websites, a significant number of you are African-American women making more than 100K/year, and grad school educated. Also according to the site, you are likely to enjoy topics such as travel, politics, sci-fi, fashion, and non-profits. Many of you have young children, but because …

This week was event-filled for Outdoor Afro where we connected with friends, family, and the community to have fun, and expand the message of outdoor engagement.
The week began with some high-flying times with family and close friends for the Berkeley Kite Festival on what felt like the windiest day of the year. Even if you did not have a kite of your own, there were many beautiful and dynamic kites to see. Some highlights included the kite candy drop; pony rides provided by African American cowboys (more on this …

June 19-20, 2010
New York City
Outdoor Afro had the wonderful experience this past weekend to be a part of Outdoor Nation, a youth summit designed to reconnect America’s youth to the great outdoors and inform organizations of what youth care about most. This was also the first official listening session as a part of Obama’s Great Outdoors Conference this past spring.

The event began with a mixer Friday night sponsored by Backpacker Magazine. Leadership from The North Face, VF Outdoors (TNF parent company), The Natural Leaders Network (Children and Nature Network), New …

By Suz Lipman,
Social Media Director for the Children & Nature Network

The Obama Administration is recognizing the importance of the outdoors to people’s health and well-being, with two important new programs: The White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to eradicate childhood obesity.
The White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors will be held Friday, April 16. C&NN President Cheryl Charles, C&NN Associate Rue Mapp (Outdoor Afro) and other movement leadership will be in attendance. President Obama is scheduled to deliver remarks to the …