by Anupama Joshi
In 2019, Blue Sky, in partnership with leaders and experts in our community, launched Rethink Outside™, a shared narrative and call to action to challenge the prevailing narratives around time spent outdoors and to lift up the benefits of time spent outdoors from a nicety to a necessity. Though focus and resources for this movement have increased in the last several years, we find that leaders of color and their important work remain largely mis- or under-represented. To empower emerging and established leaders of color connecting people with nature, we are thrilled to announce the inaugural Rethink Outside™ Fellowship.
The Rethink Outside™ Fellowship is a 6-month capacity-building experience to support, connect, and elevate leaders and storytellers identifying as Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Fellows will be invited to draw on their own experiences and enhance their communication and leadership skills through custom opportunities led by content experts and trainers. The topics covered will be co-generated with the fellows, but will likely cover strategic storytelling, branding, marketing, social media, accessing funding, public speaking, and finding your voice as a leader identifying as Black, Indigenous, and person of color.
This initiative aligns with Blue Sky’s 2021-2024 strategic goals and priorities to (a) dismantle systemic racism that limits access to funding and opportunities for power-building in the outdoor experiences and connections to the nature field, and (b) strengthen the movement by facilitating connections, building capacity and sharing best practices.
The Rethink Outside™ Fellowship is an invitation for place-based funders to easily plug into an existing infrastructure supporting leaders from a specific geographic area for a professional development and peer learning opportunity. We hope you’ll consider this to elevate a storyteller / leader from your community. Learn more and email Anupama Joshi to find a time to discuss this opportunity.
The inaugural fellowship cohort will be coordinated by Blue Sky Funders Forum, with support from Blue Sky Advisor José González. As the facilitator, José will guide the fellows through the 6-month journey. He is a professional educator and the founder and director emeritus of Latino Outdoors. He is a self-described “Green Chicano,” who engages in the interdisciplinary intersections of how we view and engage with the world. Advisors to the inaugural fellowship include Laura Lemus (Environmental Grantmakers Association & Hispanics in Philanthropy), Efrain Delgado (Justice Outside), Anne Umali (NAAEE), and Andrew Carberry (Wallace Center). We are grateful to the community leaders who engaged in a planning process to design the Rethink Outside™ Fellowship. Meet the 2021 team making the inaugural fellowship a reality.