Today, Clif Bar & Company launched a new effort
through Clif®
Corps
— its longstanding, employee-led community service program — adding CLIF
athletes to help foster equity and greater access to the outdoors and sports.
Clif Corps is partnering with tennis champion and entrepreneur Venus
Williams and Oakland, Calif.-based
nonprofit organization Outdoor Afro in its mission
to inspire Black connections and leadership in nature. The partnership will kick
off a series of ongoing giving and service partnerships with community groups
such as the National Park Service aimed at providing opportunities for
individuals across the US to participate in activities otherwise deemed
inaccessible or unwelcoming for economic, social or emotional reasons.
“I am honored to be part of this new chapter of Clif Corps, and to support
Outdoor Afro’s work to show greater representation in the outdoor community,”
Williams says. “Together, our goal is to make a meaningful impact to reconnect
Black communities with the outdoors and sports through education, recreation and
conservation.”
The positive impacts on our mental and physical health of time spent in nature
is
well-documented;
and those benefits became particularly apparent during the pandemic: In a 2020
national survey, 70 percent of
city-dwelling Americans agreed that local parks and green spaces were critical
to their physical and mental wellbeing during
COVID-19. What’s
also well-documented is the lack of equity in terms of access to nature in urban
areas, especially for people of color — who are three times more likely than the
average US citizen to live in nature-deprived
neighborhoods.
Hence, the proliferation of efforts during the pandemic — from the passage of
the Great American Outdoors
Act
and the launch of The North Face’s Explore Fund
Council
to the launch of the Tazo Tree
Corps
and 10 Minute Walk’s commitment to ensuring all people in US cities are
within a 10-minute walk of safe, quality green space by
2050
— to create equitable access to nature and green space for underserved
communities. The Clif Corps-Outdoor Afro partnership aims to build on these
efforts.
DEI and sustainability: The ROI of inclusive corporate cultures
Join us as leaders from the Accomplis Collective, Bard, Beneficial State Foundation, ReEngineering HR and REI share best practices for cultivating a culture of belonging and insights into how inclusive leadership can lead to more effective and equitable sustainability outcomes — Wednesday, Oct. 16, at SB'24 San Diego.
"A recent study led by Penn
State
found that 1 in 5 Americans have taken on a new outdoor hobby since the
beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many Americans are unable to
experience these benefits due to inequities in access to the outdoors and
sports,” says CLIF VP of Brands Jodi Olson. “That’s why we are collaborating
with Venus Williams and Outdoor Afro — two of our long-time partners — to enact
change and break down systemic barriers, creating more diverse and inclusive
activities for our communities.”
Outdoor Afro is offering a range of CLIF-supported outdoor experiences across
the country. The events will include activities such as hiking, paddle boarding
and kayaking with product and gear provided by CLIF. Some of the CLIF-sponsored
Outdoor Afro events include:
-
Hike to Lake Haiyaha in Denver on August 27
-
Hiking through Red Mountain Park in Birmingham on September 3
-
Standup paddleboarding at Fish Lake Regional Park in Minneapolis on September 11
Clif Corps will continue to expand its athlete partnership program through
upcoming initiatives with Olympic gymnast Sunisa
Lee, Paralympic racing champion
Daniel
Romanchuk
and others who are working to foster equitable access to sports and the
outdoors. For more information on the first partnership with Venus Williams and
Outdoor Afro, and for how you can get involved with Clif Corps’ efforts, visit
www.clifbar.com/values.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Aug 25, 2022 9am EDT / 6am PDT / 2pm BST / 3pm CEST