Training for the Virtual Outdoors

I know I’ve been a little quiet on the blog here recently. Life has been a little hectic with work and other things. But I wanted to update you with something I’ve up to lately.

Welcome to the Access Fund Team!

Once a week, I’ve participated in community ambassador training for The Access Fund. If you aren’t familiar with the organization, it is a non-profit that advocates for the protection and preservation of climbing crags in the U.S. and does much more. You can learn about the organization here.

I was accepted to their ambassador program back in June. I was so excited when I received the email from Heather, the Events and Outreach director. (Who knew we would have the same name?) It was official a couple of weeks later who the new ambassadors were on the Access Fund’s website. There are people from all over the country.

All the ambassadors attended a once a week online training session over Zoom for two weeks earlier this month. We covered topics such as the organization’s philosophy, JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) training, working with local climbing organizations (LCOs), and more. There was a lot of information to go over. During the training, we also got meet program directors and others who work for the Access Fund. We shared our goals and what we wanted to pursue in the program as well

A Community What?

So, you’re probably asking, what does an Access Fund community ambassador do?

We are helping the Access Fund reach more people through education, engagement, and outreach. On the local level, we’ll hopefully meet with LCOs or at least let them know we’re here. Frequently share Access Fund’s content on our social media channels as well, including mine. So, get ready to see more of AF’s posts on my feeds. 😊

Occasionally, we’ll help fundraise for the organization. However, due to CoVID-19, we won’t be holding or participating in any in-person events like we would normally. They will be virtual until further notice. The group is encouraged to get creative with them since CoVID-19 has made things interesting for us, to say the least.

In the meantime, we’re continuing our online training. We’ll have a once-a-month scheduled day where we’ll go deeper into a topic we covered in previous instruction. I don’t know what we’ll cover next, but I’m looking forward to it. In case you were wondering, this is a year-long program.

What’s in It for You?

A few other questions you might be wondering are why I wanted to do this, and what am I getting out of it? I’ve been interested in the Access Fund for a while now, and a member for a few years. What they do for climbing crags is terrific, and they work hard to get their message out in my mind. As you know, climbing is a big part of my life, and the program is a great way to use my skills for something I’m passionate about. I’m excited to be a part of it.

Where I would like this to lead to is creating some experience for possible employment with the Access Fund (#dreamjob) or a similar organization in the future. I may or may not have mentioned this before in my posts, but the outdoor industry is a field where I feel drawn to work in. Taking part in the program feels like a step in the right direction. Also, I think it would look great on a resume.

Now that you’re all caught up, that’s what’s been happening with me. I’ll update when I can with what I’m doing in the program unless you already see it on social media. 🤓 I promise I’ll try not to spam your feeds with Access Fund content. Until next time, happy climbing!