The North Face Selects First Council to Diversify Outdoor Industry
June 4, 2021
Last October, The North Face launched the Explore Fund Council and pledged $7 million to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, with the focus on providing opportunities for diverse communities, improving access to underserved communities and accelerating culturally relevant exploration opportunities.
The outdoor apparel and gear brand recently unveiled the community leaders who will oversee allocating those funds to various non-profit organizations. These eight council members are:
- Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, wildlife ecologist and National Geographic explorer
- José G. González, founder and director emeritus of Latino Outdoors
- Hakim Tafari, cyclist and runner
- Shanée Benjamin, art director and illustrator
- Jody Potts, Gwich’in leader and advocate
- Chris Dean, Memphis Rox co-founder and community organizer
- Liz Kleinrock, educator, lecturer, speaker
- Myron Floyd, outdoor educator, researcher, lecturer
They will join the council leaders Lena Waithe, an Emmy-winning actor, writer, director, and producer who has worked tirelessly to champion underrepresented artists and communities, and Jimmy Chin, The North Face global athlete and Academy Award-winning director.
The North Face cited a report that showed the reality for Black and Brown Americans when they launched the council last year. According to a report, led by the Hispanic Access Foundation and the Center for American Progress, in the United States, people of color live in places with less immediate access to nature. The report shows that communities of color are almost three times more likely than white communities to live in “nature deprived” areas, those that have less or no access to parks, paths, and green spaces. In addition, Fast Company adds that “Outdoor brands have been criticized for not acting as urgently on issues of diversity and representation as they do on climate change and conservation.”
“The outdoors is such a great space for people from different backgrounds, races, and religions to come together and interact as human beings,” Chin says. “To find those places of intersection and connection is something that I’ve been able to experience, and I want to share that.”
Therefore, in the last 10 years, Explore Fund has supported hundreds of non-profits across the country working to increase participation and make outdoor activities more inclusive. In addition to the adding of council members to the Explore Fund Council, The North Face has elevated its monetary pledge to these causes, with its recent commitment of $7 million to organizations to build equity in the outdoors and create opportunities for all.
Source: Outside Business Journal