Our External JEDI Work

Access Fund seeks to make the climbing community itself more diverse, inclusive, and equitable. To that end, this section details the outward-facing JEDI work Access Fund has done.

 
 

Fundamentally, we believe that BIPOC-led, grassroots organizations—like Brown Girls Climb, Brothers of Climbing, Climbers of Color, Flash Foxy, and many others—are the best leaders to drive true, community-oriented change, because they are the folks who are at the center of, and most impacted by, this struggle. We commit to supporting these organizations in whatever way we can, and also to ensuring that we integrate JEDI into our specific areas of expertise, like public lands policy and climbing area stewardship, in as many ways as possible.

Partnerships

  • We have consulted extensively with local climbing organizations (LCOs), individuals, and nonclimbing organizations across the country on JEDI topics. This includes everything from brainstorming JEDI projects for LCOs to initiate in their region, to helping to craft JEDI statements, to general education on JEDI principles. We have worked with ~20 LCOs and other outdoor organizations from Alaska, California, D.C./Maryland/Virginia, Tennessee/Alabama/Georgia, North and South Carolina, Colorado, Wisconsin, Washington, Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Utah, Texas, Kentucky, and more, with the list growing.

    • We have also begun to track the remarkable growth in JEDI work being done by LCOs so that organizations wishing to get more involved in JEDI have examples to draw upon. Actions taken by LCOs to facilitate JEDI have included diversifying boards, establishing JEDI committees or positions, donating to JEDI affinity groups, hosting community listening sessions, changing discriminatory route names, and engaging in programmatic work to get local underserved communities out climbing. The tracker is available here; please contribute actions not listed currently.

  • Access Fund financially supported the Color the Crag climbing festival and has also supported the PGM ONE summit, both of which are gatherings devoted to bringing together and elevating people of color in outdoor spaces. We have also made a substantial donation to PGM ONE's Black Joy fund. Various staff members have attended these events, as both participants and presenters.

  • We have signed on to the Outdoor Industry CEO Diversity Pledge, run by the In Solidarity Project.

  • We signed onto the Indigenous Field Guide, a set of resources, educational materials, and best practices created by Indigenous climbers to help others respectfully recreate in places with sensitive natural and cultural resources.

  • We are a nonprofit partner of Camber Outdoors.

  • We have begun to broaden the scope of our grantmaking to include funding projects that focus on JEDI issues.

© Nikki Smith

Public Lands Policy

Access Fund is committed to understanding and addressing the ways in which systemic racism and other forms of discrimination overlap with access to and enjoyment of our public lands. We have broadened our advocacy approach to better address these issues and represent the full diversity of the climbing community.

  • We have integrated JEDI principles into Climb the Hill, our annual Washington, D.C., lobby day, during which we convene climbers from across the country to meet with legislators and advocate for critical public lands issues. We have done this on multiple levels:

    • The Climb the Hill JEDI Task Force helps ensure that all aspects of the event are considered through a JEDI lens.

    • We hold a pre-event JEDI training for all participants, in addition to our usual policy and lobbying training.

    • We write our yearly policy handbook to specifically discuss the JEDI implications of policy issues like energy development and protections for the Antiquities Act. For example, irresponsible energy development obviously impacts the environment and threatens climbing opportunities, but in addition, the detrimental health effects of fossil fuel extraction tends to disproportionately impact communities of color. While lobbying, we highlight the JEDI ramifications of public lands policy, in addition to our usual talking points around climbing access.

    • We highlight the intersection of public lands and JEDI issues at the public events that are part of Climb the Hill. For example, in 2019 we hosted a Senate panel on connecting environmental policy with social justice, given to a full house of congressional staff and legislators.

    • Our attendees reflect the full diversity of the nation. Our 2019 advocates included 60 climbers, coming from every region of the country and representing numerous different communities of color, urban and rural communities, the differently abled community, the queer community, several tribal communities, pro climbers, grassroots organizers, policy professionals, businesspeople, and climbers of every discipline.

    • While our 2020 lobby day was dramatically different due to Covid-19, we remained committed to supporting a true diversity of advocates at our virtual event, and also partnered with Brown Girls Climb to put on Policy and Pancakes, a virtual gathering that focused on the intersection of climbing, public lands policy, and JEDI.

  • When we submit public comments and policy recommendations to land managers and policy makers (through the NEPA process, for example), we emphasize the need for management strategies that make communities of color feel welcome and safe on our public lands, in addition to our usual comments on climbing access and environmental protection.

  • Similarly, we have begun to frontload JEDI thinking into all of our work with public land managers—for example, we intentionally reach out to partners from marginalized communities adjacent to forest, park, or BLM lands before planning processes begin, to better coordinate and understand their needs.

  • We led a sign-on letter opposing the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle all JEDI related training and similar efforts in the federal government, which was co-signed by over 50 LCOs and affinity groups.

  • We produced a brief paper on COVID-19’s impacts on climbing, specifically the ways it has exacerbated existing inequities in outdoor access.

  • In 2016, Access Fund created our Native Lands Coordinator position—which Navajo/Diné mountain guide and public lands advocate Aaron Mike currently holds—to foster effective and respectful collaboration between Access Fund and tribes on critical public lands issues.

  • In southeastern Utah in particular, we have worked very closely with, and taken our lead from, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, as we work hand in hand with local tribes to protect the unique landscape, deep cultural significance, and climbing resources of the Bears Ears and Indian Creek region (more information here, here, here, and here). Specifically, we support the Inter-Tribal Coalition in our lawsuit against the drastic reduction of the original Bears Ears National Monument.

  • Similarly, in Arizona we have partnered with the San Carlos Apache tribe and the Yavapai tribe for more than a decade in the ongoing fight to save Oak Flat from destruction.

Programmatic Work

We are committed to integrating JEDI into all Access Fund staff’s day-to-day work. The JEDI Fellow works with staff across the organization to brainstorm strategies and individual projects. Although many of these are still in early stages, many staff have also begun implementing their own ideas. These include:

  • Revising our grant guidelines to include JEDI principles and ask for a higher standard of JEDI engagement from those we fund;

  • Convening a community roundtable on JEDI at the Outdoor Retailer show, to bring together key stakeholders in the JEDI and outdoor communities, share ideas and best practices, and inform Access Fund’s JEDI priorities;

  • Ensuring that speakers at our live and virtual events offer representation for marginalized communities;

  • Partnering with The Howard School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to bring local youth into the process of opening a brand-new climbing area in the city limits, within walking distance of a large and diverse population. More broadly, we are looking for opportunities to protect and open new climbing areas in highly accessible urban areas;

  • Launching a community-based effort to get more women, especially women of color, involved in new route development in Texas;

  • Crafting easements for newly acquired climbing areas that guarantee local tribes the right to access the land for traditional uses;

  • Convening local outdoors groups to brainstorm solutions to JEDI challenges in the Mt. Washington valley of New Hampshire;

  • Including land acknowledgements for the areas displayed on our annual T-shirt;

  • Contracting with artists from marginalized communities to create the imagery we use in member product and marketing;

  • Updating the imagery on the AF website to be more representative of the climbing community (ongoing);

  • Working with our community ambassador program - training ambassadors on JEDI and supporting their own JEDI initiatives;

  • Applying a JEDI lens to our Climbing Advocate Awards and the work we highlight in general. Instead of focusing solely on land acquisitions, stewardship, rebolting, etc., our climbing advocate awards now also recognize people who are leading our community through their JEDI work. Check out our awardees from 2019, as well as this article, for examples.

  • Integrating land acknowledgment into the standard practices of our traveling Conservation Teams.

  • Restructuring our Conservation Team program to create a team with an emphasis on serving communities underrepresented in climbing by partnering with affinity groups and other JEDI partners on stewardship and education projects. In 2022, our Community Connections team partnered with 10 affinity groups and 16 Local Climbing Organizations, including:

    • Southern California Mountaineers Association, Lagartijas Climbing Cru, and Climb the Gap

    • Bay Area Climbers Coalition and ParaCliffHangers

    • Washington Climbers Coalition, Yakima Climbing Community, Bower Climbers Coalition, Color the Crag, and Pride

    • Salt Lake Climbers Alliance, Salt Lake Queer Climbers, and Color the Wasatch

    • Brown Girls Climb and Rocky Mountain Youth Corps

    • Mid Atlantic Climbers Coalition and Escala DC

    • Southeastern Climbers' Coalition, American Alpine Club Atlanta Chapter, Tallulah Adventures, Lookout Mountain Conservancy, and WeClimb

Communications

We intentionally and regularly feature the voices of climbers from the BIPOC, queer, and differently abled communities. The Access Fund communications team has led our efforts on this, working to accurately and respectfully represent the full breadth of the climbing community in our print publications, online content, and social media channels. Check out our Instagram feed for examples.