Grassroots Advocacy & Organizing
Growing a movement of climbing advocates.
When a climbing area in your backyard is threatened, who will be there to help? The first and best line of defense is almost always the local climbers who are familiar with the area and the issues. That’s why a critical piece of Access Fund’s work is organizing and empowering local climbers to join together into local climbing organizations.
Indian Rock, California. Ancestral lands of Ohlone, Miwok, Muwekma, and Confederated Villages of Lisjan. © M. Calabres
Today, Access Fund works with more than 145 local climbing advocacy organizations across the country. We provide grants, loans, training, advocacy tools, and direct access to staff expertise to ensure that when there’s an access or conservation threat in your backyard, there’s a qualified group of advocates there to help. Find your local climbing organization and get connected.
How We Make a Difference
Each local climbing organization adds to the strength and voice of our climbing community. They are also the boots on the ground to tackle local access issues, steward their climbing areas, build relationships with landowners and managers, and educate and inspire their local climbing community.
Access Fund supports these local groups with:
Grants for start-up expenses, stewardship work, climber education, research, and more. Read our full grants history.
On-demand assistance with local access issues and land manager negotiations.
Consulting on political, legal, and regulatory issues with federal, state, and local entities.
Loans to quickly buy climbing areas when there is an imminent threat.
Best in class advocacy tools to help make local climbers voices’ heard
Education conferences that convene the climbing advocacy community to learn from each other and increase effectiveness.
Conservation Team visits to help mitigate climber impacts and collaborate on strategies for more sustainable climbing areas.
For more information, contact localsupport@accessfund.org.
