This special episode of She Explorers is made in partnership with Sierra Designs.

Since 1965, Sierra Designs has pledged to create beautiful, functional, and attainable

gear for adventures of all backgrounds, experience levels, and budgets.

For the second year in a row, Sierra Designs is giving back through their initiative, Reach

Out by donating 1% of its web sales with the goal of making the outdoors more

attainable for more people. To reach out, they're partnering with four outdoor

organizations that help address barriers to the outdoors.

And on this special episode, you'll get to hear from leaders and representatives

from each of these special organizations.

Learn more at Sierra Designs.com slash Reach-Out.

I'm Gail Straub and you're listening to She Explorers.

Most people would say that the outdoors are for everyone, that parks and public land should be accessible to all, and that everyone deserves to safely enjoy time in nature.

But as we've talked about in many past

episodes of She Explorers, it's just not that simple. There are a lot of barriers

that keep people away from enjoying the benefits of the outdoors. These barriers include lack of

funds, gear, knowledge, or transportation. They include barriers that have been

reinforced by discrimination, racism, and histories of oppression. There are also those barriers of

feeling like you don't belong because you don't see anyone like you outside

doing the activity you're interested in. Whether that be because you are a black or indigenous person, a person of color,

someone who is LGBTQ plus, a disabled person, or a parent in a lower income family.

As you heard at the top of the episode, as part of their Reach Out Initiative, Sarah designs is supporting for organizations that are on the

ground and actively working to help remove some of these barriers.

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