From the Executive Director
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Dear AORE,
From the Executive Director
June 30th marks the half way point in the 2017 calendar year, and with that the chance to highlight our successes and note our forward progress. AORE Board of Director’s departed from Ann Arbor in early June having completed mid-year meetings. Committee chairs are preparing for our quarter 2 all call this month, and we’ve hosted over 25 bi-monthly committee calls. Team Roanoke, lead fearlessly by Kat and Renee continue to up the ante with conference planning truly shaping a community of adventure. Here are some additional updates:
As we mark the midway for 2017, please check out the 2016 Annual Report that can be found here.
We published the spring issue of Outdoor Insider focused on diversity, equity and inclusion highlighting out Q&A with 2017 Conference Keynote and Outdoor Afro CEO, Rue Mapp. We are also excited to feature James Mills and his work to address the Adventure Gap and The Wilderness Society's updated history of public lands curriculum.
AORE members Lisa Lemler, Liz Rogers, Mia Axon, Amanda Even combined forces to submit AORE’s first women’s focused programmatic grant. While we have not received funding at this time, here is a glimpse of the potential program overview:
The AORE Women’s Leader Mentors Institute (WLMI) will provide an inclusive environment for women to develop outdoor technical and leadership skills, establish mentoring relationships, and increase women’s confidence to pursue leadership positions in the field of outdoor recreation and education.
AORE leadership will identify and pair experienced and novice women outdoor educators, initiating a year-long mentoring partnership. This partnership will encourage women to consider topics that build confidence to pursue participation on committees and boards, to present at annual conferences, or to consider next professional steps in their outdoor leadership career.
AORE committee chairs are currently collaborating and considering ways to increase volunteer engagement and experience. Building off of streamlined operations, chairs are devoting attention to developing an AORE volunteer pipeline.
In our Strategic Plan Mid-Point Survey, members said they are getting adequate communication on AORE programs, services, and operations. I invite you to reach out if you would like to contribute on or become more engaged in any of AORE’s work.
Adventure On,
Jeannette