AORE Diversity & Inclusion Committee Update
Mackenzie Brady
Assistant Director of Campus Recreation — Outdoor Recreation, College of William and Mary
AORE Board of Directors
Hello folks! The Diversity & Inclusion Task Force started off with a bang this year! Created from needs heard by the
membership, this Task Force is headed up by Ashley Gray (Outward Bound) and includes another 22 individuals across
a wide range of institutions and organizations. These individuals are fully committed to creating and maintaining the
culture of diversity and inclusion within the outdoor field, and more specifically, within AORE.
The Task Force has divided itself into multiple work groups: 1) Increasing Visibility and Writing a Diversity Statement, 2)
Industry Trends and Assessment, 3) Outreach, and 4) Training.
The “Diversity Statement” group has done a brilliant job of creating what we hope to be AORE’s first diversity and
inclusion statement. We are working with the Executive Director, Jeannette Stawski, to finalize this and gain
approval from the Board of Directors.
The “Industry Trends and Assessment” group has been working hard to collect examples of other organizations
who are tracking diversity data of membership to see how AORE can best do this tracking as well. They have
also taken this knowledge and started working on how to appropriately and most inclusively collect data from
the membership and greater outdoor industry. Some facets of identity are more sensitive than others to selfdisclose, so this group is doing a fantastic job of putting together an assessment that will value, celebrate, and
be intentionally inviting of individuals across a wide spectrum of identities. Stay tuned for this to come your
way in the Fall!
“Outreach” has a plan to start reaching out to institutions and programs that serve historically underrepresented
populations to encourage them to attend the National Conference in Atlanta in November. We hope to be able
to help other individuals see the benefit in attending the conference and being involved with the organization
as a whole!
“Training” is setting AORE’s Board of Directors up for success by working with Rosemary Linares, Program Associate
and Training Specialist at the NEW Center in Ann Arbor, to have training during the Board’s Mid-Year Meeting
in June. This work group is setting up a diversity training to be offered to the wider membership at the
conference in Atlanta.
As you can see, the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force has made quite a bit of headway into this topic in order to help
benefit the outdoor industry. Our hope is for AORE to be the forerunner in the outdoor industry with regards to this
sometimes very sensitive aspect. Keep looking for more info about this Task Force; they’re doing great things!
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