Grass roots projects around Europe are set to deliver thousands of days of outdoor activities after securing support from the It’s Great Out There Coalition. In the latest round of #itsgreatoutthere grants, seven non-profit initiatives will receive between €1,000 and €5,000, which will help them to deliver over 2,000 ‘Outdoor Activity Days’ (OAD) in a natural environment, bringing together physical activity, inclusion and nature conservation. Thanks to the grants, projects in France, Finland and the UK will now be able to give many young people new experiences in the outdoors, safely and responsibly.

Following a thorough application process, the seven projects that have been awarded grants of between €1,000 and €5,000 are:

Outdoor Days for Women Beginners (Taivasalla Outdoor Club, Finland)

“Our wish is to organise an outdoor day event for 10-15 women, who describe themselves as novice outdoor people with a strong motivation to learn more about the local outdoor practices, activities and  empower themselves in nature. Selected women may be women from lower social groups, single-parents, from ethnically diverse groups, the unemployed etc. The programme  will include an easy outdoor skillset workshop, short hike, and time to get to know each other in nature.”

True Nature Project (AKA – Health, Wealth and Oneness CIC, in partnership with Equip Outdoors, UK)

"We will lead inner city young people and adults who do not normally access the outdoors, on hikes and adventurous activities in the Peak District National Park. Participants will be those who do not feel confident, competent, or welcome in outdoor spaces; or simply lack the travel or clothing resources sometimes necessary to be comfortable and safe. Unawareness of what is accessible and the many benefits being outdoors provides for physical, mental and emotional well-being can also create a lack of interest, and motivation to visit. The project is supported by the Peak District National Park Authority, which would like to see more people from deprived inner city and Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds accessing the National Park."

Outdoors to Share (Outdoor People non-profit, UK)‍

“Outdoors to Share supports disadvantaged families in Hackney, London, to help each other to get outdoors regularly – to play, walk and camp. The grant will help fund six supported walks and two overnight camps for eight families, plus social gatherings to reinforce the message that getting outdoors every day is important.”

Girls Count! Adventures (BLAST Fest Ltd, non-profit, UK)

‍“BLAST Fest is a pop-up festival and community engagement platform that fuses the creative power of science with Black arts and culture, to catalyse change. We ‘pop-up’ at Caribbean carnivals, museums, community venues and other cultural events to engage the public with science and technology in culturally responsive ways. This project will provide an outdoor adventure for Black mothers and daughters, aimed at building mathematical identities of Black working class girls through mother/daughter engagement, mobility and discovery of science and technology. The project will build relationships, confidence and mathematics, storytelling and media literacy through small citizen-science type activities focused on the environment and the outdoor world.”

Minds Matter (Young Gloucestershire, registered charity, UK)‍

“Our experience pre and during COVID, has told us that deprived young people are more vulnerable to developing poor mental-health and we regularly see first-hand, young people who are ‘not fit for work’ through  a toxic combination of shockingly poor physical and mental-health. As restrictions ease, the project will aim to work with individuals, or very small groups, to support young people into outdoor activity while simultaneously addressing mental and emotional needs through a combination of specialist counselling and therapeutic intervention.”

Family in the Mountains (En Passant par la Montagne non-profit, in partnership with Mammut, France)‍

“Many families in the Chamonix Mont-Blanc Valley have no access to mountain trails or ski slopes. Cultural brakes and sociological and economic barriers prevent parents and their children from practicing outdoor activities together and thus discover their benefits. ‘Family in the Mountains’ aims to enable vulnerable families living in the territory of the Chamonix Mont-Blanc Valley to take        part in sports activities for a social and territorial inclusion. We will organise a cycle of daily activities combined with a weekend in the mountains which will have been built with the families. By practicing mountain trekking and other outdoor activities, we aim for families to re- appropriate the mountain space, to appreciate sharing activities within the family, and to optimise their environmental education.”

IGOT Outdoor with Ternua by CREPS (CREPS Auvergne Rhône Alpes Vallon Pont d'Arc Lyon Voiron, in partnership with Ternua, France)

‍"The objective of this action is to make outdoor activities accessible to young people, who are far from the practice, who are excluded from the school system, and who are facing obstacles in their search for a job. In fact, with these citizens, we will be making the links evident between the skills developed in outdoor sports activities and the professional world: effort, surpassing one’s self, risk-taking...And we will also confront them with values such as helping each other, solidarity, respecting nature, engagement. We will immerse them in the heart of nature, with three days of outdoor activities in Gorges du Verdon.”

The It’s Great Out There Coalition focuses its work on delivering Outdoor Activity Days (OAD), each of which is an active day in nature, in line with minimum criteria and aligned to the latest World Health Organization guidelines that recommend at least 150 minutes of physical activity every week. Thanks to the introduction of OAD, the coalition can demonstrate the impact of every donation that supports its work to get Europe more active in the outdoors. During each round of #itsgreatoutoutthere grants, applications are assessed against key criteria and for the first time this year, coalition members were able to vote for their favoured projects.

You can read more about the #itsgreatoutthere grants programme HERE.

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