The SheJumps Youth Initiatives program supports a national effort to increase outdoor exploration among America’s youth.
Salt Lake City, UTAH—As part of the $250,000 Explore Fund, The North Face has awarded a $5,000 Explore Fund Grant to SheJumps to be utilized in supporting their Youth Initiatives programming. The Explore Fund’s mission is to inspire and enable the next generation of explorers by funding non-profit organizations that are working to connect children with nature. By encouraging an active, healthy lifestyle, and protection of our natural landscapes, a stronger connection of youth to the outdoors can be nurtured. SheJumps not only shares this ambition, but orchestrates youth-specific programming aimed at developing outdoor skills and making active lifestyles inspiring and more accessible. SheJumps was selected as a grant recipient from this year’s 350+ applicants because of their inspiring commitment to increase the participation of females in outdoor activities.
“To be selected for this grant from the North Face is incredibly inspiring to our organization. It means a lot to be recognized amongst a sea of extraordinary applicants for our commitment to bring the outdoors to the youth.” –Claire Smallwood, Executive Director, SheJumps.
SheJumps’ Youth Initiatives programming —introduced into the SheJumps mix in 2009— has exposed over 500 children to sports like skiing, climbing, stand-up paddleboarding, and fishing. “We often work with local youth organizations to build upon their existing structure by facilitating access to outdoor recreational opportunities in their region. We try to act as a bridge: connecting smoothly functioning youth organizations with the venues, equipment, safety and instructional tools. It means a lot to the youths who participate in the events to see adult volunteers and chaperones participate alongside them, modeling that you’re never too old to learn something new.”
All of The North Face Explore Fund recipients were chosen based on their commitment to one of three different focus areas: creating more connections of youth to nature and providing inspiration to explore, increasing access to close to home front-and-backcountry recreation opportunities, and engaging a new and diverse audience with the outdoors. For more information on this cycle’s grantees, please visit www.explorefund.org.
Vote for 2014 Top 10 Explore Fund Grantees on The North Face Facebook page.
Since The Explore Fund was initiated in 2010, The North Face has provided more than $1 Million in grants to non-profits all over the world working to connect youth to the outdoors with more than three quarters of that going to programs in the United States.
About The North Face® The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor, Inc., was founded in 1966. Headquartered in Alameda, California, the company offers the most technically advanced products in the market to accomplished climbers, mountaineers, snowsport athletes, endurance athletes, and explorers. The company’s products are sold in specialty mountaineering, backpacking, running, and snowsport retailers, premium-sporting goods retailers and major outdoor specialty retail chains.