Erica Simpson
Manager, Balarat Outdoor Education
The Basics
Company Name: Balarat Outdoor Education
Location: Denver, CO
Founded: 1969
Full-Time Employees: 13
Products: Outdoor Education program
Social: Instagram // Facebook // Youtube
Claim to Fame: A low cost outdoor education program for ALL Denver Public schools students. We serve 10,000 Denver kids annually!
The Culture
Demographics:
54% Latinx, 24.5% White, 13% Black, 3% Asian, 4.5% other/more than two races, 1% American Indian/other
The best thing about working at Balarat is:
Getting to watch the excitement on students’ faces as they experience something for the first time.
When we’re not working, we’re:
Going on hikes, gardening, cooking, reading good books, mountain or road biking, climbing or bouldering, skiing or snowboarding, spending time with friends and family, exploring!
What we’re reading:
The Last Child in the Woods, The New Yorker, The Denver Post, The Game of Thrones or Harry Potter series
What we’re listening to:
Podcasts, local music, spotify playlists, birds, silence.
Inclusion in the outdoors matters because:
the outdoors are for everyone; they are a right, not a privilege. Studies show that contact with nature leads to improved mental health, lower stress levels, and enhanced cognitive skills - and those are things everyone needs.
Five years down the line, it’s our hope that:
More and more kids that we serve see the outdoor industry as a viable career path, regardless of race, class, sexual orientation, and gender.