Ginger Naylor
CEO, Outward Bound USA
The Basics
Company Name: Outward Bound USA
Location: Golden, CO and New York City; and across the US at our 11 network schools operating in the Pacific Northwest, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, the Mid-Atlantic/Chesapeake Bay, Pennsylvania, New York City, Boston, and Maine.
Golden, CO and New York City; and across the US at our 11 network schools operating in the Pacific Northwest, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, the Mid-Atlantic/Chesapeake Bay, Pennsylvania, New York City, Boston, and Maine.
Founded: 1962
Full-Time Employees: OBUSA: 30. And approximately 250 program and admin staff and over 1000 seasonal instructors system-wide at regional schools across the US.
Products: Outdoor Education and Youth Development
Social: Instagram
Claim to Fame: Outward Bound came to the US from the UK - based on the educational philosophy of Kurt Hahn – originally as part of the training program for the first group of US Peace Corps volunteers.
There are approximately 1M Outward Bound alumni across the US.
The Culture
Demographics (optional):
Outward Bound’s people in the US come from all over – educators, youth workers, community activists, guides, nature-lovers, changemakers.
Mission:
Changing Lives Through Challenge and Discovery
Values:
Compassion, Integrity, Excellence, Diversity and Inclusion
Vision:
A More Resilient and Compassionate World
The best thing about working here is:
The community of people who gather and work together committed to spending time in the field and learning with our amazing students.
When we’re not working, we’re:
We’re outdoors, finding adventure with friends and family – and giving back to our communities.
What we’re reading:
Paper maps (!), white water currents, group dynamics, cloud patterns.
What we’re listening to:
Students laughing and learning.
If they made a movie about our workplace, it would be called:
Burned Mac and Cheese in the Rain
Inclusion in the outdoors matters because:
The outdoors is for everyone.
For too long inclusion in the outdoors has been used as coded language for assimilation in the outdoors. Yet the unique and powerful dynamic of nature is deeply connected to all of us and our histories. To perpetuate singular narratives on how to interact with, use, connect to, and experience the outdoors runs counter to what nature is – a system that thrives on diversity.
As a non-profit educational organization, Outward Bound’s goal is to help create meaning for our students that inspires them to be change-makers in their communities – honing their resilience, supporting them as emerging leaders, and helping them tap their inner strengths. To use the outdoors as a classroom requires us to ensure that our time there authentically supports our students’ educational journeys.
As a legacy organization, we must also acknowledge and recognize our role in creating or promoting those previously incomplete narratives and work to dismantle the inequities that have privileged the few over the many. Outward Bound is committed to engaging in the deep work to assess and change our own culture to honor the interrelated connection to nature that we all possess and amplify the voices and experiences of those who have been historically silenced.ng advisory committee to oversee NAI’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Five years down the line, it’s our hope that:
Outward Bound has engaged in the necessary work to embrace equity and inclusion such that our programs are better aligned with and support the needs and values of the communities in which we work.