Diversifying the Outdoors
The Wander Coalition
SERVICE DESIGN / DESIGN FOR SOCIAL IMPACT
As part of a course, INFO 4420 Human Computer Interaction, three of my classmates and I designed a non-profit service to get more minorities involved in outdoor recreational activities. The outdoors have been our escape over quarantine and we want to spread the message to get everyone to take advantage of their natural surroundings, regardless of their age, race, experience level, and socio-economic background.
Following the Black Lives Matter movement, which gained tremendous momentum over quarantine, we sought to answer the question, how do we make the world a more just and equitable place? In hopes of chipping away at the massive inequities in our society, we designed a nonprofit called the Wander Coalition, which leverages modern technology to raise awareness about the lack of diversity in outdoor recreation, lower the barriers to entry into the outdoor space, and build a more diverse outdoor community.
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Scope:
My Role: Campaign Strategist, Podcast Product Designer, Poster Graphic Designer
Lauren Deschenes: Problem Space Researcher, Poster Graphic Designer
Jessica Lee: Outreach to Local Community Centers, Leveraging Corporate Partnerships
Melissa Pearson: Social Media Strategist & Website Designer
What's the Problem?
LACK OF DIVERSITY IN OUTDOOR RECREATION
Through our research, we found many shocking statistics regarding this exclusion and how it has remained generally stagnant throughout time. Looking at park visitors based on race, we can noticeably see that white non-Hispanic visitors are a much larger demographic attending national parks overall.
Why Does This Problem Exist?
BARRIERS TO INCLUSION
How Might We Mitigate This Problem?
THE WANDER COALITION
To increase diversity in the outdoor recreation space, we need to successfully address all of barriers to entry, which are lack of awareness, education, financial means, and sense of belonging.
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In order to achieve diversity and actual behavioral change, we designed a non-profit that both supports minorities in getting involved, and educates active participants in this space to be more inclusive.
1. Raising Awareness
#WANDERWITHUS CAMPAIGN
We carefully curated posters for different locations to bring awareness to the issue, and bring people together to join the coalition. QR codes can be easily scanned to bring people to our podcast series, educating individuals on systemic racism in the outdoors.
2. Podcast Series
GIVING MINORITY VOICES A PLATFORM TO SHARE THEIR STORIES
By partnering with local podcast networks and existing podcasts on outdoor inequality, users can download podcasts prior to their outdoor experience and listen to them in the outdoors. Education is one of the most important way of combating a systemically ingrained way of thinking.
3. Social Media Strategy
COMMUNITY BUILDING AND EDUCATION THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
Following the Black Lives Matter movement, which was able to get a massive amount of traction through social media, we decided that we wanted to give the Wander With Us campaign a social presence, to bring awareness to the lack of diversity in the outdoors and the barriers to minority inclusion in this space. We chose to make an Instagram page, as an estimated 72% of teenagers use Instagram, making it the best platform for targeting a youth market.
Social media is a valuable tool in bringing attention to our cause, and leveraging this tools gives us the ability to open up a conversation centered around the topic. On our instagram page, we included educational posts about the statistics regarding park recreation diversity. The goal is to create impactful posts of easily digestible content, to grab people's attention and inspire them to learn more by scrolling through our page.
We also hope to bring attention to the issue of microaggressions towards minorities in the outdoor space by education on what a microaggressions is, common ones, and how to alter ones language to be more inclusive.
4. Community Outreach
LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
Southside Community Center (https://sspride.org/) is an organization located in Ithaca, NY that aims to empower and build a community for African Americans in the greater Ithaca area. The community center serves as a vehicle for educational, recreational, social, and political endeavors and offers programs for children, adults, and even pets!
The most notable opportunities include the after school program for children, health pet clinic, black conscious curriculum, and the food pantry.
We believe that partnerships with Wander, such as this one, can further expand the organization's reach and help provide access to the outdoors by providing out global network and tackling barriers to inclusion.
