NYSOEA’s Equity, Access & Inclusion (EAI) Committee is committed to providing educational programming for the NYSOEA membership with the mission to increase diversity, accessibility, equity and inclusion in the field of environmental education. 
​This committee finds ways to increase equity, access, and inclusivity of the NYSOEA membership by identifying avenues to bring greater diversity to NYSOEA through speakers, workshops, and collaborating with organizations that promote the outdoors to diverse audiences. They also oversee the Brother Yusuf Campership Scholarship program.

Committee Goals:
  • Provide resources and training to better equip educators to lead inclusive environmental education programs.
  • Build infrastructure through NYSOEA to recruit, accommodate, and develop diverse young professionals within the environmental field.
  • Develop a network of environmental educators to share best practices around increasing equity, access, and inclusion within the field.
  • Set measurable and achievable outcomes for each of the above goals, both qualitative and quantitative, (e.g., number of young professionals, number of events, number of organizations we partner with), to develop a network.

The EAI committee meets bi-weekly via Zoom Monday evenings
​All are WELCOME
eaicommittee@nysoea.org ​​

​Many thanks to the dedication and on-going work of our core EAI Committee Members: Candyce Johnson, Christina Tobitsch (Metro Region Rep), Eli Caref, Jonathan Billig, Katie Schnepp (co-chair), MaryLynne Malone (co-chair), Pammi Price, Rachel Jones, and Shinara Sunderlal (Metro Region Rep).
Year in Review:
2021 accomplishments: 
  • In January and February,  a two-part Book Club to discuss The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World
  • February - “Re-Frame the Narrative”, a virtual interview with Priya Parrotta, founder of Music & The Earth International, featuring original music compositions and a discussion about enhancing EE with music through a global social justice lens
  • Three more events this year in May, September, and during NYSOEA’s annual conference in November
2020 accomplishments: 
  • June - Zoom call for general NYSOEA membership - attended by 53 members- discussing best practices around creating equitable, digital EE programming with your organizations
  • Highlighted 7 ways that we can educate and advocate for environmental justice, through an original infographic 
  • Conducted a poll with NYSOEA members, learning that many of you wanted to learn about specific environmental education programs with effective inclusion practices
  •  September - virtual speaker panel discussing Allyship & Partnership with Katina Grays, Outdoor Afro; Susan Hereth, Kingston YMCA Farm Project; and, Taylor Morton, WE ACT for Environmental Justice. 
  • November - ( part of the 2020 Annual Conference)
    • “Inclusion and Access Workshop: Trauma Informed Approaches in Outdoor Education”, facilitated by Simone Gamble and Tom Mackey. 
    • Speaker panel “Making Our Programs Inclusive: What does inclusion really look like?” included Geovani Caldera, Solar One and CLEA co-founder, and  Nicole Jackson, National Parks Conservation Association.
Resources
Books
  • White Fragility: Why It’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by: Robin DiAngelo
  • For White Folks who Teach in the Hood, by: Christopher Emdin
  • Additional Resource: Reality Pedagogy by Christopher Emdin VIDEO HERE 
  • The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature, by: J. Drew Lanham
  • Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Landscape, by: Lauret Savoy
  • Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, by: Zaretta Hammond
  • Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors, by: Carolyn Finney
  • Racism without Racists, by: Eduardo Bonilla-Silva​
Organizations: to learn from & connect with
Podcast Episodes
Code Switch - This podcast is produced by NPR and explores current topics in the news through the lens of systemic racism, housing segregation, and ethnicity. 
  • “Made for You and Me” - an episode that deals with the lack of diversity in the outdoor recreation and organizations that are working to facilitate outdoor experiences for a wider range of Americans. 
  • “It’s Getting (Dangerously) Hot in Here” - this episode examines the disproportionate affects of climate change on communities of color. Hurricane Katrina and extreme heat waves are both discussed through interviews with people who have experienced climate change-related events. 

Articles
Facebook Groups
YouTube Videos Curricula
​Additional Resources from this Conference: 
Resources on the harmfulness of “color-blind” attitudes towards race and how we might move beyond them: