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Martin LeBlanc
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Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Building Bridges to the Outdoors Team
Nov 9, 2006
Seattle, WA
Election season is over and I am happy to get back to the buisness of connecting kids with the outdoors. After a month of traveling around America and meeting with folks all around the country my faith has been restored that we are a country of passionate people who care about their community and want every child to have a chance to succeed. I hope with a new direction in Congress we can can get more federal funding to get children outdoors.
Building Bridges to the Outdoors is coming up on its one year anniversary and after being a one person show for the first few months I am proud to have our team in place. We have three full time staff members a lead volunteer coordinator and a youth volunteer coordinator. I would like to introduce all of them to you. Our California Rep is Amit Rana is a proud graduate of the University of Michigan and has experience working with at-risk youth in Ann Arbor, Michigan as well as campaign experience with the Democratic National Committiee. In his few months on board the BBTO team, Amit has shown great ability to organize events as well as a passion towards working with youth. He was instrumental in setting up our Environmental Leadership Training and is working in California towards getting dedicated funding for outdoor programs in California. Britt Glass our BBTO administrator who joined us at the start of October is a recent University of Washington graduate who also has experience working with at-risk youth as a mentor. Britt brings great organizational expertise as well as enthusiasm for our mission. It doesn't hurt that she is Liverpool football supporter. Our newest BBTO team member is New Mexico BBTO Rep Michael Casuas. Michael a native of Silver City, New Mexico and a graduate of New Mexico State University and is working towards his PHD in Plant Biology from Cornell University. Michael has vast experience in grassroots organizing and working on issues in the Latino Community. Michael is focusing his efforts towards putting together a diverse coalition in New Mexico around the issue of getting at-risk children outdoors. My staff has brought new energy and ideas to the BBTO program and we are ready to hit the ground running in 2007.
The Sierra Club is led by volunteers and the BBTO volunteer team is our heart and soul. Bill Vanderberg our BBTO Volunteer Coordinator is as dedicated to getting children outdoors as anyone I have ever come accross. As Dean of Students at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles by 10am Bill has usually broken up two fights helped a homeless young person find a safe place to stay for the upcoming night and makes sure everyone is in a classroom. Somehow he finds the energy to be head of the Crenshaw High Eco Club which is now the largest after-school program at Crenshaw with over a hundred members. Bill recently put together the second annual Crenshaw Survivor Challenge which gave seventy young people their first night under the stars at Ken Hahn State Recreation Area. I am honored to have Bill involved in BBTO and am proud to have him as a friend.
One member of our team defines us. Juan Martinez our Youth Volunteer Coordinator is our heart and soul. A former at-risk youth from Los Angeles who had his life turned around through an outdoor experience when he was 15. After that experience at Teton Science School, Juan became a poster boy for the positive effects an outdoor experience can have on youth. Juan has now made the transition from the face to an on the ground activist working for the grassroots organization ACORN on affordable housing issues in his hometwon of LA. Juan has shown excellent leadership in engaging young diverse people on environmental issues. He is now an executive committiee member of the Sierra Student Coalition. Juan was recently on Air America's EcoTalk and here is a link to the interview http://www.airamerica.com/ecotalk/node/283
We have quite a team and are gathering momentum as we move forward into 2007. I will make sure to post a blog by the end of the year listing our achievments.
Cheers-Martin
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