Happy New Year!

We all need a connection to nature more than ever, particularly our young people. According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 2023, about half of U.S. teens (12-17) are spending 4+ hours daily on screens (excluding school).  This much time on screens is linked to more anxiety/depression, poor sleep, and less physical activity, and is also the cause of massive increases in myopia, with over 50% of people having myopia by 2050. The increased screen time among young people is a crisis – Here at Reno Inspiring Connections Outdoors, we are working hard to change this dynamic and give our youth scenery instead of screens, serenity instead of stress, and adventure instead of anxiety.

In 2025 Reno ICO continued to form partnerships with new groups wanting to get their members outdoors. The interest has overwhelmed us – as we have only 6 trip leaders, and most are already committed to leading trips for their own groups.  

That is why we are so excited about the outcomes from the December 2025 ICO Outdoor Leadership Training Retreat.  We had 19 participants, of which ten have indicated a desire to become Reno ICO trip leaders. We had representatives from five of our partner groups, including three new partners who are planning trips for 2026. 

The final exercise of the Outdoor Leadership Training was to work in groups of three to four and plan a trip utilizing Reno ICO trip planning resources. Here are three of the planned trips which were shared:

• A Point Reyes camping trip for developmentally disabled adults from Tahoe Ability Program
• A Donner Lake snowshoe trip for high school students in the Reno Upward Bound Program who are aspiring to be the first person in their family to go to college.
• A horseback riding trip for Sacramento ICO youth in the foothills of the Sierra.

Under the guidance of our newly certified trip leaders, as well as our experienced trip leaders, we expect that we will have over a dozen trips in 2026.  This issue of the Reno ICO Newsletter is focused on our aspiring trip leaders and our new community partner groups. Let’s all get outdoors and into adventure!  If you would like to jumpstart your or your group's outdoor adventure through ICO, please send me an email at robschamberg@gmail.com.

Rob