National Geographic Showcases the Importance of NPF’s Support for LGBTQ+ Service Corps Crews
NPF President and CEO Will Shafroth and several NPF partners were interviewed for a National Geographic feature story about making the outdoors more welcoming to all, with a specific focus on LGBTQ+ communities. Read an excerpt from the article, “How LGBTQ youth are building community through conservation work. These queer-identified organizations are making the great outdoors more welcoming to all,” below.
“Grants and funding over the past few years from the National Park Foundation have helped the program grow; the foundation invested more than $4.5 million in conservation corps across the country in 2021. Northwest Youth Corps now offers two separate LGBTQ inclusion crews for youth aged 15 to 19, as well as an eight-week crew for LGBTQ young adults 19 to 25. The various crews have since worked in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Olympic National Park, and other national parks across the Pacific Northwest.
Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation, believes more LGBTQ corps and other affinity crews will begin to form in the coming years due to a demand for the programs and the need for conservation work in the nation’s public lands.”