Expanding Representation in our Trail Organizations and Communities

Thursday, November 3, 2022 8:30–11:30am

 

Instructors

Taishya Adams, Founder and Chief Intersectional Strategist, Mukuyu Collective, LLC | Member Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E

Taishya Adams is a servant leader focused on collective liberation and stewardship through personal transformation, community activation, and multi-systems change. After 25 years in the field of public policy and education, Taishya founded the Mukuyu Collective in 2020. The Collective is a dynamic firm that leverages the reform, reimagine, and recreate spaces for individual and collective liberation of all living beings. Part consulting group, part imaginarium, part innovation lab, we work with our clients, partners, and collaborators to acknowledge historical barriers and contributions, challenges assumptions, and co-create ways of being in environment and education that can balance the needs and wants of humans, other species, and the planet.  Service levers include policy development, equity reviews, organizational rapid RX, school quality reviews, educational program/curriculum design, executive coaching, facilitation, unlikely stakeholder alignment, interagency collaboration, and community activation.

Taishya also serves as a commissioner to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The commission sets regulations and policies for Colorado’s state parks and wildlife programs. Nationally, Taishya serves as the Acting Chair of the NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries Business Advisory Council, the Bridge Project Equitable Hiring Initiative Advisory Council, and as a board member for Black in Marine Science (BIMS). BIMS is an nonprofit organization that seeks to increase racial diversity in marine science through education and policy while also deepening the understanding, connection, and stewardship of the ocean with a focus on marginalized communities.  Locally, Taishya serves on the Boulder Police Oversight Panel. Previously, Taishya served as the National Policy & Education Director and Colorado Network Co-lead for Outdoor Afro – an organization that celebrates and inspires Black American connections to nature and leadership.  As Policy Director, Taishya engaged with our network leaders, network participants, legislators, policymakers, and mission aligned stakeholders on education, health, and environmental policies affecting Black people, Black communities, and the planet.

Prior to Outdoor Afro, Taishya worked at American Institutes for Research as an Equity Specialist, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools as a technical assistance provider, the DC Public Charter School Board as a performance officer, UNA-NCA Global Classrooms as director, and the Children Defense Fund Freedom Schools where her career in educational equity began. Taishya is the founding Board President of New Legacy Charter School, a public charter high school and early learning center in Aurora, Colorado.  Taishya holds a MA in International Education from George Washington University and a BA from Vassar College in Political Science and Film.

 

Hannah MalvinProject Manager, the Bridge Project, Greening Youth Foundation | Hannah Malvin Coaching and Consulting | Founder of Pride Outside
Hannah Malvin is a coach and consultant with more than a decade of experience making work more equitable, effective, and enjoyable. Her work is rooted in equity, peak performance, and positive psychology, the science of wellbeing. She offers staff retreats, trainings, technical assistance, and coaching and has worked with Congressional offices, federal agencies, nonprofits, foundations, and fortune 500 companies.

Hannah is Program Manager for Greening Youth Foundation’s Bridge Program, a public-private partnership and equitable hiring pathway for the environmental sector focused on people of color. Previously, she served as Senior Representative for Partnerships at The Wilderness Society, leading a strategic planning initiative to root relationships in equity by designing new systems of staff learning, knowledge sharing, and coordination. In 2016, she founded Pride Outside, a national organization advancing LGBTQ outdoor inclusion initiatives with Congress, federal agencies, and conservation nonprofits. She was a legislative advisor to Congressman Mike Doyle, covering health, foreign affairs, immigration, and more, and was Staff Director of the Congressional Autism Caucus.Hannah earned a BA in Political Science from Brown University and is certified in coaching and applied positive psychology. She is Vice Chair of the Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards Board of Directors.

Insta: @hmalvs

 

 

Moderator

Teresa Martinez, Executive Director, CDTC; Chair of the Board Next 100 Coalition

 

Panelists

Taishya Adams, Founder and Chief Intersectional Strategist, Mukuyu Collective, LLC | Member Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E

 

Hannah MalvinProject Manager, the Bridge Project, Greening Youth Foundation | Hannah Malvin Coaching and Consulting | Founder of Pride Outside

 

Elizabeth Thomas, PNTS Board Member,  founder Tree Line Review, Long Distance Hiker and Author

Liz Thomas is a professional hiker, speaker, and outdoor writer who held the women’s self supported speed record on the 2,181-mile long Appalachian Trail from 2011-2015. Called a  “thru-hiking legend” by Outside Magazine, Liz has hiked 20+ other long distance trails including  the Triple Crown of Hiking (Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail)  and first known traverses of the Wasatch Range and Chinook Trail.  

Her innovative urban thru-hikes of 14 cities led The Guardian to call her “The Queen of Urban  Hiking.” Liz is a former staff writer for the New York Times/Wirecutter and current Editor-in Chief for the outdoor webmagazine Treeline Review as well as Backpacker Magazine contributing editor and columnist of “Ask a Thru-hiker.” She’s the author of Long Trails:  Mastering the Art of the Thru-hike, which received the National Outdoor Book Award for Best  Instructional book with judges calling it destined to become the “Bible of the Sport.”  

Liz has talked hiking and gear on Good Morning America (TV), in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, The Washington Post, Men’s Journal, Women’s Health, Gizmodo, and Outside Magazine. She represented the sport of hiking at President  Obama’s Great American Outdoors Initiative. Liz’s keynote speaking engagements have  included colleges and universities including Yale and MIT, the Trust for Public Land National Leaders Conference, American Hiking Society, and on Capitol Hill. Learn more at www.eathomas.com or @lizthomashiking. 

 

Jack SotoAmerican Indian College Fund, Senior Program Manager, Career Readiness and Employment | Member Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E.

Jack is Navajo of the Black-Streaked-Wood People (Tsi’naajinii) and Cocopah of the Mountain Lion Clan. He received his M.S. in Organizational Development and B.A. in Political Science in the School of Public Affairs at American University. He served as Director of the Washington Semester American Indian Program – Washington Internships for Native Students at American University in Washington, DC, which was the National Congress of American Indian 2012 Public Leadership award recipient. Currently he works with Tribal Colleges and Universities to support efforts in experiential education and career placement.

His work is focused on organizational cross-cultural competency with his career and academic development being greatly influenced by his time with the National Indian Education Association. He works with various organizations and tribal communities in developing an understanding of effectiveness and efficiency in overall productivity and operations. In that, he now partners with corporations in creating practices that touch on filling the gap of a Native presence in their workforce, which is a prime charge in his current position. Additionally, he works with Tribal Colleges and Universities to develop a more synthesized, culturally-responsive approach to career advising to impact the lives of their students and communities.

 

Ángel Peña, Executive Director Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project and Board Vice Chair Next 100 Coalition | Member Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E

Ángel Peña was born and raised in the Río Bravo valley. He is a first generation American and father of three. Ángel’s education in anthropology and archeology allows him to emphasize and advocate for our nation’s historic, prehistoric and cultural assets, bringing cultural resources to the forefront of conservation. As a Cultural Resources Specialist for New Mexico Wild (2012), Wyss Fellow (2014), & as the Río Bravo Director at the Conservation Lands Foundation (2016), Àngel has had the opportunity to support and lead amazing teams that ultimately secured protections totaling millions of acres across the American Southwest. Currently a  Vice Chair of the Next 100 Coalition National Board, he actively works to identify new ways in which we can increase the diversity and inclusion of the histories, cultures, knowledge and people represented in our public lands and wide open spaces. “As the President of the Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project it’s about empowering the people that have true, authentic and deep-rooted ties to the land. It’s about supporting and empowering those agents of change. That’s how we win.” And, as you will hear from him- “Forward is our battle cry”

A first-generation Mexican American, Ángel is a proud father of three, an avid memory maker with his friends and family, and a public lands and people advocate. Over the last decade, Angel has been part of and led overwhelmingly successful efforts to protect landscapes and places that help capture the full American story. As the Executive Director of the Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project, Ángel works to ensure that Frontera, Borderland, communities, leaders, have access to the political process and our histories are reflected in public land management decisions.

For communities along the border or la frontera, how do relationships with the land mgmt agencies, like the USFS show up for people in the region and how does this create barriers to people from thai region, or how has the experience been for people in the region.

 

Presentation of USFS Equity Action Plan

Shandra L. Terry; USFS National Equity Action Plan Core Team, Equity Specialist, Communication and Engagement, Work Environment and Performance Office

Shandra L. Terry is the former Regional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Engagement Coordinator for the US Forest Service, Oregon, and Washington.  As the recipient of two FS Chief’s Honors awards, Shandra’s recent work was host to a PNW Region “Advancing Racial Equity” cultural education monthly webinar series, “WOKE WEDNESDAYS”, that ran for FS employees and partners from 2020 to April 2022.  In 2020, Shandra and a team of R6 employees began the “Advancing Racial Equity Training Series” that engaged Regional Law Enforcement staff, Regional Leadership Team and R6 employees. Over the span of a robust 32-year FS career, Shandra’s past work with the PNW has had an inclusive focus and passion around “Elevating the USDA Forest Service Shield” to broader audiences; including underserved, multicultural non-English speaking communities, newcomers and to anyone who is unaware that USDA Forest Service lands (resources and services) belong to them.  She believes that bold, courageous, catalytic, and innovative engagement both internally and externally will only lead to more opportunities that helps us reimagine conservation legacy.

For Shandra, brokering strategic partnerships that broadly serve a marginalized demographic is how the US Forest Service begins and sustains building trust and true community. Through organizations like Vive Northwest, which serves about 75k Latinx Communities, Slavic Family Media, which serves approximately 300k Ukrainian and Russian communities, and The Skanner Foundation, which serves 100k African American & African Communities – The Pacific Northwest Region is one of the first regions to sustain progressive partnership engagement with diverse communities.   Shandra believes that high touch authentic community engagement is ‘soul work’, given her Arkansan family roots, lived experience, community service and internal compass that continues to inspire her to lead with heart and mind.  Shandra’s past service includes Type II Public Information Officer in the US fire organization, regional lead for Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), Provincial Advisory Committees (PACs) under the Northwest Forest Plan, Secure Rural Schools Legislation (RACs), Sacred Sites Legislation (Regional Tribal Consultation Coordination), Resource Advisory Committees (RAC), and Youth Engagement Strategy (YES!).  With over 25 years in Portland, Oregon (Office of Communications & Community Engagement), Shandra has also spent a portion of career living and working for the Forest Service as a Public Affairs Specialist/Officer in remote Oregon Communities; where in many instances, she was the only person of color.  Shandra is a graduate of University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Department of Defense Information School in Senior Public Affairs, Ft. Meade, Maryland.  Shandra enjoys traveling, camping, stream jumping, piano, theater, ocean swimming and outdoor concerts with her husband and children – Solomon, a rising High School senior and Brooklyn, a junior attending University of North Carolina.

 

 

 

2022 National Trails Workshop Schedule