We work with underserved youth in the outdoors - teaching youth living in poverty, who have experienced truama, with disabilities, and more - survival skills, how to rock climb and paddle, team build and more. This summer we are hoping to take these youth on their first overnight adventure! We want to take youth who have been experiencing homelessness on an overnight that includes a day of paddling and a day of rock climbing. We will partner with Urban Peak, another Denver-based nonprofit that works with youth who are experiencing homelessness or have experienced homeless.

We transport the students in our 14-passenger bus to private land in Bailey, Colorado that we have a partnership with. Here, we will spend 2 nights. The first night we will set up camp, learning how to pitch tents, work camp stoves, filter water, and properly store food. The next day, we will spend paddling at a local reservoir. The students can choose from canoes or kayaks, learn various paddle strokes, parts of boats, and get to go paddling (often for their first time). The third day, we will go rock climbing at a local crag. Students will learn about climbing equipment, how to tie a figure 8 knot, and climbing techniques, and then go climbing. We will return to Denver that evening.

Through this overnight, our students will get to try new activities as well as gain social-emotional skills such as communication, self-efficacy, and confidence that will help them navigate daily life. They will learn how to communicate with others get better at naming emotions as they experience new activities and new places. We hope that this overnight is both a fun and action-filled experience as well as a way for students to grow and be able to better navigate life.