Our current focus:
It is time for us to do the required work of long-overdue societal change. This means working harder and being better. We must open our ears and take down the walls barring those specifically and systematically kept out of power, out of the conversation, and without the access which privilege so easily takes for granted. It also means making this commitment a part of how we exist in the world and how we do business–every day. Below are resources we're sharing and actions we're taking within our organization to grow and to change the world in which we take space.
We are not interested in extending access to historically exclusive information, events, gear, etc.. We want to work with anyone who is interested in collaborating and working together to build a better fitness and adventure industry and culture.
If you're interested, have a great idea that you want to see become reality, or just generally want to be a part of change, please contact us.
Below is a list of good reads–some we've read and others that have been recommended to us. This is an on-going, work-in-progress so please reach out at any time and let us know if you have suggestions of other links to share, updates, issues we should be aware of, etc. Thank you!
Listen:
Articles:
A boot is crushing the neck of American democracy by Cornell West
Ahmaud Arbery: The Continued and Condoned Lynching of Black America by Faith Briggs
Ahmaud Arbery and Whiteness in the Running World by Alison Desir
Of Course There Are Protests. The State Is Failing Black People by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
This Is How Loved Ones Want Us To Remember George Floyd by Alisha Ebrahimji
The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates for The Atlantic
How to Make This Moment the Turning Point for Real Change by Barack Obama
Books:
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature by Jacqueline Goldsby
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino
Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children In A Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey
Within our organization:
We're working on new Fitness and Adventure content that will include general fitness, endurance running, skills, and adventure planning programs and activities. It's very important to us that this content is representational of all ability levels, socio-economic standing, and a range of voices not typically heard from within the fitness and adventure world. As we generate this content we'll contract and consult with coaches, writers and photographers from diverse backgrounds and skill sets.
We've been very fortunate over the years to have wonderful clients of our personal coaching services. As we grow those services, we will be working harder to include everyone in a vibrant and diverse Wolfpack coached by a vibrant and diverse team.
Within our community:
Our Circle Community is where our people get together, ask questions, get inspired, and share their stories. It's important for all of our members to feel safe and well-represented in the public spaces within the community. We will be working hard to make sure our community moderation and leadership is available and open to anyone who wants to lead.
Through our RUN TRG partnership, we’ve created a “safe space” within our community site for those Wolfpack members that are in recovery from addiction. We will be expanding this concept to create additional “safe” spaces for others in our community to feel confident in shared culture and to talk about shared experiences–often painful and disempowering–in fitness and adventure culture.
Within our Get After It PDX podcast:
The following is a collection of the BIPOC voices and stories that can be found within Get After It PDX.
Listen and follow:
In consideration and up next:
"Regenerative". Sometimes it feels like the buzzword of the day—but to us it means a great deal. Can we look at everything we do and everything we touch and work to remove the "take", the "extraction", the "get more"? Can we work with our customers and our community to create and give back?
We want to work hard to be the best organization of people that we can possibly be. To do that we need to be transparent, inclusive, diverse & equitable within our work and with our customers, communities & partners.
We're working on a Transparency Roadmap that will make visible our efforts and invite your contributions to add, improve upon, and in some cases, get rid of things within our business and our community. Until that's ready, if there's something about our community that's on your mind or if you need help with something, please let contact us and let us know.
