Building Community: Our Chat with Open Trails Collective

Last month, I had the pleasure of chatting with Kara Lapso, Founder and Executive Director of Open Trail Collective, about Tiny Green Learning, the importance of equity in the outdoors, and about juggling motherhood while running a small nonprofit. Here's a preview of our conversation.

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What do you love most about the outdoors?

What I love most about the outdoors is that nature provides us with so many gifts that are essential to our well-being. Time spent in nature is restorative, it provokes introspection, it also provides opportunities for relaxation, education, or adventure. I love that folks can begin a relationship with nature at any level of comfort and know-how, and find something that is accessible for where they are at that moment.

How does your organization accommodate beginners?

So at Tiny Green Learning, we start with the most beginner of beginners, lol, children ages 0-8 and their families. By centering young children and their families, we're creating low-risk, high reward opportunities to engage in the outdoors, especially for folks who may not spend a lot of time in nature. We also work to remove barriers to access. We host free programs that require no specialized equipment for our participants, and hope to expand and provide more opportunities for children with disabilities. We also hope to host a gear library so that folks with less experience aren't deterred by the high costs of outdoor gear.

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Read the full interview here: Interview with Open Trail Collective