We are proud to introduce the newest grantee partners of the Liberated Paths grantmaking program in the California Coast!
In 2024, through the support of the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) and the California State Coastal Conservancy (SCC), we awarded 28 new grantee partners along the California Coast. Our ability to implement the bold vision of Liberated Paths is made possible by our community. Justice Outside continues to be humbled by your support, your commitment to advancing racial justice in the outdoor and environmental movement, and your trust in our vision for a just and joyful world.
Alliance for Felix Cove
The Alliance for Felix Cove works to protect, restore, and rematriate the ancestral Támal-ko homelands of the Felix Family at Point Reyes National Seashore. We are an Indigenous, women-led sustainer of the Támal-ko/Coast Miwok Felix Family history and land through the rematriation of the Felix family home and cove.
Click here to learn more about the Alliance for Felix Cove on their website and follow them on Instagram, X, and LinkedIn.
Art and Wildernenss Institute Community
The Art and Wilderness Community (AWI Community) fosters a deeper connection with nature by encouraging outdoor exploration, protecting natural systems, applying global wisdom, and regenerating a beautiful abundance from existing resources. We are dedicated to supporting initiatives that inspire individuals to explore and appreciate the natural world, while also empowering them to take actions towards preservation.
Click here to learn more about the Art and Wilderness Community on their website.
Auguste Research Group
The Auguste Research Group continues to work with young adults from Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities in the North San Diego county area who are passionate about being outdoors and who are interested in a technology-based career. The program provides training toward a career in ocean-based drone piloting and data science. The project is led by Dr. Auguste, a Black engineer and data scientist, who sees the potential in analytics data that drone sensors and cameras collect from the ocean in terms of strong businesses that benefit the ocean ecosystems. Dr. Auguste emphasizes that engineers create sensors based on their lived experiences and this program would provide a prime opportunity for knowledge and practices from Black, Indigenous and People of Color epistemologies to become front and center in the future of sensor data and the ocean.
Learn more about the Auguste Research Group here.
Black Girl Blue Heart
Black Girl Blue Heart will offer BIPOC folks constrained by limited access to the CA Coast scuba diving lessons paired with ocean conservation principles in hopes of creating a fleet of community marine researchers and advocates. Many people in inland communities don’t have an intimate relationship with the ocean and through Black Girl Blue Heart, they have the opportunity to foster love and care for our marine ecologies.
Learn more about Black Girl Blue Heart here and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Black Image Center
Black Image Center works with emerging, young, Black, image makers in the greater Los Angeles area. Their programming addresses the needs of members of our community who are passionate about the intersection between nature/outdoor photography, and environmental activism. To specifically address the historic exclusion of Black communities from coastal spaces in the LA area, Black Image Center will build a cohort of “climate communicators” or people who use various methods to invite the larger public to engage in conversations about climate change. This program will provide access to quality equipment and training that will elevate our participants’ ability to create nature-centric images of the coastline and ocean, so that they can effectively use photography as a medium for climate communication.
Click here to learn more about the Black Image Center on their website and follow them on Instagram.
Black In Marine Science
BIMS Week 2024, hosted by Black in Marine Science, is an empowering celebration dedicated to amplifying the voices of Black marine scientists worldwide. This annual event features a dynamic lineup of virtual and in-person activities, including research presentations, professional development workshops, and community-building events. BIMS Week not only showcases groundbreaking marine science but also fosters a supportive network that emphasizes the importance of diversity, inclusion, and joy in the field. Join us for a week of learning, connection, and inspiration as we continue to break barriers and create a more inclusive future in marine science.
Learn more about Black in Marine Science here and follow them on Instagram and X.
Black Star Polo
Black Star Polo is committed to providing Aquatic Opportunities to African & African-American Communities. Our mission, vision & values are rooted in ending generational trauma with Aquatic Spaces in our Communities, & to provide equitable solutions for more diversity & inclusion in our Water Spaces.
Learn more about Black Star Polo on their website here and Instagram.
Black Surf Santa Cruz
Black Surf Santa Cruz (BSSC) is dedicated to creating intentional, inclusive, and supportive environments for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) within ocean and outdoor recreation spaces. Our mission is to promote physical, spiritual, emotional, and communal healing through surfing, education, and recreation. We center Black community members and other historically and presently excluded people of color in our programming, adhering to the guiding principle of “Let’s learn and play together.” This principle invites the entire Santa Cruz County community to join us in increasing access and creating anti-racist surf, ocean recreation, and marine sustainability spaces.
Learn more about Black Surf Santa Cruz’s work on their website here and follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Black Tech Link
Black Tech Link (BTL) supports Black and other underrepresented college students pursuing STEM majors. Through our Pipeline Initiative we specifically support college students by providing mentorship, career resources, real world learning experiences, and access to internship and employment opportunities. A key program through our pipeline initiative includes our BIPOC Coastal Research & Study Abroad Program where college students are provided a unique learning opportunity to explore coastal habitats. Many students often express a strong desire to actively engage with the outdoors, the environment, and the ocean/coast specifically. Many are passionate about studying the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and are eager to participate in structured ocean excursions and field research opportunities. Through an immersive 32-week research intensive and enrichment program students will grow their knowledge of how to maintain healthy coastal communities.
Follow Black Tech Link on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and Instagram and learn more about their work on their website here.
Brothers on the Rise
Brothers on the Rise equips agents of change with tools & resources to transform communities through responsible manhood development & strategic initiatives. Centered around field trips, this upcoming programming, Coastal Brothers, will help low-income urban boys and young men of color (BYMOC) to feel a greater connection to their natural environment. Participants will engage in multiple field trips designed to be culturally affirming (even bi-lingual, where appropriate) and meaningful. Coastal Brothers will offer safe, joyful, and healing day trips and overnight experiences on the coast for Individual-level impact. Brothers on the Rise has witnessed long-term health outcomes, reduced susceptibility to gang influence, and improved academic achievement among participants.
Click here to learn more about Brothers on the Rise on their website and follow them on Facebook.
Coastal Defenders
Coastal Defenders is a climate, social + restorative justice non-profit organization dedicated to creating equitable pathways in land + water guardianship, aquatics + STEAM. The Coastal Defenders Equitable Pathway Indigenous Leadership Youth + Young Adults (ILY) supports the reclamation of intergenerational Indigenous land + water stewardship birthrights by fostering re-connection to coastal spaces and providing research and leadership opportunities.
Click here to learn more about Coastal Defenders on their website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
Daybreak Beach Club
Daybreak Beach Club is a San Diego-based startup that brings together the healing power of the ocean with the principles of yoga, surf therapy, and environmental stewardship. Grounded in scientifically-backed practices, Daybreak runs programs for children and adults that focus on both healing and enjoyment. By blending emotional well-being, ocean play, and civic science education, Daybreak empowers individuals from all backgrounds, with an emphasis on empowering communities of color, to reconnect with the natural world and heal through the process, ensuring everyone has access to these deeply restorative spaces.
Click here to learn more about Daybreak Beach Club on their website and follow them on Instagram and LinkedIn.
DiverSeaFy
DiverSeaFy was founded on the idea that if people from different backgrounds had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the underwater world, they would experience an ideological transformation with a heightened awareness and responsibility for conservation. A transformation that benefits the planet and enhances the lives of those working to protect it. DiverSeaFy offers scuba certification and ocean conservation courses to high school students of color and folks that are recently out of high school.
Learn more about DiverSeaFy here.
Earth Equity
Earth Equity’s current project “Kelp Restoration from the Inside Out (KRIO)” engages Abolition Ecologies to facilitate mutually restorative relationships between system-impacted people and kelp forests in Northern California. (This critical connection between our work and Abolition Ecology emerged as a direct result of the mentorship and guidance of scholar-activist Dr. Renée Byrd). Prisons are front-line sites of Environmental Racism, extractivism, and colonization. Kelp is a powerful alchemist of carbon and pollutants, a healing food tied to Indigenous Sovereignty, a community builder, and a friend in need. System-impacted Environmental Justice activists, researchers, and educators are collaborating with kelp to interrupt cycles of violence and enact a thriving world. KRIO uplifts and strengthens mutual healing between resilient ecosystems and brilliant people by: Providing high quality Environmental Justice education Investing in researchers, organizers, and educators who have experienced incarceration Developing relationships with community partners in cooperative development, aquaculture, restoration work, and BIPOC food sovereignty Co-creating intentional, humanized spaces for connection with the Land/Sea.
Enriching STEM Society
Enriching STEM Society is a professional society that provides young BIPOC students with a shining example of the possibilities available in the environmental sciences. By connecting youth directly to STEM professionals, educators and organizers and outdoor education, Enriching STEM Society seeks to widen the future available for California’s Black, Brown and Indigenous youth.
Indigenous Women Hike
IWH primarily engages with Native women and femmes in all age ranges. Events include birding hikes, backpacking, hikes, and flyfishing. This programming seeks to strengthen participants’ connection to their ancestral lands beyond the reservation boundaries. Through their annual backpacking journey and fly fishing retreats women gain sisterhood, knowledge, empowerment, and an opportunity to have access to outdoor activities often for the first time. IWH offers workshops that provide the knowledge, confidence, and outdoor gear that ensure safety and access while connecting to ancestral lands and waters.
Click here to learn more about Indigenous Women Hike on their website and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
Insight Garden Program
Founded in 2002, Insight Garden is led by previously incarcerated individuals and those most impacted by the collateral damage of incarceration. Grounded in the belief that access to nature is a human right, we empower people in prison to become food justice leaders, environmental stewards, urban gardeners, and restorative justice reform advocates both within prison and in the communities to which they return. We work with over 400 incarcerated participants in 9 prisons throughout California while ensuring continuity of care upon release by serving over 200 previously incarcerated participants in their journey to reentry across 14 counties.
Learn more about Insight Garden Program here and follow them on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
Intrsxtn Surf
Intrsxtn Surf (IXS) encourages women of color to explore the outdoors, connect with nature, and experience the transformative power of surfing. Through our programming, we have taught hundreds of Black women and women of color to surf, which is something we are super proud of! We’ve been able to provide free surf lessons, in order to remove financial barriers to participation which encourages coastal recreation for women of color who might otherwise not have access to surfing. Through developing a love of surfing, IXS raises awareness about environmental issues affecting our oceans and coasts, such as plastic pollution, habitat degradation, and climate change. IXS engages in coastal conservation initiatives, including beach clean-up mobilizations and additional preservation, protection and advocacy on behalf of coastal ecosystems in order to ensure future generations can continue to enjoy and benefit from the beauty and biodiversity of California oceans and coastlines.
Learn more about Intrsxtn Surf here and follow them on Instagram and TikTok.
Native Like Water
Native Like Water (NLW) prepares and reintegrates teens and young adults into ocean recreation, conservation, wellness, and inter-generational cultural self exploration. Program focuses on an indigenous sacred relationship to water. NLW works in a directional shift, going from just surviving to thriving. NLW creates scholarship and support for an endangered Native American population in California, Mexico and internationally.
Nature For All
Nature for All is an environmental and social justice organization that works to ensure that everyone in the Los Angeles area, especially underserved and park-poor communities, have equitable access to nature. Via their involvement and leadership in various coalitions, Nature for All has worked to advocate for Public Land and Natural Resource Protections, Measure W projects with a Multi-benefit and Nature-Based Solution focus, and have a high level of community engagement that will support disadvantaged communities. Their access and leadership development programs and projects exist to build the environmental stewards of tomorrow, and to bridge the nature gap that exists for many Angelenos.
Click here to learn more about Nature For All on their website and follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and X.
Northern Chumash Tribal Council
We, the Northern Chumash People, live on the magical land that is called San Luis Obispo County. We are the First Peoples of this land and have thrived as a maritime culture along this coastline enjoying its magnificent beauty. We are still a vibrant community, actively practicing our Heritage and Culture here on the Central Coast of California today. NCTC’s mission is to offer a foundation for the Chumash people of San Luis Obispo and Northern Santa Barbara County to bring our culture and heritage back to life, create dignity with the people, and educate the public that the Chumash have always been here, we have not gone anywhere, and we will always be here, one continuum. We are the Chumash of over 20,000 years of habitation in San Luis Obispo County.
Click here to learn more about Northern Chumash Tribal Council on their website and follow them on X, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram.
PUENTES
PUENTES provides culturally relevant experiences outdoors to promote access, conservation, skill building, and connection. With community building and support at our core, we encourage participants to become program leaders, allowing us to scaffold folx toward potential employment in the outdoors.
Click here to learn more about PUENTES on their website and follow them on Instagram.
Reel Guppy Outdoors
The Reel Guppy Outdoors program was created in 2015 by Kevin Brannon. The program consists of taking youth and families out fishing and teaching them about the outdoors. On these trips not only do the children get taught about fishing, fishing rods and marine life but also valuable life lessons that can be beneficial in the future. Throughout our program and as we move forward, we keep our mission in mind and our vision for the future which is to Unify all individuals as passionate stewards affecting positive change for their environment and our world.
Click here to learn more about Reel Guppy Outdoors on their website and follow them on Facebook.
Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous People
Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples is an Indigenous-led, community-based organization whose mission is to build the capacity of Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples to protect sacred lands, waters, and cultures. Since 2012, we have created paradigm shifts that support environmentally and socially just systems and assure the continuation of Indigenous cultures and peoples worldwide as we are one of very few California Native-led, grassroots, and BIPOC-staffed organizations in California working within environmental, ocean conservation, and climate justice movements. We build community power and achieve community-identified goals, including grassroots organizing, direct action, law and policy research and advocacy, civic engagement, media outreach, public education, and leadership development.
Learn more about Sacred Places Institute here.
Salted Roots
Salted Roots’ mission is to cultivate a surf culture rooted in collective power, equity, love, and reverence for the Earth. We do this by deepening community well-being, amplifying a narrative of abundance, increasing access to the ocean and surfing, and centering the intuitive knowledge of girls, women, and gender expansive people of color.
Click here to learn more about Salted Roots on their website and follow them on Instagram.
Save California Salmon
Save California Salmon (SCS) is a Native-led organization that serves all people, but centers Native youth and families both on and off reservations. The Tribes and communities have been long-time stewards of the land and many still rely on Traditional food and materials, such as salmon, eels (lamprey), sturgeon, acorns, mussels, seaweed, and other river and forest-based foods and basketry materials. The community is heavily engaged in restorative activities like Tribal land return and management dam removal, and habitat restoration. SCS also creates free curricula on Water Protection and Advocacy, as well as Traditional Knowledge, Science, and Management.
Click here to learn more about Save California Salmon on their website and follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
Sea League
Sea League (SL) is a non-profit after-school program dedicated to creating equitable opportunities for youth to explore, play and build community in marine habitats. We prioritize mentorship and nature connection over competition. Our approach nurtures physical, emotional, and social growth, encouraging children to bond with nature and each other in a supportive environment. This method cultivates a lasting appreciation for the ocean alongside valuable life skills.
Learn more about the Sea League here on their website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
Un Mar de Colores
Un Mar De Colores connects youth to the transformative, nurturing, and healing powers of the ocean as a step towards a more equitable world and coastal community. Through deep relationships with community school districts, state parks, and the local surfing community, Un Mar de Colores delivers an intentional and culturally-responsive curriculum that has shaped the lives of more than 200 participants via surf therapy, eco-field trips, and 1-1 mentorship.
Learn more about Un Mar de Colores here and follow them on Instagram.
Feature photo courtesy of grantee partner Alliance for Felix Cove.
This work is made possible thanks to the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) and the California State Coastal Conservancy (SCC).
