San Antonio nonprofit aims to connect Black youth with nature
Founded in 2019, San Antonio nonprofit Black Outside is focused on connecting Black youth with the outdoors.
Alex Bailey founded Black Outside in 2019 with a mission of helping Black youth address generational trauma, cultural identity and finding refuge in the outdoors.
On this week’s episode of the bigcitysmalltown podcast, producer Cory Ames sat down with Bailey to talk about the origins of the nonprofit and the lack of diversity in outdoor education programs for youth.
Originally from Ohio, Bailey found himself in South Texas by way of a job with Teach for America, a nonprofit that recruits and trains educators.
Bailey recalled the influence of his grandparents on the creation of Black Outside. Bailey’s grandfather was an avid gardener and director of a local community garden who taught Bailey about gardening, plants and connecting to the land around him.
That combined with his grandmother’s love of community and service to others — as well as trauma she had experienced that prevented her from enjoying the outdoors — propelled Bailey’s vision for Black Outside.
“The dichotomy of the two experiences of my grandmother and grandfather in the outdoors really represents the challenges and joys we navigate trying to connect more Black communities to nature,” Bailey said.
The idea to start Black Outside occurred to Bailey while hiking in the Catskill Mountains in New York.
“I’m at this beautiful overlook, this overlook that everyone’s trying to take their (Instagram) pictures on. I’m looking around, and I realize ‘I think I’m the only Black person at this entire park,” Bailey said with a laugh.
After setting up the nonprofit, Bailey secured a small grant to bring five high school students to their first state park on a weekend camping trip.
“We did a night hike with the boys, and we started looking up at the stars. We had a powerful moment where we told the youth, ‘These are the same stars your ancestors looked at,’” Bailey said. “And it just got really emotional really quick.”
From there, the nonprofit grew and evolved. Bailey was able to help revive a Black girl’s summer camp, Camp Founder Girls, which started in 1924 due to Black youth’s exclusion from white summer camps in San Antonio, but was halted in the 1960s.
Gaynell Gainer, Alex Bailey and Natalynn Masters explore the original site of Camp Founder Girls in July 2024 with Tracey Campos, daughter-in-law of the current landowner. Credit: Courtesy / Camp Founder Girls Centennial Series
Brothers with the Land is a smaller boys camp that pairs 15 boys with mentors. The group goes fly fishing, camping and other outdoor activities. Black Outside is also developing a third program, Homecoming, to connect Black adults and families to nature.
The nonprofit has served over 600 Black youth and visited 16 state and national parks since its inception, according to its website. The major goal of the program is to help Black youth connect with themselves and build confidence. Bailey said he also wants to challenge a stereotype.
“We’re really, with our youth, trying to challenge this narrative that Black people don’t go outdoors,” he said. “But we really want our youth to understand that, actually no, Black people have been doing this for hundreds of years, all the way back to Africa. It’s just unfortunate in this era of society, you’ve been told and marketed through implicit messaging that these spaces aren’t for you. And they are. They’re for everyone.”