What is Inner City Outings?

Inner City Outings (ICO) is the Sierra Club's community outreach program for children and adolescents who face the challenges of growing up in New York's inner city areas. We're a 100 percent volunteer organization working to provide young people with outdoor recreational opportunities, leadership training, positive group experiences and environmental education, while imbuing in them a love of nature and the outdoors.

Needless to say, children who grow up in the inner city can find it extremely difficult to gain access to the outdoors. Obstacles include financial constraints and transportation difficulties, as well as a lack of awareness of the opportunities available to them. ICO believes that the wilderness exists as a resource for everyone.

ICO was established in 1970 by the San Francisco Bay chapter of the Sierra Club. Currently, there are over fifty ICO groups in cities across the nation, all of which are overseen by the national Sierra Club. NYC ICO was begun in 1981. We currently have ten certified leaders who conduct trips with children from five community-based agencies and schools. Groups are primarily African-American, Asian-American, and Latino. NYC ICO provides a continuity of outings for youth of various levels of difficulty, which build trust among leaders and participants. Our trips open a new world for these children and their experiences in the outdoors serve to foster a healthy respect for their everyday urban environment.

We work in partnership with social service agencies and schools. For its part, NYC ICO supplies at least one or two designated trip leaders, as well as assistants. Agencies are welcome to have their own staff come along on outings, which take place approximately every four to eight weeks. Currently, we are working with six agencies and two schools. NYC ICO covers all trip expenses, including transportation and food.

Our all-volunteer organization, containing over forty members, is composed of teachers, lawyers, doctors, social workers, psychologists and business people. Each gives of his/her time, and often money to help further the goals of NYC ICO and the Sierra Club. All our group leaders have been certified in first-aid and are screened via the N.Y. State Central Registry for Child Abuse and Neglect.

The Inner City Outings program is made possible by its volunteers who give generously of their time and skills, and by donations of money and equipment made from its supporters. Financial support from foundations, corporations, and individuals is always needed and appreciated.