How do we remove expensive equipment as a barrier to getting outside?
Anyone who has thought about getting others outdoors in their community has likely run into the challenge of figuring out how to provide safe, functional equipment to those that don’t have it. Bikes, skis, kayaks, paddles, snowshoes, backpacks…all of this gear comes with a price, and it’s usually not cheap. And finding the funding to acquire gear is just one of many challenges. How do you store it? How do you maintain it? Replace it? Distribute it? In some cases the question even becomes how do you get people to use it?
In this month’s OSI Community Interview we are sitting down with a panel of guests to talk about the different strategies they are employing to make gear more accessible across their communities.
Join us as we talk with Matt DeLaney, director of the Millinocket Memorial Library and creator of the Katahdin Gear Library, Alicia Heyburn, director of Teens to Trails and partner in the growing Maine Gear Share project, and Brian Danz of the Portland Gear Hub to learn more about their efforts, their challenges, and what they’ve been learning along the way that can help others.
Join us as we discuss questions such as…
What strategies have you found work best in making outdoor equipment more accessible?
What are the unique challenges you’re trying to address in your community, and how are you trying to solve them?
What pitfalls and obstacles you’ve faced that might not be obvious?
What advice would you give to others that are trying to make equipment available in their communities?
This interview is free and open to all. Sign up below and you’ll receive the link to join via Zoom.
The Outdoor Sport Institute & The OSI Community
Our mission is to make outdoor sports an integral part of peoples’ lives through community. We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.
The OSI Community is for individuals whose interest in outdoor sport fits into one or more of the following areas –
Pursuing outdoor sport personally
Instructing and mentoring others
Building capacity for outdoor sports in their community
Through the OSI Community members can access online and in-person instruction, a growing online resource library, and a network of peers to connect with and share ideas.