This year, Brooklyn to Alaska — a nonprofit that leads urban youth on expeditions in the wilderness of Alaska — announced a team of all Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) certified wilderness guides. The guides were trained through Brooklyn to Alaska’s Graduate to Guide program, which aims to counter the underrepresentation of BIPOC individuals in outdoor spaces.
In this interview, ACA talks to Brooklyn to Alaska’s founder Sam Gregory, certified guide James Ambroise, and volunteer Matt Stokes about the history of the program, their experiences, and the steps they are taking to make outdoor wilderness experiences more accessible to BIPOC youth.
What inspired you to start Brooklyn to Alaska?
Sam Gregory: When I was very young, and into adulthood, I observed city kids spending their summers playing in the street with water from fire hydrants, and I always dreamed of helping provide opportunities for an adventure of a lifetime. I had always hoped to be able to have a place of my own in the wilderness, and in 1996 I bought a beautiful place in the middle of the Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Soon after, I started the Brooklyn to Alaska Project.
How did you first become involved with Brooklyn to Alaska?
James Ambroise: My mom is involved in running the girl’s program at Brooklyn to Alaska, so I was aware of the organization and was compelled by a video trailer I saw. In 2019, I was invited to join as a participant and immediately fell in love with it. When offered the opportunity to return as a leader, I jumped at the chance.
Matt Stokes: I was teaching math in Brooklyn and a few of Sam Gregory’s children attended my school. They recommended me to their dad, and Sam invited me out to coffee. I was inspired by the organization and have been here for 10 years and want to help it live on. My life is much richer, and I am a much more complete person because of my experience with the program.
Can you tell me more about the Graduate to Guide program, what it entails, and why you started it?
Sam Gregory: The Graduate to Guide Program trains BIPOC youth to become the next generation of wilderness leaders and guides. The program was inaugurated in 2020 with a focus on white water rafting and wilderness training.
What type of preparation did you have to do to become a guide?
James Ambroise: I have completed training in Wilderness First Responder, CPR, First Aid, and Swiftwater Rescue training.
This year you have a certified wilderness guide team of all BIPOC individuals. Why was that important to you?
Matt Stokes: Because there is not representation of young BIPOC youth leading . . . it’s a very white-led space. Over the years we watched the transformation of young people in Brooklyn and felt the disparity between the current leaders/guides and the BIPOC youth. We looked at each other and realized we did a great job of bringing kids into the woods, but what if we helped kids become leaders in the woods? So that people with the same cultural background can inspire each other to embrace these experiences and pursue a passion in wilderness if that’s what they want.
Sam Gregory: The rivers we raft on are extremely cold and safety is paramount. Important as it is to navigate the wilderness safely, it is as important to train up leaders of various backgrounds to carry this tradition. Providing the opportunity to equip young people with these certification skills will build a legacy to span generations of BIPOC families in the genre of outdoor adventure.
You are part of an all-BIPOC team of wilderness guides at a time when research shows that members of BIPOC communities are underrepresented in outdoor spaces. What is it like being part of a team that is working to make outdoor spaces more accessible, and why is it important to you to be a leader in this type of work?
James Ambroise: Being a part of the leadership team has been a dream come true for me. After falling in love with rafting and the outdoors, I now get to come back every year and work with my best friends while inspiring future generations. Outdoor adventure has given me confidence in my abilities and confidence in myself as a person, as well as made me more outgoing and willing to try new things. Being able to watch these kids go through the same sort of transformations is such a soul-filling experience for me. Even if it is something as simple as getting them to try a new cuisine, watching their eyes light up allows me to relive that same transformation. This program is giving them role models and opening their eyes to dreams they may not have even known they had.
What is your favorite part of being involved in a program like this — being in outdoor spaces?
James Ambroise: One of my favorite things about being involved with this program is being able to see the arc of the kids’ experience. We have kids who stick to themselves and struggle with self-confidence, some of whom barely say anything at all, but as the trip goes on, I get to watch them open up. Not only to us leaders and their peers, but to the idea that they can make their dreams come true if they put their mind to it. After completing a five-hour uphill hike, they get to the peak of the mountain and they’re looking at the rest of the range saying, “I want to climb those too!” Or they see us leaders running a rapid, and they’re immediately asking about how we’re reading the water or if they can try rowing.
What steps are you taking to make outdoor wilderness experiences more accessible to BIPOC youth?
Sam Gregory: I created the organization with the central aim to close the gap to outdoor adventure by increasing exposure to the outdoors through these annual trips. Enabling team members to become certified wilderness guides through a rigorous four-year program has been a crucial step in widening the path to accessibility for all.
Matt Stokes: [We’re doing] the adaptive work of figuring out how to help kids who get off a plane 2,500 miles from home feel safe. We are also considering how we will continue to come up with the funds to buy the flights or pay for maintenance for vans. What we do is so remote. We are not operating in any major city, so there is the technical navigation of building a structure to serve more kids and grow. It is such a lift to get kids from New York to Alaska then Anchorage to McCarthy with 75 miles of it on gravel road. We then consider private places for kids to stay in the national park and how to reduce technical limitations. So we are focusing on the programming side of things.
What are your hopes for the program’s future?
Sam Gregory: My hope for the future is that our team of exceptionally serious leaders can take over this entire program and continue to serve city kids with passion and commitment.
Matt Stokes: To build the economic structure that will allow us more time to focus on the experiences for the kids. We would like to maximize the amount of kids we can bring to Alaska and train more kids to be guides. Everyone who participates is volunteering their time. We dream of our guides being able to run rivers in Africa, the Andes, and Colorado.
Photo courtesy of Brooklyn to Alaska.
Interview conducted by Kaley Amonett, the American Camp Association’s editorial communications manager.