Equity, Inclusion and Diversity at VOBS

Greetings VOBS Friends,

Back in 2019, VOBS set a goal for 2025 to more than double the number of students we served annually, especially students of color. We also launched a fundraising campaign to provide scholarships and support to realize these goals.

Since that time, we’ve learned a lot, and gained a better understanding of the barriers many of our students experience. We’ve realized that as inclusive as VOBS has always tried to be, there is more work to be done in order to effectively serve the needs of students of color, much less to significantly expand our reach. We need to increase the diversity of our staff, leadership and board, to review our policies and culture and discuss where we can be more inclusive, and to get better educated on the needs and life experiences of our students.

As the leader of VOBS, I often reflect on the question, ‘what will help us meet the needs of our students -- to provide safe and effective programs for all of our students?’

And as VOBS puts more effort around equity, inclusion and diversity, there is a practical question – ‘where do we focus?’ There are many aspects of diversity (age, economic, gender, etc.), and my belief is that we need to invest our effort where we can create the greatest impact. We know from our own experience and from our colleagues in the outdoor and education fields that when we prioritize racial equity, the rising tide lifts all boats – meaning, that we’ll open up our discussions about other aspects of diversity as well.

We know that conversations about race can be contentious. It’s made trickier by our current cultural environment, where it can be hard for people who are more progressive and those who are more conservative to get on a similar page. And so anything that VOBS does or says, whether taking a position against a proposed mine near Homeplace or having a policy requiring up-to-date COVID-19 vaccinations, has the risk of being viewed in political terms.

Our work requires us to consider going beyond simple definitions of good and bad, right and wrong. Bob Pieh, the founder of our school, reminded us of the inherent duality of our work when he said:

Outward Bound is about being willing to balance – to be bold and tough, but to also be gentle and humble. The beauty of the natural world and our shared humanity is something to be grateful for. But that ‘truth’ thing is tough. We’re in a moment, with a lot of noise, competing narratives on social media and a divisive political environment, where it can be hard to discern what the ‘truth’ is.

But for VOBS, even delicate questions come back to our mission – the needs of our students.

Why is VOBS putting more effort toward equity, inclusion and diversity? The needs of our students.
Why are we starting by focusing on racial equity? The needs of our students.

In order to start this work, we engaged an equity consulting firm, Justice Outside, to take a look at our policies and practices, to talk with our staff and board about VOBS’ inclusiveness, and to provide a recommendations report. We received that report last spring and created some initial plans around equity, inclusion and diversity, including town hall meetings and Q&A sessions about the report, a series of equity trainings for all of our staff and board members, and the creation of both a staff equity transition team and a board EI&D committee.