A new program designed to increase minority participation in the city’s outdoor scene by training and certifying outdoor adventure guides from racially diverse backgrounds received 22 applications, according to Outdoor Chattanooga.
The program’s initial objective was to select 10 guides. But 11 of the 22 applicants who interviewed for the contract positions are likely to be hired, pending physicals and background checks, Outdoor Chattanooga programs coordinator Terri Chapin said. The final interviews were Monday.
“We had a hard time saying ‘no,'” Chapin said.
Nine of the 11 interviewees were minorities.
“The others have tons of experience and a passion for this issue and will bring unique skills and voices to the whole process,” Chapin said.
The program, which is also sponsored by the city’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, is putting a grassroots spin on the effort to diversify the area’s prominent but overwhelmingly white outdoor culture.
Once the guides have been trained with Outdoor Chattanooga’s current guides, they will lead “OutVentures” of their own, with the hope that they can connect their communities with outdoor opportunities.
“I think it’s obvious to anyone paying attention that it’s pretty much just white out there,” said Randy Whorton, director of Wild Trails, a local nonprofit organization that seeks to promote use of the outdoors. “It’s one of the biggest issues I think we have in our community.”
The new guides are scheduled to begin leading excursions in activities such as canoing, biking, hiking and climbing in June and must lead at least six trips between June and December. They will be paid $50 per excursion.
“There are some guides who are going to do it who have a lot of experience and some without much experience,” Chapin said, “and their ideas of how they’re going to implement their leadership role vary.
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.