EORA Awards Grants to Youth Programs

January 22, 2016

Asheville, NC — With the goal of helping youth through outdoor pursuits, the Eastern Outdoor Reps Association (EORA) awarded seven youth-based nonprofit organizations with grants totaling $4,500.

EORA’s Outdoor Opportunity Grant Program aims to support local communities throughout New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. Final grant recipients were chosen based on a range of qualifications, including number of youth served, lasting impact, and overall organization strength. This year, a record 19 organizations applied for funding.

“We’re so pleased to have so many qualified candidates this year,” shared Debbie Motz, Executive Director of EORA. “Each organization is doing such important work to support youth in a variety of outdoor pursuits.”

EORA’s grant recipients for 2016 include:

Mountain Alliance, Boone, NC
Serving at-risk high school students receiving curriculum assistance in Watauga County, Mountain Alliance uses outdoor education and team-building to promote student success.

The Outside Foundation, Hilton Head Island, SC
Supporting the Kids in Kayaks program for all 7th graders in Beaufort County to explore salt marshes and tidal rivers of the Port Royal Sound watershed. The program also includes time at a marina participating in dockside interactive learning stations with trained interpretive naturalists.

City Kids Wilderness Project, Washington, DC
This nonprofit, now in its 20th year, helps underserved youth in the DC area. The City Kids Wilderness Project operates school year and summer programs that use experiential education and goal-setting to help youth achieve success.

Camden County Office of Sustainability, Blackwood, NJ
Serving thousands of children throughout Camden County with its Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom program, which runs continuously from spring to fall each year.

Trekkers, Inc., Thomaston, ME
Trekkers connects young people with caring adults through experiential learning, community service, and outdoor-based education.

Vermont Friends of AMBUCS, Waitsfield, VT
This organization promotes independence and mobility for people with disabilities by providing adaptive tricycles so they can get outdoors and bike with their families. They’ll use their grant to purchase AmTrykes® for area youth with disabilities.

Denali Foundation, Guilford, CT
The Denali Foundation works to develop, support and fund community outreach programs that promote youth and family engagement in the outdoors and to protect access to local green spaces. They will partner with Solar Youth, a New Haven based organization focusing on urban environmental education through their Service Adventure Team program.

Background information:
Eastern Outdoor Reps Association (EORA) is a not-for-profit association that produces regional tradeshows that bring together over 550 sales reps and 2,600 retailers each year in the Eastern US. Initially focused on traditional specialty outdoor, EORA has since expanded to encompass a wide array of retail categories, including lifestyle, specialty run, bike, resort, paddle sports, and EORA was founded in 1979 and has grown steadily in membership over the years.