GCI Outdoor Partners with Outdoors Empowered Network (OEN) to Help Improve and Increase Outdoor Accessibility

February 8, 2022

GCI will contribute to bolster OEN’s gear libraries in a joint effort to remove barriers that afflict outdoor recreation

HIGGANUM, Conn. (February 8,  2022) /OUTDOOR SPORTSWIRE/ – GCI Outdoor, creators of portable, durable and comfortable outdoor recreation furniture, today announces an exciting new partnership with Outdoors Empowered Network (OEN) for 2022. Outdoors Empowered Network is a national network of community-led, youth-centered outdoor education groups that are dedicated to increasing access and diversity in the outdoors through gear libraries and outdoor leadership training.

“Feeling comfortable while recreating outdoors is particularly important for people exploring the outdoors for the first time,” said Seraph White, Executive Director of Outdoors Empowered. “We are extremely appreciative of GCI’s 2022 donation of chairs to our gear libraries around the country in support of this mission.”

Through their joint partnership, GCI Outdoor is committing a stipend of funds to help Outdoors Empowered Network make improvements and additions to their gear libraries. A high-quality and well-maintained inventory of equipment is crucial to OEN’s ability to deliver on its objective to improve outdoor accessibility and to offer its members a valuable experience.

“GCI is always excited to partner with brands like Outdoor Empowered Network that work hard to get more people to experience the outdoors,” says GCI Outdoor co-founder, Jeff Polke. “We fully support their mission and are eager to contribute to their gear libraries and upcoming experiences this year.”

The partnership between GCI Outdoor and Outdoors Empowered Network represents a tangible action to enable a new generation of youth safe access to outdoor recreation.

For more information on OEN, visit outdoorsempowered.org.

For more information on GCI Outdoor, please visit gcioutdoor.com or follow on Instagram or Facebook.

About GCI Outdoor

Lifelong friends Dan Grace and Jeff Polke founded GCI Outdoor in 1996. Over the last 26 years, they have become one of the outdoor industry’s leading innovators of outdoor recreational gear with products that include chairs, camp tables, stadium seats, canoe seats and more. Offering high-quality gear to outdoor lovers of all kinds, GCI Outdoor products can be found at over 3,000 stores worldwide and online at www.gcioutdoor.com.

GCI Outdoor is a Gathr Outdoors company. To learn more about Gathr Outdoors’ portfolio of brands, visit www.gathroutdoors.com.

About Outdoors Empowered Network

Outdoors Empowered Network is a national network of community-led, youth-centered outdoor education groups that are dedicated to increasing access and diversity in the outdoors through gear libraries and outdoor leadership training. Getting youth into the outdoors is an important component of the environmental justice movement. According to the Center for American Progress, “communities of color are three times more likely than white communities to live in nature deprives places,” and “seventy percent of low-income communities across the country live in nature-deprived areas.” This nature disparity has a number of consequences, including increased health disparities due to pollution and decreased opportunities for recreation. outdoorsempowered.org