The Thrive Outside Seattle Community, led by the King County Play Equity Coalition is bringing together regional community partners made up of nonprofits, for profits, government entities, and other networks to collectively identify strategies for equitable access to the outdoor space as well as strengthen existing outdoor-oriented programs. The region is unique in its proximity to mountains and water that encourage outdoor recreation and active lifestyles, but for youth, particularly youth of color and low-income youth, finding ways to get to the mountains is a challenge. Seattle has the opportunity to take action and provide more equitable access to and higher quality of recreation opportunities for all youth. The aim for Thrive Outside Seattle is to build upon existing networks and programs to create an active, dynamic, representative action team that centers the voices and expertise of BIPOC leaders and organizations. The goal is to remove barriers and increase participation in the outdoors for youth and families of color.

The Thrive Outside Washington, D.C. Community is a network of organizations committed to maximizing the value of public spaces along the Anacostia River to residents of Ward 7 and 8 in the District of Columbia. The network recognizes the importance of community-based and civic organizations and the value of parks and outdoor experiences in addressing social justice, health, employment, respite, and other issues impacting economically stressed communities.

Thrive Outside D.C. works to provide a forum for local leaders to strategize more deeply and identify joint projects, this includes resources for community groups for operational resources like communication, coordination, and grant writing support, and physical resources like event and meeting supplies. 

The goals of the network include ensuring that D.C. youth and residents in Ward 7 and 8 are safe and have access to the Anacostia River and parks. This includes building the capacity of social and environmental organizations to lead meaningful park experiences that increase collective power-building through on-the-ground outdoor experiences and connect private, city, and government agencies to the community in a more meaningful way.

The Thrive Outside Chicago Community, led by The Nature Conservancy, is bringing together an existing network of partners dedicated to reducing barriers to the outdoors by increasing meaningful outdoor engagement opportunities for youth and adults in Chicago. Our partners are focused on youth-centered environmental education, growing food in community gardens, environmental justice, environmental stewardship and citizen science in green spaces, community wellness, and health, and providing outdoor engagement opportunities to Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and all other sexualities, sexes, and genders (LGBTQIA+) and other groups that have been historically excluded in outdoor programming. The goal of this network is to foster outdoor experiences to create passionate outdoor enthusiasts.