Inner City Outings is a community outreach program of the Sierra Club that provides disadvantaged, inner city youth with positive outdoor experiences.
The first ICO group was established in San Francisco in 1971, and now there are about 50 ICO groups in the country conducting as many as 1,000 outings a year serving about 13,000 participants, age 8 to 18 years old.
This means taking kids on day hikes in parks or even canoeing, kayaking, surfing, and overnight camping, as well as service trips. Thanks to ICO, kids discover plants and animals and a whole new world is opened to them. Exposing children to nature is essential if we want to preserve and conserve natural areas in the future. Today most kids do not spend enough time in and with nature.
We need volunteers. No one is paid in an ICO program, but rewards are great. We need a core group of people who will see this project happen. We need Sierra Club outing leaders who will receive training and undergo a background check. If you want to help make the Gainesville ICO program a reality or want some more information about attending one of our outings please contact Maryvonne Devensky at marydeven@yahoo.com or call at 352-224-5774.
