This year, Brooklyn to Alaska — a nonprofit that leads urban youth on expeditions in the wilderness of Alaska — announced a team of all Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) certified wilderness guides. The guides were trained through Brooklyn to Alaska’s Graduate to Guide program, which aims to counter the underrepresentation of BIPOC individuals in outdoor spaces.
Daily Brooklyn Eagle: Life Lessons From Rugged Wilderness For Urban Youth
By Michaela Keil
In a year when travel is nearly impossible, the Brooklyn to Alaska project, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit dedicated to exposing Brooklyn youth to Alaska’s wilderness, managed to make it work. Founded in 2007, Brooklyn to Alaska has grown from a trip with five boys, to multiple two-week excursions for Brooklyn youth.
At its heart, the project’s mission is to “bring brave and adventurous urban youth to the wilderness of Alaska… the organization strives to inspire and challenge the Brooklyn teens to overcome obstacles, develop self-confidence, and experience the power of open communication and teamwork.”
ABC7 UNITE: Brooklyn to Alaska inspires, challenges teens
By Kemberly Richardson and Eyewitness News
BROOKLYN, New York City (WABC) -- A nonprofit whose mission is to bring brave and adventurous urban youth to the wilderness of Alaska is striving to inspire and challenge Brooklyn teens to overcome obstacles, develop self-confidence, and experience the power of open communication and teamwork.
Brooklyn to Alaska was created 12 years ago by Sam Gregory, a local attorney who loves the outdoors and wanted to share the experience with urban youth.
A group of teens returned from Alaska in late July, including Zachary Byrd, who loved the Alaskan wilderness thousands of miles away from his home in Crown Heights.
"I'll be honest, I wasn't so good at rowing but was good at everything else," he said. "My mom has a joke, I'm going to be the one who will buy a house in the middle of nowhere and still have a home in the city.”
‘Brooklyn/Alaska,’ an IndieWire Project of the Month Filmed When the Sun Never Set
By Steve Greene
Making a documentary is difficult enough. Making one in the neverending days of summer in Alaska is a monumental challenge.
Luckily, Erica Sterne, director and producer of “Brooklyn/Alaska,” didn’t have to face it alone. She and the film’s crew were also following a dozen high-school participants in the Brooklyn To Alaska Project, all traveling to the remote reaches of America’s largest state.