Outside Magazine recently ran an article about The Brown Ascenders, the BIPOC climbing superheroes you’ll see at least once a month at Dogpatch Boulders, Berkeley Ironworks, and our other Bay gyms like Great Western Power Co. They are doing incredibly important work in the climbing community and we’re thrilled to see them getting broader recognition. The article includes an outline of TBA’s plans for the future:
In the summer of 2019, after the Brown Ascenders had hosted climbing hangouts for a year and a half, Winston started thinking about expanding the group’s work. It felt great to be bonding at the climbing gym, but Winston wasn’t convinced they were creating lasting change. So in November, the Brown Ascenders became a nonprofit and began planning to take on a wider range of projects. Winston has a long list of ideas about the future, including equity and inclusion training for gyms, kid’s camps, and outdoor clinics. But they are also rooting the new programming in data and community feedback. They plan to conduct a research project in gyms across the Bay Area in 2020 (which has been postponed due to COVID-19)that asks climbers of all colors what an inclusive space would look like to them.
We’re so happy to have The Brown Ascenders meet up at our Bay Area gyms, and can’t wait to see all their beautiful faces again once the COVID crisis has subsided.
