We have been in love with nature forever so it was a natural progression to create a Summit to bring people and ideas together. We are the creators of Urban American Outdoors the first diverse reality sports adventure TV show produced in the US. We started in 1999 filming, writing and editing a TV program that showed outdoors from a different perspective. In 2003 the show was syndicated and aired across the US on various TV affiliates. It has been a nonstop favorite ever since and has been EMMY nominated 3 times. We have won over 50 Broadcast Awards and have garnered millions of loyal viewers over the years.
Urban American Outdoors over the years has received state and local Proclamations, Resolutions and Congressional Recognition. We were invited by the Obama Administration to the White House as Champion of Change nominees and have also been appointed as Representatives on Federal Advisory Committees.
We would like to thank everyone for their continued support, and look forward to embracing more people on this journey. We welcome all to be part of our 6th Annual Urban Outdoor Summit, which brings a core group of talented people together, who participate in the Outdoor Lifestyle from a variety of backgrounds, to share information that will help introduce and provide opportunities to all of our families, especially our youth to the Great Outdoors.
Over the past fifteen plus years with our TV program, we have advocated for the Outdoor Lifestyle which includes, conservation, sustainability, green living, healthy alternative foods, travel, wildlife, recreation, entertainment and just seeing Images and stories of outdoors and people that had never been seen before, along with the traditional stories, because we do believe “Outdoors Is For Everybody”, and we are all stakeholders!
We believe a key element that has been missing in Outdoors has been the inclusion of all people to help continue the preservation of our natural resources, public lands and green spaces that are so important to the health and survival of man and woman.
When we first embarked upon the adventure of creating our own TV show, we talked to friends and professionals alike and what we got in return, were remarks of, Do Black People Hunt? Or Black people don’t camp or hike. This statement alone spoke volumes of what we as Americans think and do.
We felt one way of turning this perception around was by changing the mind through positive diverse images. We embarked upon warming the marketplace in showing other faces until it became the norm. Many people believe that if they don’t see it on Television, then it does not exist. The Media has played an important part in defining who we all are, and it is now up to us to turn this around and tell our own stories. With the help of social media, broadcast, cable & print, it is a lot easier to reach out and form new relationship to shift mindset and capacity build.
Today we stand here and tell the global community that yes we are all in this outdoor paradigm together. We want to make sure that all of our children are taught properly about their inheritance and the green spaces that surrounds them. They also need to know, what their ancestors knew and that is, if you take care of the earth correctly, she will sustain you.
We are pleased to invite all to come together and share their knowledge and expertise that touches on the different aspects of the Outdoor Lifestyle. We definitely want to thank the community for their support and participation and we hope to see you all at the 6th Annual Urban Outdoor Summit 2015.