Asha Shoffner

BIPOC Outdoors Twin Cities 

BIPOC Outdoors Twin Cities started as a Facebook page of the same name created by Asha Shoffner in June 2020, as the Twin Cities were on fire following the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin. Our first event was July 6th, and it was a beautiful group of Black, Indigenous and People of Color coming together for a hike along the Mississippi River.

Since then, it has grown to over 2,000 members, and multiple local orgs have started hosting BIPOC specific and BIPOC centered outdoor workshops and nature based outings. We do this not to exclude others, but to create a space where we know we are safe and welcome to be ourselves, where we know we won’t be questioned why we are there, and we can simply be in nature and with one another without threat of micro or macro aggressions.

If you identify as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color and you live in the Twin Cities, feel free to join our Facebook group (Facebook.com/groups/BIPOCOutdoorsTwinCities). If you do not identify as Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color but want to see some of the rad things we do, feel free to follow us on Instagram at BIPOCOutdoorsTC.

If you have any questions about what has evolved into the BIPOC Outdoors Twin Cities collective, and/or you want to support our work as a non-BIPOC ally, feel free to reach out to ashashoffner@gmail.com or BIPOCOutdoorsTwinCities@gmail.com. Thank you for reading about our story and for your support.