The National Outdoor School for All Campaign aims to increase opportunities for children to connect, learn, and be inspired at an Outdoor School. Our goals include:
Establishing new Outdoor Schools
Strengthening existing programs
Providing the funding needed for more students to access these schools
Ultimately, we want for every child in the US to have at least one Outdoor School experience during their K-12 education.
If you'd like to help the ANCA Outdoor School Consortium strengthen its network and vision, please complete this form.
Do you want to learn more about the National Outdoor School for All campaign? See this document, prepared for policymakers in Summer 2022.
Outdoor Schools are educational organizations offering immersive and overnight programs that connect participants to nature and each other. These programs are youth-based and academic, focused primarily on public school partnerships where students and classroom teachers participate for multiple days, sharing educational activities and meals.Â
While Outdoor Schools hold most programs outdoors, they also have indoor spaces such as classrooms, labs, and dining halls to comfortably accommodate students, classroom teachers, and other adult chaperones. Some Outdoor Schools have dormitories to host participants overnight.
Outdoor Schools are largely nonprofit organizations, though some are government- and school-affiliated.
Outdoor Schools are located throughout the United States; see the map below for the Outdoor Schools that our campaign has identified thus far. Please note that this map is crowdsourced from our efforts.