Celebrating Black Leaders

Kim Bailey serves on the Children & Nature Network’s Board of Directors and as President and CEO for Justice Outside. Inspired by her own passion for the outdoors and years of both professional and personal experience, Kim focuses on Youth Outside’s strategic direction, grantmaking portfolio, development of the critical connections required to help underrepresented youth engage with nature. She also encourages capacity-building of the organizations supported by Youth Outside. In 2018, Kim gave the keynote address at the Children & Nature Network International Conference in Oakland, CA.

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Dr. Gail Christopher is an award-winning social change agent and former Senior Advisor and Vice President of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), one of the world’s largest philanthropies. She is the visionary for and architect of the WKKF-led America Healing initiative and the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation effort. In August of 2017, Dr. Christopher left her leadership position with WKKF to launch the Maryland-based Ntianu Center for Healing and Nature and to devote more time to writing and speaking on issues of health, racial healing and human capacity for caring. This interview with Children & Nature Network co-founder Richard Louv was published in advance of Dr. Christopher’s keynote address at the 2016 Children & Nature Network International Conference in Saint Paul, MN

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CJ Goulding served as the Children & Nature Network’s manager of community leadership development, mentored the Natural Leaders Network and led Legacy Camp trainings across the United States from 2016 until 2021. In 2025, he was recognized with the Richard Louv Prize for Innovation in Nature Connection.

He is a facilitator, community builder, organizer and storyteller who invests in the growth of people, the growth of connection between people and the growth of communities, specifically communities of color. He completed a MaED in Urban Environmental Education with IslandWood and Antioch University, where he studied the power of community and its connection to nature in urban settings. He currently creates immersive outdoor experiences for Black men to build brotherhood, fortify mental wellbeing and engage their personal development through a nonprofit he co-founded called Boyz N the Wood.

CJ has been featured in Finding Nature News a number of times, including these commentary pieces:

Why I wear Jordans in the great outdoors

The Natural Leaders Effect

Ron Griswell is an outdoor adventure enthusiast who explores the intersectionality of blackness and the outdoors. Ron founded HBCUs Outside to advance his vision for creating outdoor clubs at all of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In this Finding Nature News article, Ron states that, “Looking forward, we need to make sure that in 2045, when people of color are the majority in the U.S., that there is a deep connection to the outdoors. We need this in order to have healthy lifestyles, healthy people and a healthy planet.” Ron is also a co-founder and board member for the nonprofit Boyz N the Wood, which creates immersive outdoor experiences for Black men to build brotherhood, fortify mental wellbeing and engage their personal development.

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Melvin Carter is the 46th mayor, and first African-American mayor, of the City of Saint Paul, MN. A fourth-generation Saint Paul resident, Mayor Carter leads with an unapologetic equity agenda. Since taking office in 2018, his accomplishments include raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, increasing free programming in city recreation centers, eliminating late fines in public libraries, reestablishing an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, expanding immigrant & refugee support resources and launching an Office of Financial Empowerment. Saint Paul is also part of the national Cities Connecting Children to Nature (CCCN) initiative. In 2019, Mayor Carter spoke at the CCCN All-Site Meeting, sharing powerful messages about equity, children and nature.

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As a leader with Opportunity Youth United and an engagement coordinator for the New York City Mayor’s Office, Shaquana has worked with people of all ages living in public housing to provide opportunities, connect with resources and build relationships. In 2020, Shaquana was a recipient of a Youth Outdoor Equity Leadership Fund mini-grant in support of her work. That same year, she was elected District Assembly Leader for her Brooklyn, NY district. Read more about Shaquana or hear from her directly as a leader in this Natural Leaders Civic Engagement workshop.

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Anthony Beverley and his three kids spent a year traveling the United States to visit all National Parks in the lower 48. A graduate of Southern Methodist University with a B.A. in psychology, Anthony founded the nonprofit, Discovering America’s 58, which is dedicated to educating families about the beauty, majesty and splendor of America’s National Parks, with a focus on underserved populations. “I feel that everyone should have the ability to succeed and we are only separated by our experiences and opportunities,” says Anthony.

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Dr. Nilon is a Professor of Fisheries and Wildlife in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri. He is an expert in urban wildlife ecology and conservation and the human dimensions in wildlife management. Dr. Nilon spoke recently in an interview for Finding Nature News about his commitment to helping young people of color discover the natural world and explore career opportunities in the outdoors, conservation and other green fields.

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Eboni Preston serves as director of operations for the Greening Youth Foundation in Atlanta, GA, where she helps youth from diverse backgrounds find careers in nature. She serves on a number of boards and steering committees including the Georgia Conservancy’s Generation Green Board, the Atlanta’s Mayor’s Office, the Southeast Regional Council for National Parks Conservation Association, the Georgia NAACP, the Public Lands Service Coalition and the Next 100 Coalition. She spoke with Finding Nature News in January of 2021 about her passion for youth and community development and about connecting young people of color to careers in sustainability and conservation.

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Anwar Sanders’ father taught him to love fishing. “Fishing is more than fishing,” he says, “It’s strategy. It’s research. It’s determination. It’s meditation. It’s bonding time. It’s food, I could go on forever.” Anwar is an entrepreneur with a background in technology and curriculum development. He served as a New Mexico State Police Officer, where he developed training on how to work better in communities of color. He also went on to share his father’s love of fishing and the outdoors as a fishing guide. He writes about his life, his love of fishing and sharing that love with younger generations.

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Hunter Morton is an avid outdoorsman who has been passionate about the environment and agriculture from an early age. Hunter loves working with students and sharing his passion for the great outdoors. A South Carolina native and graduate of Clemson University, Hunter participated in a Natural Leaders Legacy Camp in 2015. Shortly after, he founded a program called Let’s Get Outdoors with a mission “to expose as many youth to the benefits of the outdoors as possible.” He shared his journey from young environmentalist to Natural Leader with Finding Nature News.

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Hop Hopkins is the Director of Organizational Transformation for the Sierra Club. A longtime environmental justice and conservation leader, he wrote “How Racism is Killing the Planet” for Sierra Magazine in June 2020. In this piece, he discusses how “The ideology of white supremacy leads the way toward disposable people and a disposable natural world.” He holds a Master of Urban Sustainability from Antioch University, Los Angeles, where he was also a Climate Justice Fellow; he holds a BA in Humanities, Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Communities from New College of California. 

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Nkrumah Frazier is Sustainability Officer for the City of Hattiesburg, MS. He founded the non-profit organization Hikes Across America to inspire people from all walks of life to enjoy the great outdoors. He also founded the South Mississippi Family Nature Club to reconnect Mississippians to the natural world by leading groups on outdoor recreational activities such as hiking, camping, canoeing, hunting and fishing. He holds a BS in Environmental Biology from the University of Southern Mississippi and has served on the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America Leadership Team. Nkrumah has written these commentary pieces for Finding Nature News:

What a Leader Looks Like

The Unintended Burden of Change (For Black Leaders and Activists)