Oakland native Rue Mapp is the founder of Outdoor Afro, a group that encourages African Americans to reconnect with nature. She is also an Audubon Toyota Together Green Fellow who has found great success since being a part of the Audubon family. Recently she wrote about her mission for The Seattle Times:

Today, many African Americans believe they have little to do with the environment and it has little to do with them. In the coming decades, I’d like that attitude to be different. I’d like to see more and more African Americans make the natural world a part of everyday life, and in our mainstream media representation, so that seeing a person of color on a hiking trip is no big deal.

Read the entire piece here.