The Daily - August 12,2021 - 20

Ideas
OUTDOOR RE TAILER S UMMER 2 0 2 1
B I G N E W S / B I G A C T I O N / B I G T R E N D S
THE MARKETPLACE WILL HELP MAKE BGC
FINANCIALLY SUSTAINABLE FOR THE WOMEN
WHO RUN IT, WHO HAVE POURED THOUSANDS
OF HOURS OF UNPAID TIME AND ENERGY INTO
BUILDING A COMMUNITY.
The Brown Girls
Climb crew having
some fun.
B I G N E W S
Sharing the
Wealth
The Marketplace is Brown Girls Climb's new
online e-commerce platform that highlights
socially and environmentally conscious
brands that are BIPOC-, women-, or
queer-owned. It will help consumers choose
to make a real difference in building economic
equality. By Endria Isa Richardson
ON JUNE 16, BROWN GIRLS
Climb (BGC), a national climbing
organization led by a volunteer
team of Black and Brown women,
launched a campaign to
raise $100,000-a frugal goal to
cover its operating costs for a year
while it expands and becomes
self-sustaining. If the group isn't
able to raise sufficient funds, it
may be forced to close its operations-and
leave a huge gap in the
climbing community.
As a writer who covers race,
climbing, and the outdoors, there
are few current issues I can write
about without in some way writing
about BGC. Climbing gyms that
want to reach out to Black and
Brown climbers reach out to BGC
for support; Black and Brown
climbers who want to increase
their skills outside attend BGC's
meetups; nonprofits that want to introduce
the communities they serve
to climbing ask BGC to hold workshops;
white climbers who want to
understand how to be better allies
to Black, Indigenous, Asian, and
Latinx people visit BGC's website.
The only outdoor climbing festival
for people of color was co-founded
by BGC. With 42,000 followers on
Instagram, BGC has built a robust
network and a widely felt presence
in the climbing community.
20
/ OUTDOOR RETAILER SUMMER 2021
And like a lot of Black and
Brown people who are working
to disrupt the racism and sexism
that can permeate the climbing
community, Brown Girls Climb
has done it mostly for free. If this
campaign goes well, it won't have
to anymore.
When Bethany Lebewitz, one of
the founders of BGC, started the
Instagram account
@BrownGirlsClimb in 2016,
Trump had just been elected. She
felt isolated as a woman of color
living and working in D.C., and
turned to climbing for community.
Even though she saw a lot of
other Black and Brown women
climbing at her gym, they weren't
necessarily part of the same community.
Looking for a reason to
introduce herself, she posted a few
photos online, tagged #BrownGirlsClimb
and #ColorTheCrag.
The hashtags quickly caught on,
connecting hundreds and then
thousands of climbers of color
across the U.S. and the world.
A group of women-including
Lebewitz, Grace Anderson, Jael
Berger, Gabrielle Dickerson,
Laura Edmonson, Chela Garcia
Irland, Brittany Leavitt, Montserrat
A. Matehuala, and Sasha
McGhee-joined together to
build something big.
BEN JOEL PINGILLEY
The Daily - August 12,2021

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