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Seth Ehrlich is the Executive Director of SOS Outreach. Learn more at www.sosoutreach.org and follow on social @sosoutreach.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
SOS Outreach is a national youth development program that introduces under served youth to outdoor adventure sports. Programs promote long-term success through service, goal-setting, life skills workshops, core value development, and positive adult mentorship.
WHY DO YOU DO IT?
SOS Outreach began in 1993 with the goal of introducing inner-city Denver youth to snowboarding—while simultaneously chipping away at the negative stereotypes surrounding the sport. In 1995, a pilot group of 15 city kids were brought to the Colorado Rockies to ride for the first time. Today, almost 50,000 at-risk youth between the ages of 8 and 18 have come through SOS Outreach programs. Since the beginning, SOS curriculum has expanded to include summer adventure sports, as well as a youth development, leadership training, and an adult mentorship curriculum. Whether participants are learning to ski or snowboard, embarking on their first backpacking trip into the wilderness, or bagging a 14,000-foot peak, the goal is always to empower youth to unleash their potential to thrive.
Today, SOS Outreach offers programs across 31 mountain resorts in 6 different states. Our youth participants come from different backgrounds yet share one passion: a love for the mountains. SOS partners with a variety of school districts and youth-serving agencies who are instrumental in recruiting those who they believe will benefit most from our programs.
Participants represent a variety of risk factors, including low-income families, ESL families, and those with academic and social difficulties. It’s our goal to provide opportunities for youth to expand their protective factors, letting them combat the difficulties they face and push on to better futures.
WHAT IMPACT ARE YOU MAKING?
The feedback we’ve received from participants over the years has been incredibly encouraging. Not only do our kids show positive academic impacts—like increases in school attendance and GPA—but they also report more intangible benefits, such as the motivation to go to college, the desire to lead healthier lives, or an increase in hope for the future. Karen, who’s participated in the program for eight years, recently told us: “As a kid, I always wanted to ski, raft, camp, and do all the cool things other kids did, but it was too expensive. SOS gave me those experiences, while also introducing me to lifelong friends and providing a positive role model.” Oliver builds on this, telling us, “ Having graduated from SOS programs and returned as a youth mentor with six young SOS participants under my leadership, I can say for certain that I am not the same person I was before SOS.” It’s the thousands of stories like these that encourage our work with youth.
WHAT (OR WHO) INSPIRES YOU TO MAKE THIS IMPACT?
Growing up in inner city Pittsburgh, becoming a passionate mountain enthusiast was not the norm. I owe it all to my dad, Larry, a NYC transplant who really started to ski in Wisconsin during grad school. He got my sister and I out on the hill, driving 30 minutes to the tiny Boyce Park for an opportunity to learn. Eventually, we worked our way up to the hour plus trek to Hidden Valley or Seven Springs, where the max vertical was no more than 750 feet; night skiing was often brutally cold, and the conditions were bullet proof more often than not. To us it didn’t matter, we were stoked for every opportunity we got to ski.
Throughout my youth, my father organized East Allegheny High School’s ski club to introduce hundreds of youth to winter sports. During that time, many of the steel mills in the area were closing down, creating a significant economic impact on one of the closest suburbs to the city. Similar to SOS, the ski club provided these youth with the opportunity to experience the magic of the outdoors. I was lucky enough to be able to tag along on these trips. I cherished those school bus rides up to the hill with him and witnessing the excitement of the students for getting outside the town of North Versailles – it was contagious.
WHAT IS (OR HAS BEEN) YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE?
SOS Outreach’s greatest challenge has been maintaining high quality and consistent mentors for youth. With many of our program sites being in the mountain towns across the state, high transiency rates impact every facet of our communities, including our volunteer mentors. SOS programs are about more than just introducing youth to the outdoors; SOS enables them to unleash their own inner potential to thrive. By fostering lifelong passions and creating a safe community of adult mentors, our participants know that they matter. We are fortunate to have an amazing community of dedicated volunteers passionate about youth and the outdoors but are always looking to expand our SOS family.
WHAT WORDS OF ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR OTHER LEADERS WHO ARE LOOKING TO MAKE AN IMPACT?
By creating a forum in which SOS youth are empowered to tell their stories, they are given this opportunity not only to relay the facts, but to explain in their own words what they mean and why they matter. Even more vital than the disjointed details are the ways in which the events of our participants lives are perceived, causally connected and internally integrated to comprise a past, present and future identity that offers direction and meaning to their lives.
HOW CAN OTHERS SUPPORT YOU OR YOUR CAUSE?
Our work would not be possible without the generous contributions of individuals, corporations, businesses and mountain resort partners. SOS is proud to leverage an outstanding team of volunteers and donors to provide a positive influence in the lives of youth. There are over 900 adults investing their time through SOS including mentors, ski and snowboard instructors, backcountry guides, resort program coordinators, youth agency coordinators, administrative and event volunteers and chaperones. Fostering this community of invested adults strengthens our network of positive adult role models for youth that many lack outside of financial contributions are also critical to secure our ability to meet the growing demand for our programs and ensure these opportunities continue for many years to come. We also welcome any donations of lightly used gear (summer and winter) to provide opportunities for youth in the outdoors. For more information on getting involved, please visit www.sosoutreach.org.