Outdoor Leadership · Relaunching 2027LEAP
Leadership, Environment, Adventure, and Purpose
LEAP is a six-week outdoor recreation and leadership program for youth ages 12 to 18, with a particular focus on Black boys and young men eligible for special education services. The program combines outdoor recreation, environmental education, leadership development, civic engagement, and culturally responsive social-emotional learning. Participants engage in hiking, environmental stewardship, tree planting, water-quality activities, and other outdoor experiences while learning about Coast Salish environmental practices, environmental racism, climate justice, and sustainable agriculture, and they develop advocacy, public speaking, research, and presentation skills, culminating in opportunities to present environmental advocacy campaigns to community leaders, activists, lawmakers, and their families.
What LEAP Provides
- Outdoor recreation, environmental education, and leadership development
- Civic engagement and culturally responsive social-emotional learning
- Coast Salish environmental practices, environmental racism, and climate justice
- Advocacy, public speaking, research, and presentation skills
- Environmental advocacy campaigns presented to community leaders and lawmakers
- Creative expression and writing
- Community-based programming at Seattle's Rainier Arts Center and outdoor sites across the region
LEAP completed its first summer cohort in 2025, serving 16 youth through programming based at Seattle's Rainier Arts Center and outdoor learning experiences across the region. Standing Tall Collective plans to relaunch and expand LEAP in 2027, building upon the lessons, partnerships, and outdoor-learning model established through that initial cohort.
LEAP, 2025 Cohort
LEAP's first cohort, summer 2025.
From LEAP's first cohort, before its planned relaunch and expansion in 2027.
- Youth Served
- 16
- Week Program
- 6
- Program Sites
- 8
Youth Served
Week Program
Program Sites
LEAP's first cohort was based at Seattle's Rainier Arts Center, with outdoor learning experiences at Discovery Park, Seward Park, Point Defiance Park, Seahurst Park, Lake Youngs Trail, Tolt-MacDonald Park, and Nurturing Roots Farm.