SE3:EP14 - SOS Outreach: Diversity and Inclusion in Sport

Visit any western resort town and you’ll find a robust LatinX community, sometimes making up 30% of the population. It’s a robust part of community culture. But oftentimes, it’s a segment that doesn’t ski. SOS Outreach, a nonprofit serving 15 resort and urban communities nationwide including Utah, is seeking to change that. Today, Last Chair will visit an SOS Outreach ski day at Park City Mountain to speak with leaders, mentors and participants about the engaging program.

SOS Outreach was formed nearly 30 years ago and has operated in Utah since 2015. Its mission is to bring together underserved youth under a mentorship program and get them on snow, with supporting partnerships for equipment and lifts. And while the program introduces youth to the joy of the sport, it also brings life lessons of character and values.

Central to its cause is inclusivity - ensuring that underserved youth in resort towns have a pathway to the sport. It’s especially important for the LatinX community where their parents and most of their peers have little or no past engagement in the sport.

SOS Outreach event manager Abbey Eddy recalls a story of a 12 year old Mexican boy who was driving with his father and admiring the mountains. “‘Those mountains, they’re not for us, son,’” said Eddy of the father’s reply. “You just hear that and you realize that there's a whole population moving here for a different reason than most people think. And traditionally, like myself, it's white people that move here to ski. But there's a large population. It's about 20 percent of our Park City community that moves, not necessarily to ski, but to work and for other opportunities that primarily is our LatinX population.” 

On the March Saturday, Last Chair visited an SOS Outreach program at Park City Mountain, it was an industry day where representatives of the mountain and other businesses were there to introduce youth to potential career opportunities in the sport they loved. Earlier in the season, Olympians Steven Nyman and Brita Sigourney were a big hit with SOS participants.

At the base of the First Time lift, the group of around 100 skiers, riders and mentors gathered for a briefing. Some of it was the logistics of the day. But more was focused on life skills and leadership as program manager Palmer Daniels deftly brought the group together with volunteer mentors to talk about values.

This episode of Last Chair takes us inside a segment of our population that is a vital part of our resort communities. Listen in to learn more about SOS Outreach from leader Abbey Eddy, and especially mentor Justin and program participant E. And as you listen, imagine the big smiles on their faces as they headed up the mountain.

Here’s a sample of the conversations. Listen in to the full Last Chair podcast to learn more. <<LINK>>

Abbey Eddy, Individual Giving & Events Manager 

We ski because it’s fun. But SOS Outreach brings more than fun, doesn’t it?

It's really an incredible organization that we can have this national reach with the same mission across the board to make sure that we're increasing diversity in our snowsports communities, increasing access and also being really intentional with our programming and our curriculum so that we're helping kids to transition the life skills that they naturally learn from being on the mountain into using them into their everyday lives and strengthening our mountain communities as a result.

What’s fascinating to me is that SOS Outreach works in both mountain communities and metro areas.

It's an incredible scene. We have these more rural mountain community programs, but then our urban locations are powerful and impactful. It's really a different challenge. In mountain communities, kids are looking at the mountains every day but might not be able to access them. And then in a place like Detroit, you're working with kids that have never seen skis before. And so opening their eyes to even the sport of skiing and snowboarding, it's opening their world into something totally new, different, exciting and impactful.

How is this population different within the community?

For a lot of our Latinx families that have moved here - their parents don't ski. Then you don't have that same comfort level with the sport of walking through the village. How do you carry your skis and what equipment do you need? There's a lot that goes into skiing. It's more than just having a lift ticket, but having to have all the right clothes and the right boots and socks and. And again, this clunky gear and how you're managing all of those different pieces just to get to the base of the lift can be challenging. And when your parents aren't helping you with that process of getting from the parking lot to the lift because they haven't done it before. We're really intentional with making sure that our mentors and adults and volunteers from the community are helping provide that kind of coaching and assistance to the youth so that they feel more comfortable and confident when they are putting their skis on at the base of the lift there.

One word to describe what SOS Outreach means to the community?

That's a really hard one, can I use three words? One phrase: spread the love. We say it at every ride day. It really encompasses what we do and the impact that we have.

Justin, SOS Outreach alumni and current member

Justin is a first generation college student in his family, attending the University of Utah majoring in biology. He’s been skiing for a decade and now serves as a mentor for youth.

What was the thing you first loved about skiing?

I enjoyed the speed mostly. I'm a little speedster. I like to go down the slopes - I'm obviously careful with other people around me - but I like to go fast.

What does it mean to you to be a first generation skier in your family?

It's a privilege to have the opportunity to ski. It just gives you the freedom to do whatever you want. It relieves stress from your work, house and school. It's awesome.

What motivated you to become a mentor?

I became a mentor because I wanted to have an impactful meaning to my community. Mostly, my Latin American friends, I just want to show them that you can totally have fun. And I know life might be stressful for your parents and yourself, but it's good to go outside and enjoy.

What does skiing bring to you?

It's my only sport that I really love and enjoy. And that brings me happiness and joy. It's fun to hang out with your friends when you're skiing, too.

E, SOS Outreach Skier

E is a junior at Park City High School who has been skiing since fifth grade. Her big smile and joyous approach to skiing is contagious within the group.

E, how did you get started skiing?

SOS was one of the ways, back then when I was in fifth grade. I didn't have the opportunity or enough money to actually go into skiing. But SOS helped with that and it's been affordable. I have been able to go out and ski even more than I would have had.

Did your family ski?

I am the first person in my family to ski. They kind of find it cool, like they kind of want to try it out now because they see how much I...