CHAMPIONING NATIONAL PARKS FOR EVERYONE
Getting out in National Parks brings people joy, opportunities for recreation, improves health and wellbeing, and builds a sense of belonging.
However, significantly fewer people from ethnically and culturally diverse communities visit, live in, volunteer or work for a National Park than other groups.
Our new project will help people from diverse communities build a lifelong relationship with National Parks.
We have received a development grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to begin developing the Championing National Parks for Everyone project.
The project aims to work with people from diverse communities.
The project is led by the charity Peak District Mosaic. They will work with the Peak District National Park, North York Moors National Park and Yorkshire Dales National Park to run the project across those different parks and their nearby cities. Derbyshire Dales Council for Voluntary Service are also a project partner, working to help build capacity and infrastructure.
What we hope the project will achieve
We hope the final project will work with people from diverse communities living close to the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks to;
- Increase the diversity of visitors to the National Parks through activities that develop skills, confidence and awareness of the benefits of National Parks
- Develop and deliver at a larger scale the Community Champion training programme to support diverse communities to visit the National Parks independently
- Create improved pathways for people from diverse communities to enter employment in the environment / outdoor sector
- Develop Peak District Mosaic as a larger, more sustainable and financially resilient organisation who can support Community Champions in the long term
- Improve the practice of the National Park Authorities in working with diverse communities
Developing and getting feedback on our plans
The project is currently in a development phase from November 2022 until August 2023. Co-creation is central to the project’s vision – and we have run a series of networking events to understand how the project can best meet the needs of different communities.
We will submit our final plans to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for review in August 2023.
If we are successful in our application, we hope the project will start in summer 2024 and run for two years.
“Peak District Mosaic trustees are delighted to be working in partnership with the three national parks. We will continue the journey to engage with more communities, to raise awareness and support individuals to develop the necessary/relevant skills to be ambassadors for their communities. It is an exciting time for us and we are grateful for the opportunity this project brings.”
Championing National Parks for Everyone is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we hope that the project will support more people from diverse communities to have the skills and resources to build a lifelong relationship with their National Parks.
