KAYA Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Over the last week, protests have grown against the unlawful killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, stemming from hundreds of years of systemic racism against Black people in America. As this sinks in, we have remained publicly silent to listen, process, and prepare our commitments for how KAYA can respond to this call to action. 

We acknowledge that it is impossible to overlook the relationship between this racism and the lack of diversity in climbing gyms, the outdoors, and in the outdoor industry. The climbing and outdoor industries need to do better. We need to do better.

This is a problem so much bigger than climbing and the outdoors, but these are the places where we can begin to affect meaningful change.

Here is where we are beginning: 

1. We are signing the Outdoor Industry CEO Pledge. 

2. We are hiring immediately for a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisor to guide us in our DEI strategy internally and externally. This is a paid position.  

3. We are committing to diversifying our team, ensuring that every final candidate pool includes at least 2 candidates of underrepresented communities (e.g. Black, Latinx, Indigenous). The KAYA executive team is taking direct responsibility for diversifying our recruitment and hiring process to reflect the climbing community we seek to cultivate. Specifically, we will be working closely with the InSolidarity project to publicize our job opportunities using their job board and with their partner networks.   

4. We are raising funds from the KAYA team, friends, and community, and will donate 50% to broad DEI groups such as Black Lives Matter and 50% to climbing-specific organizations working to increase access and inclusion to climbing and the outdoors. 

5. Beyond fundraising, we are seeking a long-term partnership with climbing-based advocacy organizations with whom we can work continuously to leverage the KAYA platform to increase access and inclusion to climbing.

This is the beginning and our starting point. It is not perfect, it is not complete. We have to start, we must act, and we are open and committed to getting better in service of the Black community and communities of color.