About A-DASH
We are river and training professionals collaboratively inspiring and supporting organizations to eliminate workplace discrimination and harassment through policy assessment, training and organizational change. Our name A-DASH (Anti-Discrimination and Sexual Harassment) reflects the group’s focus on a behavior and culture commonly accepted and tolerated in many organizations. This focus does not diminish the importance of the larger or other equity issues, but instead seeks to create a fine point on this area as part of a portfolio of tools and methods available to organization leaders.
The A-DASH Collaborative know rivers through our diverse experience working on and for rivers. We are educators, trainers, business owners and non-profit leaders.
Our Collaborative includes representatives from River Management Society, National Park Service, Arizona Raft Adventures, Nantahala Outdoor Center, Engage Coaching and Consulting, Strand Squared Solutions, and Respect Outside.
Mission
River and training professionals collaboratively inspiring and supporting organizations to create discrimination and harassment-free environments through policy assessment, trainings, and organizational change.
Vision
Rivers and other outdoor spaces where all people can work, play and belong.
Who We Serve
We serve outfitters and guides who share the world of rivers with clients. We serve field office staff who represent our treasured public lands and others who provide valuable products and services to help the public enjoy rivers and outdoor spaces safely.
A-DASH supports leaders, individuals and managers interested in changing the culture and conversation around sexual harassment in the outdoor spaces where employees and customers live, work and play.
We provide resources for professionals keeping up with the changing expectations of organizational culture surrounding diversity and sexual harassment, who are ready to add effective workplace practices to their personnel policies. Importantly, A-DASH and its instructors not only know their craft, they are personally familiar with river and outdoor culture.
Our Approach
As conversations about sexual harassment and sexism continue in society and in outdoor industries, it can be hard to know where to start to make changes in your organizational policies and culture.
A-DASH offers:
Opportunities to discover findings from research focused on sexual harassment in the whitewater community.
Acknowledgement of each client’s needs and interests in cultural change.
Hands-on training (in-person and virtual) in small group breakout, and role play - providing tools outfitters can use to initiate culture change in their organizations.
Pre-Assessment, Experiential Training, Post-Assessment, Iteration and Improvement
A-DASH programs are useful for managers, owners and human resources professionals keeping up with the changing expectations of organizational culture surrounding diversity and sexual harassment who are ready to add effective workplace practices to their personnel policy. Importantly, A-DASH and its instructors not only know their craft, they are personally familiar with river and outdoor culture.
Our Trainers
A-DASH connects you with experienced and trusted trainers who provide training and coaching for your team.
Jim Miller & Gina McClard
Trainer
Respect Outside founders Gina McClard, J.D., and Jim Miller recognized the need for employee trainings designed for the kinds of bold and adventurous individuals who make their home in the outdoors industry, and so they endeavored to develop a curriculum based on a philosophy of respect, trust and equity and in the workplace.
Gina McClard has been on a mission to end sexual and gender-based violence for more than three decades. As a licensed member of the Oregon (1997) and Illinois (1994) State Bar Associations, she has used her career to champion for the rights of women and underserved groups as a victim’s advocate, legislative consultant, and legal counsel in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. From her time at a research outpost in Antarctica to her founding of Red Earth Rising, a nonprofit providing critical resources and support services to women and girls in Ugandan refugee camps, her passion for justice and her adventurous spirit have taken her down many of the paths less traveled. She brings with her an intimate and in-depth knowledge of the culture and legalities of sexual misconduct and violence, as well as decades of experience in how to mitigate and address misconduct in the workplace and beyond.
Jim Miller is a graduate of California State University and a lifelong lover of the outdoors. His thirty-year career as a member of the outdoor recreation industry includes raft guiding for Mountain Travel-Sobek, marketing and retail training initiatives for brands such as Yakima Racks and Werner Paddles, ownership of a multi-unit retail specialty store, and consulting to manufacturers and retailers in the outdoor and action-sports areas. In his time in the industry, Jim has seen a number of game-changing initiatives implemented which have driven outdoor companies to the forefront of social awareness and work-life culture. These industry values are what first attracted him, and it is these values which he seeks to advance by creating real change in the ways people of different genders relate and interact while at work.
Our Team
A dedicated collaborative with roots in river management, education, communication and policy design.
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Risa Shimoda
Risa leads River Management Society programs and the organization’s unique community of federal and state agency staff, private industry members, educators, river trails and watershed professionals and the publics they serve. She is proud of to have initiated the River Training Center which offers professional development workshops, networking and trainings for river managers; the River Studies and Leadership Certificate offered at nine colleges and universities; the National Rivers Project; and a growing library of hydropower licenses and settlement summaries for lay stakeholders. Risa co-founded the Outdoor Alliance, Cross Watershed Network, and World River Center, parent organization for the International Whitewater Hall of Fame. She has served on the boards of the Conservation Alliance, American Whitewater, and Nantahala Outdoor Center and chairs the USA Freestyle Kayaking Committee.
Maria Blevins, Ph.D.
Maria Blevins is an Associate Professor of Communication at Utah Valley University. Before academia, Maria was a whitewater rafting guide on the New and Gauley rivers in West Virginia and on the Snake River in Wyoming. She also served as the Madison River Manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Her love of river running, and the river community inspired her to research sexual harassment in the whitewater industry. The goal of her research and involvement in A-DASH is to make river running an inclusive community for all people.
Corita Waters
Corita Waters coleads the NPS Wild and Scenic Rivers program and river recreation, and resilience work with the NPS Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program. During her 20 years with the NPS, Corita has worked to create resources for local community conservation and recreation, with a focus on river recreation and access and watershed conservation and collaborating across divisions, agencies, and organizations. Corita is passionate about creating connections between all people and the natural world, whether through direct experience or virtual, and her challenge remains finding and learning new ways to make connections. Corita found her sense of place rowing on, relaxing by, and researching the St. Mary’s River where she earned her degree in Biology and Environmental Studies from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Angie Fuhrmann
Angie Fuhrmann currently manages the River Management Society's River Training Center, where she organizes in-person and virtual training opportunities for river professionals. Her diverse background includes working as a river guide for a number of years and developing and teaching 26 undergraduate anthropology courses entirely remotely using a variety of digital platforms. She has conducted graduate research along the headwaters of the Amazon River in Peru, coordinated ecological knowledge workshops in Guatemala and guided kayak trips in Baja California, Mexico. In addition to guiding raft trips on the Rogue River, she was the assistant Latin American Operations Manager and White Water Rafting Guide for ROW Adventures for five years. Most recently, Angie was the Youth Education Programs Coordinator for the Siskiyou Field Institute. Angie holds a bachelor’s degree from Northern Arizona University and a Master’s Degree from Colorado State University in Collaborative Conservation and Anthropology. Angie is thrilled to have the opportunity of working closely with A-DASH Collaborative members to make rivers more inclusive and accessible for all.
Alex Thevenin
Alex Thevenin (she/her/hers) is the General Manager of Arizona Raft Adventures. She became interested in this work as she became increasingly aware of how identity plays into how we work and play together. Alex is a leader for the white water rafting industry, continually advocating for increased focus around sexual harassment and inclusion, while navigating, mis-stepping, and grappling with the complexities of privilege in recreation. Alex serves on the A-DASH Collective, on the America Outdoors Board of Directors and their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force, and on the Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association Executive Committee.
Alexa Spielhagen
A long-time commercial river guide and recreational outdoorsperson, Alexa is currently a PhD candidate in Anthropology at the University of Arizona. Her current research focuses on the burgeoning diversity movement within the outdoors, as well as the challenges faced by non-white, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled outdoor professionals in navigating the industry. She is also interested in the ongoing histories of religion, secularism, and colonialism in crafting outdoors practice, as well as the interplay among spirituality, social change, and the outdoors. One of her favorite ways of combining her academic training and outdoors interests is giving talks to commercial rafting passengers, offering them a framework for understanding their roles and desires as outdoor consumers, the histories of how "wilderness" came to be in the United States, and the complexities and pain of access conflicts. As an advocate and activist working both within and outside of outdoor organizations to reduce exploitation, discrimination, harassment, and assault in the outdoors, Alexa is passionate about creating an outdoors where people are no longer harmed for being different.
Bekah Price
Bekah Price leads communication efforts for the River Management Society including website, social media and traditional media outreach. She spent several years guiding on the Nolichucky River in Tennessee and North Carolina and served as office manager for an outfitter there. Her background in journalism and public relations combined with experience as a river guide bring a unique skillset and perspective to the mission of A-DASH, where she supports website development and outreach. Through her work with A-DASH, she hopes to create more inclusive and equitable opportunities for all who work on and for rivers.