Attend an Event

YES holds fundraising and community events throughout the year, and we would love to see you at one soon!

Join us for Access for All, a virtual roundtable about leadership, equity, and belonging in the outdoors.

How do we make the outdoors welcoming and accessible for all Californians during a moment when people’s wellbeing and sense of safety feel threatened?

This is the central question we’ll explore in our virtual roundtable: Access for All — Building Community, Leadership & Belonging in the Outdoors, facilitated by Eric Aaholm, YES Nature to Neighborhoods Executive Director. 

In this session, you'll hear perspectives from a powerful group of leaders across the environmental movement, youth leadership, education, and philanthropy including:  

  • Jon brings a national perspective to this conversation, having served as the 18th Director of the National Park Service under President Obama. During his tenure, he championed policies that prioritized public engagement, environmental justice, and access to public lands for all. Now at UC Berkeley, Jon leads efforts to shape the future of parks through research, advocacy, and cross-sector collaboration. He’ll speak to the threats facing national public lands today and why local leadership and community-rooted efforts like YES are more important than ever.

  • After two decades of leadership in parks—including roles at Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore—Armando now oversees the 280 state parks across all of California. As Director, Armando is dedicated to transforming state parks into spaces that authentically reflect California's diverse population. He champions policies that prioritize inclusion, equity, and cultural relevance, working to expand access for historically underserved communities. He'll share how state-level strategies and partnerships with community organizations like YES are reshaping the meaning of belonging in our public spaces.

  • Craig has spent his career making science, ocean and environmental literacy a core part of public education. At the Lawrence Hall of Science, he helped design and scale statewide, national and international initiatives that bring science and the outdoors directly into classrooms and communities. Today, as a leader with the California Campaign for Outdoor Learning, he’s advancing a vision where every young person—beginning with those most vulnerable—participates in regular, meaningful outdoor learning experiences. Craig will speak about how environmental literacy, equity, and leadership development intersect, and why partnerships like YES are critical to California’s future.

  • Hannah oversees grantmaking that enables access and opportunity for youth to thrive through nature. Prior to her role at the Foundation, Hannah led community organizing, land use, and youth engagement work in the Bay Area. With a background in environmental justice and community development, Hannah brings a deep understanding of how philanthropic strategy can support transformative, place-based work. She’ll share why investing in outdoor access is a critical part to long-term systems change, and how YES’s youth-led, community-rooted model fits into a larger movement for equity and climate justice.

  • We’re honored to have Ean, a youth leader who has been on YES’s Youth Leadership Pathway for the past three years. Ean started in YES’s Richmond Rangers and is continuing his journey in the Camp-to-Communities Leaders cohort. He’ll tell us how outdoor experiences are shaping him as a leader, and why having a permanent gathering place (in the form of YES’s new Base Camp community center) matters to young people like him.

  • Eric has been at YES since 2007 and overseen its growth and operations, ensuring fulfillment of its mission and vision. He has a Masters in Social Welfare, Management and Planning from UC Berkeley and is fluent in Spanish. Prior to joining YES, Eric was a Project Manager at Health Research for Action at Berkeley’s School of Public Health; a Coordinator for a youth mentoring program; and a Spanish and ESL teacher. Eric is a graduate of LeaderSpring’s 2014 cohort for East Bay executive directors and serves as a board member of GO Public Schools West Contra Costa County.

Together, we’ll explore what it takes to advance equity in outdoor access—and how local efforts like YES’s Base Camp Campaign are translating these values into place-based action.


Our aim is for you to leave feeling inspired by the good work already happening and equipped with concrete, meaningful ways to take part—whether through advocacy, education, partnership, or philanthropy.