WitC featured in Positive News magazine

Here’s a snippet from the article, published in November 2023, which you can read in full by clicking on the image below:

The team at Forestry England hope the new trails will encourage more people into forests. It particularly wants to attract visits from people of colour and those from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds as research shows they have vastly reduced access to green spaces. Data from the Campaign to Protect Rural England found that just 1% of visitors to national parks in England were from Black, Asian, or Ethnic (BAME) minority backgrounds, in contrast to 14% of the population in England who are BAME.

“When we first started, our presence was seen as troublesome,” says Beth Collier, a psychotherapist and founder of Wild in the City, a group that helps people of colour reconnect with nature. “It raised awareness of the fact that the sector was very white. It raised questions about the environmental sector, particularly around a fear of hostility or racism.”