Advance Financial Foundation Contributes $10K To Nashville Programs

Dallas, Texas—Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation, the leading provider of outdoor skill, safety and conservation curriculum to schools nationwide, will receive $10,000 from Advance Financial Foundation to implement OTF’s Outdoor Adventures program in middle and high schools in Nashville.

This is the Foundation’s second $10,000 gift in support of the OA program in Nashville, Tenn.

The first gift helped start the program in 10 schools, and OTF has a similar 10-school goal for the current donation.

“This is visionary generosity from Advance Financial Foundation, and it positively impacts the lives of middle and high school students in Nashville,” says Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation Chairman Kyle Shidler. “Many more students will experience the joys and benefits of being outdoors while learning safety and conservation skills as a result of this support.”

“I’m a firm believer in putting devices down and getting outdoors. We have so much to learn from being in nature,” says Advance Financial Foundation CEO Tina Hodges. “The Advance Financial Foundation is proud to support Outdoor Adventures in Nashville, including my own alma mater, Hillwood High School. We look forward to watching the classes grow.”

The mission of Advance Financial Foundation is to positively impact the quality of life for Advance Financial employees, customers and communities. The Advance Financial Foundation was created by Advance Financial in 2014 to support philanthropic community efforts focused on education. Advance Financial supports and funds a variety of initiatives across Tennessee. Its hallmark program, Advancing Education, makes college more accessible by awarding scholarships to high school seniors. For more information, visit http://www.af247.com/advancingeducation.

The Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation’s outdoor education curriculum is now in 928 public and private schools nationwide from kindergarten to high school, a number that is steadily increasing.

OTF’s Outdoor Adventures program is a fun, interactive course where students are taught lifelong skills using an integrated, 34-unit curriculum comprised of math, science, writing and critical thinking skills. The 290 detailed lesson plans cover angler education, archery, hunter education, boater education, orienteering, survival skills, camping, outdoor cooking, challenge courses, backpacking, mountain bike camping, paddle sports, rock climbing, shooting sports, CPR/first aid and fauna, flora and wilderness medicine. OA teachers can pick units specific to their region and local ecosystems.

Founded in 1981 in Dallas, Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation is a public nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. For many schools, grant money offsets the cost of the program, plus OTF offers matching funds for equipment as new schools join. The resulting classes can be taught as a P.E. course, local elective or with agricultural science and wildlife management.

The Outdoor Adventures education program is offered in 928 schools in 45 states nationwide with more than 90,000 students participating each year and more than 400,000 program graduates. Each OA student spends 180 hours learning outdoor education per year. The program has totaled 16 million classroom hours of outdoor education to date.