The mission of Erica’s Wild Gift Project – Girls Outdoors (GO) – is to use outdoor adventure and exploration as a vehicle to support and empower refugee girls, ages 14-21, to become social and environmental leaders in the community of Burlington, Vermont by 2012. In the project’s first year, Erica will work with a group of 15 refugee girls, primarily of African origin, in creating a curriculum that incorporates outdoor skills, environmental education, leadership training, and interpersonal development. In the second year, have the girls take ownership and leadership in GO on the way to empowering them to take action in bettering their community.

In 2008, there were 16 million refugees worldwide displaced by war, social injustice or environmental catastrophe. Over 60,000 of these refugees, most originating from Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, were settled in the U.S. The U.S. State Department matches refugees with one of 10 nonprofit agencies, for example the International Rescue Committee, which resettle them in targeted communities like Burlington.