In 1999, a primary concern was how few ethnic minority women participated in workshops.
The Breaking Down Barriers II conference helped identify three major barriers to participation:
lack of minority role models at workshops, distance of workshops from urban centers, and the
perception that minorities are not invited.
Suggested strategies to build bridges to minority populations included:
-diversifying publicity with images of women from different ethnic
groups
-inviting women in person to make them feel
welcome
-creating role models by training minority women and men to be
instructors with program.
BOW held an instructor orientation program in Missouri to that trained seven
African-American women and men to serve as role models to BOW participants.
A pilot field day to test strategies for welcoming ethnic minorities to BOW was held in
Wisconsin in
conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service. The workshop attracted the highest
percentage - 19% - of ethnic minority women to a BOW event to date. In addition, 42% of the
instructors represented ethnic minorities and served as role models to the participants.
In 2002, minority BOW participants in California and Texas are being interviewed to determine
how well the strategies designed to welcome them are working.
