Kinship Climbing Collective Empowers Young Women and Gender Expansive Youth Through Rock Climbing

Kinship Climbing Collective (KCC) is a rock climbing and leadership development program serving young women and gender expansive youth from NYC public schools. KCC empowers its participants to recognize their own power and potential through climbing, mentorship, and community. KCC’s curriculum is designed to help young women recognize their own strength and realize their potential through a discipline they may not have experienced before: climbing. The KCC program empowers girls to become not just climbers, but leaders in both their communities and the outdoors.

KCC is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. We currently serve young women from 10 New York City public schools and have built a community that provides a safe space for dialogue around issues related to gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and other dimensions of identity. KCC believes in gender inclusivity and our program is open to gender expansive youth.

Click here to apply and learn more about our upcoming 2022-2023 programming.

 
 
 

How KCC Gets It Done

Through expert coaching, mentorship, and outdoor education, KCC provides New York City public high school students with unparalleled opportunities to develop themselves not just as athletes and climbers, but as the next generation of community and outdoor leaders. 

KCC partners with The Cliffs at LIC and CatRock Ventures, an indoor climbing gym in Long Island City, to offer free climbing instruction to our mentees – along with Wilderness First Aid certification courses, Leave No Trace education, and more. In addition to the 9 months of indoor climbing instruction, we take our climbers on outdoor climbing trips and overnights including to the Shawangunk Mountains in New York State’s Hudson Valley and to Rumney, New Hampshire.

KCC is supported by CatRock Ventures, The Cliffs at LIC, The Mohonk Preserve, Mountain Skills, Evolv, Dank Banana Bread, Clif Bar, Outdoor Research, and your generous donations.

 
 
 
 

Meet KCC Founders

Alexis Krauss is a singer, songwriter and front-woman of the band, Sleigh Bells. A long time lover of the outdoors, Alexis is NYS licensed guide, an outdoor educator for Wild Earth, a Wilderness First Responder, and an AMGA-certified Single Pitch Instructor.

Emily Varisco has been coaching competitive climbers for 15 years. She is the former head coach of The Cliffs at Long Island City and privately coaches numerous athletes spanning the East Coast. Emily is a board member of the Team Aidan Foundation, which provides underserved competitive climbers the financial means to compete through USA Climbing, and she heads up numerous outreach programs in an effort to promote climbing as enrichment and therapy for underserved youth.

Eva Kalea is a longtime climber and the marketing and operations director at Threshold, an environmental journalism organization. She is an advocate of sustainability, diversity, and inclusiveness in climbing and beyond. Eva is also on the board of the non-profit Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, and is the founder of The Cliffs Lady+ Crushers, which provides climbing instruction, mentorship, and a supportive community for its 450+ members.

Volunteer Mentors
The program’s founders are assisted by a team of incredible volunteer mentors, many of whom are members of The Cliffs Lady+ Crushers. This format allows students to learn from women and gender non-conforming climbers with a broad range of backgrounds, interests, strengths, and teaching styles.

 

Support NYC Youth

 
 

Follow Our Adventures!

Follow Young Women Who Crush on Instagram.