Bio
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Parker McMullen Bushman is the Colorado State University Director of Extension for the City and County of Denver. Her background in the education, conservation, outdoor recreation, and interpretive fields spans over 23+ years. She has a Master of Natural Resources from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, with a focus in Environmental Education and Interpretation.
Parker has a passion for equity and inclusion in conservation and the outdoors. Her interest in justice, accessibility, and equity issues developed from her personal experiences facing the unequal representation of people of color in nonprofit and environmental organizations. Parker tackles these complex issues by addressing them through head on activism and education. In Colorado she works with environmental organizations to aid them in building a culturally diverse and culturally competent organizations that are representative of the populations that they hope to reach and serve. Parker brings this focus on inclusion to her work at Denver Extension, as she works cooperatively to collaborate with communities in research-based programming that is attuned to Denver and enhanced by partners, and campus- and community-based expertise and resources. Parker believes in the importance of community-based environmental education programs to empower local community members to take an active role in sustainable development of their communities while protecting their environmental resources. Parker is a member of several committees that focus on diversity in environmental fields as well as a presenter and trainer on diversity issues. She sits on the board of Environmental Learning for Kids, Metro Denver Nature Alliance, the Next 100 Coalition and the National Association for Interpretation. Parker is a Certified Interpretive Guide and Certified Interpretive Trainer. In addition to Parker’s role at Colorado State University Extension she is also the Founder of an DEI Consulting Firm called Ecoinclusive ,the creator of KWEEN werk , and the Co-founder of Inclusive Journeys. Ecoinclusive was born out of a desire to make sure everyone has a connection to the outdoors. Especially communities of color that traditional have been underrepresented in these spaces. . Ecoinclusive provides resources for leadership at non-profits and environmental organizations to aid them in building a culturally diverse and culturally competent staff that reflects and connects with the populations that they serve. Inclusive Journeys: Inclusive Journeys is a company that works to identify safe and welcoming spaces for all. Our first project is the Digital Green Book. We are working to build a website that’s like Yelp, but for inclusivity. On this website, users can submit business locations they feel safe in, businesses owned/operated by people of marginalized identities. Users can rate a business on a range of things, such as courtesy of staff, ADA compliance, sense of personal safety as it relates to their identity, gender neutral bathrooms, and more. Crowd-sourced entries (like Yelp) will populate “inclusivity reviews” for businesses and recreation spaces. KWEEN werk : KWEEN stands for Keep Widening Environmental Engagement Narratives. KWEEN werk / Earth KWEEN challenges traditional representations of what it means to be outdoorsy by showing a variety of bodies engaged in outdoor spaces. Kween werK is bringing people together in the fight for Justice and Equity. Using Social Media as a tool this Parker shows her many sides as a Social Justice Activist -- part Diva, Artist and Educator. |
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