Jaiya Hughes loves everything about winter.
When temperatures drop, Hughes, 10, cannot wait to don her snow coat and boots and hit the hills of her East Liberty neighborhood in Pittsburgh, sled in hand. Her mother, Tazi Hughes, always joins in on the action.
But when Jaiya sees fellow sled riders with ski tags hanging from their coats, Tazi has to let her daughter down gently.
“I don’t know how to ski, so for me to bring her … it just seemed too far-fetched,” said Tazi, 50.
That all changed in January. Jaiya joined a group of 45 children and young adults participating in a program by the Outdoor Inclusion Coalition — a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that creates free year-round recreation opportunities for Black and Latino people in Pittsburgh.
Established as a nonprofit in 2023, the coalition offers a skiing and snowboarding program for those 25 and younger to ski free of charge for seven weeks at Hidden Valley and Seven Springs resorts in Somerset County.
Founder Marcus Shoffner and his twin brother, Derrick, were introduced to camping, hiking, mountaineering, skiing and snowboarding by their grandfather. They rarely saw other people of color joining in on the action, Shoffner said.