About Us

Since 2005, Betties360 has provided under-served girls in the Portland community access to outdoor activities and life-skill training for free.

Our Mission

Betties360 inspires, confidence, well-being and community in cisgender girls, female-identifying girls and non-binary youth through skill-building, non-traditional physical activity, and outdoor adventure.

Our Vision

Betties360 primarily seeks to:

Deliver a creative and cost-effective way to provide outdoor experiences and life-skill training to under-represented youth.
Provide the Portland community with opportunities to share valuable outdoor experiences with youth who do not otherwise have access.
Empower adolescent youth to be healthy, successful, and engaged members of the Portland community.

Impact & Theory of Change

Betties360 has seen many positive impacts of our programming which helps make youth more resilient and empowered to make healthy life decisions.

The key impacts on academic

Raised school attendance rates
Improved GPA's
Improved positive support network
Improved self-reported and peer-reported levels of self-confidence and self-efficacy

Meet Our Program Staff

Favorite Outdoor Activities

Hiking, biking, rock climbing, swimming in rivers and lakes, drawing in nature.

Why I joined Betties360

As a child and teen, the natural world was a source of grounding and inspiration for me. I enjoyed climbing trees, making forest forts, wading in streams, and going backpacking with my dad. I want to make these opportunities for connection with nature and physical confidence possible for more girls. I am excited to also bring my love of theater and art to this program to foster communication, individual expression, and community creation.

What do you do when you're not working at Betties360?

I work as a freelance artist designing art for healthcare facilities, running a community art/storytelling project called Handmade Stories, and volunteering with a school-based restorative justice theater group, Acción intercultural con Corazón (Intercultural Action with Heart).

Arcadia Trueheart

Program Co-Director

Favorite Outdoor Activities

I love to be outdoors walking and learning. I like to study and learn about the trees of Portland, and the plants of the Pacific Northwest. I love swimming in rivers, lakes, and occasionally the Pacific Ocean.

Why I joined Betties360

I joined Betties a few months after I took a 380-mile walk along the Oregon Coast. Walking every day for weeks got me thinking about the gift I was given of an active life, and how much I'd like to share that engagement with young people who are still learning what makes them feel alive, and awake.

What do you do when you're not working at Betties360?

I walk every day, I read, write, cook, and create with fabric. I love to spend time with friends outdoors, and in long conversations.

Maya Hickman

Program Co-Director

Meet Our Board of Directors

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson Photo_edited.jpg

Ashlan was born in Hawaii and moved to Oregon just in time to start middle school – 6th grade and was lucky to make friends quickly who were supportive and positive influences. This is part of why the students we serve in Betties360 is important to her alongside the mission. She first learned of Betties360 while volunteering for the AMA PDX Agency program, paired with Betties360 she assisted with marketing strategy, updating our logo, and website. She joined the board in February 2017, became Vice Chair in February 2018, and Board Chair in January 2019.

Ashlan holds a Master's degree in Strategic Communications from the University of Oregon and a Bacherlor's degree in Business Administration Marketing from Portland State University. She completed a Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation with the PSU Nonprofit Institute.

When not volunteering with Betties360, she serves as President of AMA PDX, and board member for Willamette Valley Development Officers. She also has her own digital marketing agency – AshbeanPDX Marketing LLC.

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson

Board Chair

Margueritte de Laurier has lived her life traveling the world harnessing a passion for our environment, outdoor recreation, sports, culture and community empowerment. She was born in Finland followed by formative years traveling between Brasil, Manhattan and Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a degree in International Political Economics and Business. While international affairs and uniting international cultures was an academic passion, her love for the outdoors and snowboarding ultimately led her to a career to match her lifestyle at Red Bull. Five years ago her career with Red Bull brought her to Portland where she has enjoyed establishing roots with her friends and community. Margueritte’s career with Red Bull has lasted over 12 years where she has been responsible for marketing, leading teams, planning events, managing sales and corporate partnerships. When she is not working on Red Bull projects you can find her staying active with travel, yoga, rock climbing, dirt biking, mountain biking, and snowboarding. Margueritte is deeply connected to the Betties360 mission and can relate to the impact our programs can make on the future well being of the girls we support.

Margueritte de Laurier

Vice Chair

Stephanie strives to spend as much time as possible in nature to feed her body, mind and spirit. As a naturopathic physician, movement and nature-time are often part of her holistic treatment plans. Stephanie loves to experience the great outdoors at home and abroad, and feels fortunate to have been exposed to backpacking as a young adult. Every trip continues to be formative, and she is driven to share this potential with girls in Oregon through Betties360.

Stephanie Kaplan

Treasurer

Jackie grew up in the least likely environment for an outdoorsperson – urban Los Angeles. As a teenager, she didn’t think she could be a scientist until she was encouraged by a high school teacher. She took to environmental science and spending time outside understanding to understand what she exactly she strove to protect. She went on to get a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from University of California – Santa Cruz and a M.S. in Environmental Sciences – Water Resource Science and certificate in Geographic Information Systems from Oregon State University. Today she is a Project Scientist for Stantec Consulting, Inc. Along the way she learned to love hiking, snowboarding, yoga, backpacking, trail running, scuba diving, kayaking, and most recently, mountain biking. She’s excited to help share the excitement and empowerment of the outdoors and action sports with the girls of Betties360.

Jackie Brenner

Member-at-Large

Our Founders' Story

April Snyder and Kristen Wright are the founders of Betties360. Below is the transcript of an interview from 2012 where they shared the reasons why they were inspired to start the organization.

What inspired you to start Betties360?

April: Kristen and I have been best buds since childhood and we shared a love the great outdoors. Our families backpacked together and we both loved to windsurf in the Columbia Gorge and always seemed to be active playing outside.

At the time we started Betties360, my two daughters were in elementary school and I noticed that their generation just wasn’t quite as active. I was going to college to become a teacher, so I was very in tune with children; I had a part-time job as a teacher throughout my schooling years so I was around various age groups. I noticed that at around middle school age the girls became more self-conscious and not as active.

This concerned me as I saw my two girls reaching that age and noticing the changes in them as well. At first, Kristen and I thought that it would be fun to do an after-school program where we would take kids on nature hikes, do some climbing, etc. The plan changed through research on the needs of kids to evolve into just having girls. We thought that it would be nice to take out the boy element so that the girls could just play and not feel like they had to look good in front of the boys or even perform at their level.

Kristen: Betties360 is the culmination of lots of inspiring experiences. My parents loved hiking, backpacking, and climbing so I had lots of opportunities to explore nature. In those wild places I was also able to explore myself. I remember one trip in particular when I was 13 and climbing Mount Adams with my parents. My dad had hurt his knee at the false summit, and my parents told me I could go on alone. I was scared and intimidated, but also curious why my parents believed I could do it. There were lots of other people on the mountain that day and my parents took every precaution to ensure my safety. I thought about turning around lots of times, but kept going. When I reached the summit I felt so empowered. Later as an adult I realized how experiences like this had given me skills that were useful in other areas of my life.

April and I had shared so many of these outdoor adventures together, and we realized our friendship was another important element. We pushed each other, supported each other, and had a blast together. We wanted to provide this kind of space and freedom for women and girls to explore and develop their own abilities.

What was your biggest challenge?

April: Learning how to run a nonprofit! Kristen and I came into Betties360 with different strengths and weaknesses, so we balanced each other out well. When we brought on our first board members they really helped us to take Betties360 to a different level and it has continued to evolve ever since. I’m just thrilled that it’s still going after all of these years!

Kristen: My biggest challenge was balance. Starting a nonprofit with no prior experience takes a lot of effort, and balancing that with my own well-being and my role as a partner and mother was tough. I quickly learned it was another opportunity to learn new skills—sort of like a Betties360’s program in itself!

What surprised you the most?

April: How many people that thought Betties360 was a good idea and wanted to jump on board with us and give their time and energy to it!

Kristen: I think what still has me awestruck is the depth of courage and tenacity of the young women in our programs. I remember one girl who had taken a pretty bad spill on her bike and it was her first time mountain biking. I wanted her to have a positive experience and didn’t want to push her too much, so I offered to go back with her. Through tears she replied, “Why would I do that?” and picked herself up, dusted herself off, and got back on her bike. Never underestimate the potential of a young woman!

Why did you step away from Betties360?

April: As with a lot of things, you just know when it’s your time to step down and let new blood come in and put their heart, time and energy into it. I just felt like dead weight after awhile and was very excited that Betties360 was thriving and didn’t need me anymore.

Kristen: Stepping away from Betties360 was a difficult choice for me, but ultimately it was the best decision for myself and for the organization. A difficult personal circumstance had arisen and after I prioritized my son and myself, there wasn’t much time or energy left for the organization. April and I had served as the base support for Betties360 initially and I realized that the organization would be more resilient if we stepped back to make space for an infusion of creativity and energy from other willing and interested people. Thankfully the mission of Betties360 runs deep for some pretty amazing people, and they’ve been able to not only keep the organization afloat, but also take it to new heights.

What are you up to now?

April: Right now I have been putting my heart and soul into roller derby. I have always loved rollerskating since I was a kid and this sport feels like it was created with me in mind! I just wish it were going when I was younger, it’s tough on your body, but man is it worth it!

Kristen: I am currently in graduate school, studying natural resource policy and administration. Interestingly enough, I continue to be tethered to the Betties360 spirit, as some of my inspiration for choosing this line of study comes from the work of amazing women like Vandana Shiva and Wangari Matthai, both Betties in their own right.

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