Houston BLK Beetles Development from Podcast to Collective

[ad_1] by Mary Spiller December 16, 2025

What started as a storytelling platform has advanced right into a rising motion creating culturally protected outside areas—with plans to develop past Texas in 2026.

BLK Beetles, a Houston-based collective centered on reconnecting folks of shade with nature and neighborhood, is getting into a brand new part of development after launching what leaders describe as its most formidable effort but: the BLK Beetles Collective.

The Houston-based group, which started as a podcast in 2021, has advanced into a company that hosts outside meetups, artistic workshops, and storytelling tasks that emphasize belonging and cultural security. Since its founding, BLK Beetles has engaged greater than 1,400 contributors by way of operating crews, guided hikes, birdwatching occasions, and its digital platform, BLK Beetles StoryHouse.

“Individuals weren’t simply keen to listen to tales of belonging; they had been desperate to reside them,” mentioned co-founder Samad Hinton instructed Blavity. “That realization pushed us to widen our focus. Our communities wanted actual areas the place folks of shade might rediscover the enjoyment, chance, and therapeutic that comes from being related to 1 one other.”

The enlargement comes as analysis continues to indicate disparities in entry to inexperienced house. Hinton famous that communities of shade are “almost thrice extra doubtless than white communities to reside in nature-deprived areas.” In order that they’re desperate to re-engage with nature, however typically arrive at outside occasions with issues about security and acceptance.

BLK Beetles addresses these issues by designing programming by way of what leaders name a “cultural security lens.” In a latest partnership with REI, the group hosted skill-building workshops to decrease obstacles to outside participation.

In line with Hinton, contributors shared how id and lived expertise affect the place—and with whom—they really feel comfy recreating. “This affirmed that the outside will not be a impartial house,” he mentioned.

As reported by Blavity, co-lead Kelly Hubbell-Hinton mentioned the shift may be transformative as soon as folks discover a welcoming atmosphere. She described an early member who joined a operating group searching for connection and later helped develop a women-of-color operating sequence centered on security. That participant ultimately skilled alongside others to finish her first 25K path race.

“Individuals arrive not sure, after which open up,” Hubbell-Hinton mentioned. “They start to see nature as a spot the place they'll transfer freely and genuinely belong.”

In October 2025, BLK Beetles formally launched the BLK Beetles Collective, providing recurring outside gatherings and artistic programming for adults of shade. Leaders say the trouble was made attainable by way of help from the adidas Group Lab, which supplied funding, mentorship, and strategic steering.

“The Group Lab helped us see that culturally protected, welcoming outside areas can change into the usual, not the exception,” Hinton mentioned.

With new infrastructure in place, BLK Beetles plans to develop to Albuquerque in 2026. Because the group grows, its leaders say their mission stays rooted in combating isolation and loneliness.

“One in 5 adults within the U.S. feels lonely each day,” Hubbell-Hinton mentioned. “Our position is to remind folks they don’t have to maneuver by way of life alone.”