Our Mission:

Our mission is simple: We will use the readily available tools around us, and within us, to help people become more positive-minded, optimistic, and less stressed. We believe that there is a healing quality to testing yourself in a natural setting and that these skills, coupled with the confidence one gains while acquiring them, can be life-changing. We will also use volunteerism, charitable donations, and free programs to never stop working towards stronger communities, better connections, and a more service-oriented society - one small adventure at a time.

Our Values:

Thrive Outdoors and the entirety of our curriculum places emphasis on compassion, leadership, self-worth, and confidence. We strive to show each individual we encounter that they can do more than they ever believed and that they, themselves, are what should be valued most.

Our Vision:

Thrive Outdoors' vision is to offer sustainable programming to all. We will treat our employees, students, partner agencies, and the earth with respect and dignity, and set a positive example of caring, stewardship, and self-worth for generations to come.

Our Five Pillars:

  • Positivity (Mindset) – Having control of thoughts and emotional responses. Understanding the healthy balance between overreacting and not reacting at all.

  • Community (Shelter) – Understanding how working towards a united and inclusive community offers us much of the shelter we need.

  • Passion (Fire) – Finding a sustainable and healthy drive in life. One that won’t burn out - or burn us out.

  • Transparency (Water) – Doing what we say and being clear about our intentions. Allowing ourselves to be comfortable with a fluid and dynamic environment.

  • Energy (Food) – Understanding what sustains us and keeps our bodies, minds, and community healthy.

Our History:

Thrive Outdoors began as a wilderness survival and life navigation company, aimed at providing nature-based experiences, training, and education for young and old. The primary goal was to help people from all walks of life to better understand themselves and their place in their communities, and to understand how stress (and how we navigate it) plays a key role in every situation.

Throughout our early years, Thrive Outdoors worked primarily with homeschool groups, educational programs, and people in recovery. Without a home base, we focused primarily on the things we could facilitate outdoors or on-location for our clients. Full Moon hikes, Teen Adventure Groups, Shelter Building programs, etc, were all things that we became incredibly good at and also loved.

In 2019 Thrive Outdoors had the opportunity to create something truly special in downtown Manchester, NH - the Community Leadership Center. After a year of countless hours spent cleaning, building, and creating this 4000 square foot “outdoors-indoors” space, we finally opened our doors in early 2020, just as Covid-19 shut down everything that involved gathering as a community.

Practicing what we preach, we remained positive and the growth we’ve experienced since 2020 has pushed us and changed the shape of our community, and our business, in more ways than one. 


We now offer corporate team builders, summer camps, event space rental, full-service retreat planning, operations management, business consulting, weekly programming at the Community Leadership Center, and more.

To reflect and better organize all of these changes, Jake and Melanie have partnered to create a new all-encompassing company- East Coast Evolution Leadership.


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