Projects and Partnerships

Founded in 2008, the Gaza Surf Club is Explore Corps' pilot program, and aims to equip, train and support one of the most unique groups of surfers in the world.  Operating in the Gaza Strip poses a set of unprecedented and constantly evolving challenges for both Explore Corps and our program participants, but the program has enjoyed  great success and has received extensive international media coverage.   While the global COVID pandemic has put this project on a temporary hold, we are working on some exciting new initiatives on the for the Club and look forward to reinvigorating the program as soon as possible.  Contact us directly to see how you can support the Gaza Surf Club and be sure to visit the Club website by clicking below.

From 2015-2022, Explore Corps  partnered with The Wahine Project to provide ocean-based education programming to youth along the Central California coast.  Headquartered in Monterey, California, the program  aims to eliminate the barriers that prevent a diversity of youth from developing a personal relationship with the ocean and with one another, allowing them to live their healthiest and fullest lives.  The program serves a variety of local and regional communities with  a focus on supporting at-risk youth and marginalized communities.  As of 2023, all programs are now run exclusively by The Wahine Project and we look forward to future opportunities for collaboration.  To learn more about the Wahine Project and to register for their exciting programs, please click below.

Since its founding, Explore Corps has been proud to partner with the Surfing 4 Peace community in its efforts to implement unique cooperative initiatives  focused on community building and cross-cultural outreach.   With members around the world, the Surfing 4 Peace community is an invaluable resource to Explore Corps' international  initiatives and Explore Corps is proud to provide 501c(3) support to Surfing 4 Peace for fundraising and outreach in the United States.  Visit Surfing 4 Peace and join this global community by clicking below.

Founded in 2007, the Gaza Surf Relief project was started under the umbrella of the Levantine Cultural Center to make sure that every surfer in Gaza had a surfboard.  A partnership quickly  formed between Gaza Surf Relief, Surfing 4 Peace and Explore Corps to secure, transport and distribute donated surfboards to surfers in Gaza.  The donated equipment arrived in Israel in 2008 and was finally allowed into Gaza after two years of intense negotiations  with the Israeli authorities.  Once in Gaza, the equipement was distributed to the members of the newly-formed Gaza Surf Club and for the first time, every surfer in Gaza had his/her own surfboard.

In 2012, Explore Corps and Surfing 4 Peace teamed up with Concrete Wave Magazine founder Michael Brooke to create the Search-Spark-Stoke Tour and combine longboard skateboarding with peacebuilding in Israel and Palestine.  In cooperation with The Peres Center For Peace, the  Search-Spark-Stoke Tour featured a series of longboard skateboarding clinics for at-risk youth in the cities of Jaffa, Sderot, Jerusalem and Jericho.  The program served as the pilot project for Longboarding For Peace, which has gone on to spread its mission far and wide.  

From 2008-2011,  Explore Corps partnered with the incredible CampsBreakerz to provide onliine and media support for Palestine's premier break dance group.  Based in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the Central Gaza Strip, the Campsbreakerz are an incredibly dedicated group of young dancers and artists who aim to improve their skills and better their commuity through dance and unique youth programming.  We at Explore Corps have never met a more dedicated group of young people and look forward to future opportunities for collaboration.