About Fish for Change
A refocus on who, how and why we fly fish.
Fish for Change uses fly fishing as a catalyst for positive change, shaping young people into global citizens through immersive experiences in nature.
A letter from the Founder and Executive Director
Dear Fish for Change community,
Thanks for being here! My name is Heather and I am the Executive Director with Fish for Change (my dream come true!).
Fly fishing and summer camp were the two biggest influences in my childhood. Fishing gave me a connection with global travel, a powerful connection with nature, and the urge to conserve and protect it. It gave me a passion to put my love and energy into something that kept me grounded throughout my high school years.
Camp brought a lot of independence into my life. It taught me how to use my voice and gave me a bigger view of the world by connecting me with kids from a lot of different places and backgrounds. It was a place where I could feel alive and wild and free and magical, and really connect with the best version of myself.
Growing up, I always lacked a community of peers in the sport of fly fishing. Fishing was something I shared with my dad, but I craved friends who shared the same passion for the outdoors. The key adjectives we emphasize for our student body are extensions of what fishing gave me. This sport brought me confidence in myself, it sparked undeniable passion, it challenged me to be curious about the world around me, and it connected me with people from all different walks of life, helping to build empathy and shared human connection.
Post-grad, I was so excited when the opportunity to help build and create Fish for Change into the nonprofit it is today came before me. F4C created a space to build a community in young people in this sport, and it made fishing so much more than just catching a fish, but a meaningful platform for positive change.
Now, as the Executive Director of Fish for Change, I feel so deeply lucky to show up every day and connect with and foster this community. I am so excited by the family that has been created as I watch the long-term effects of this organization in our students' lives.
Whether you are a prospective student, a parent, a donor, or a program partner, thanks for being here! I hope you leave our website feeling inspired and excited to make fishing so much more than just fishing.
With gratitude,
Heather HarkavyFounder and Executive Director
Our mission
To create positive change through fly fishing by uniting diverse young people in pristine natural settings. Through our programs, students engage in education, cultural exchange, conservation and community-building, all while forming a deeper bond with nature and each other.
Fish for Change runs one-week summer fly fishing programs in Honduras, the Bahamas, Mexico and Costa Rica for students 14 to 22, bringing together kids from different backgrounds who share a love of the outdoors. The weeks are built around conservation work with local groups, scavenger hunts through town, dinners in guides' homes and guide apprenticeships for local students, so the learning is hands-on and the connections are real.
Evening writing prompts, group discussions and a gratitude circle every night do the rest. Students arrive as anglers and go home more curious, more confident, more empathetic and more passionate than they left. Our goal is a generation of environmentally conscious, confident young anglers ready to do something useful with it.
Four pillars
Connection
Students from around the world meet in a new place. Hometown realities get challenged by people from different backgrounds, language barriers come down over a shared obsession, and strangers turn into friends who turn into family.
Education
Immersive outdoor education in conservation, leadership, outdoor recreation and fly fishing. Students learn from guides, conservationists and each other.
Conservation
Fly fishing ignites a commitment to conservation. Students work on real environmental problems alongside local organizations, and leave with a sense of responsibility for the places they fish.
Exploration
Fly fishing is our lens for exploring. It pushes us into new environments and makes us curious about the world around us, and the one inside us.
The people
A small staff, a crew of trip leaders who were students here first, and a board that formed itself out of the people who believed in it early.
Staff
Heather and the founders
Who runs Fish for Change, and who built the lodge it grew out of.
Meet the staff
Trip leaders
Alumni who came back to lead
Almost every trip leader was a Fish for Change student first. How that works, and how to become one.
Meet the trip leaders
Board
Board of Directors and Honorary Board
The people who keep Fish for Change pointed at its mission, and two legends of the sport who lent their names to it.
Meet the board
In their words
Student voices speak louder than ours. Letters from parents and essays from students, unedited, going back years.
Questions
Safety, phones, flying alone, how much fishing experience a kid needs, and what it costs. The questions parents ask, answered straight.