Summer fun is in full swing!
All over St. Louis, kids of all ages are enjoying healthy, safe, and happy summers thanks to the organizations that host summer camp programs and the donors that support them. Here’s a spotlight on just a few:
Sherwood Forest
YouthBridge endowment client Sherwood Forest serves children from low-income families and underserved communities from the St. Louis area who live at or below the federal poverty line. Children who begin their programs at the end of first grade have the opportunity to grow up with Sherwood Forest over the next 11 years. By balancing traditional camp adventures with evidence-based programs that reinforce and support school-year learning, Sherwood Forest connects with, educates, and inspires the youth of St. Louis.
Camp Jump Start
Camp Jump Start is a whole health and/or weight loss camp for kids ages 9 – 18. Camp Jump Start was the winner of the 2017 Brackets For Good competition. Kids learn and live healthy lifestyles at camp while having fun then develop a plan for home under health professional supervision. Parents are educated as well and entire families get better together. This program is a medical program design at a camp rate with a proven record of long term success!
Summer Programs for Access Now (SPAN)
Summer Programs for Access Now (SPAN) is a collaborative project that will be providing easy to access inclusive recruitment, training, and professional development modules for camp providers in the St. Louis area to support the inclusion of campers and staff with disabilities. Project SPAN received a $50,000 grant from the Wayne C. Kaufmann Charitable Foundation to create a curriculum/model for all camps in our area to include campers and counselors of all abilities. UMSL’s U-CREATE summer camp programs will serve as a model location for the development of extensive video production modules that will capture evidence-based strategies in action to support the inclusion of camp counselors and campers with disabilities. Project SPAN will embed new recruitment practices, training and program revision that would support more diversity and inclusion within the summer camps. The process will be videotaped and compiled into training modules that will be easily accessible to be disseminated to other summer camps in the St. Louis region.