Living out your values is never easy. One of our core Camp Fire values is, “We honor the power of young people.” To us, honoring power means sharing power through significant youth participation and decision-making.  

But what does this look like in practice? We’re working hard to authentically integrate youth voice through all layers of our organization. It takes forethought and extra energy to upend the adult-led status quo, but it’s worth it if it builds a Camp Fire truly for and by young people.  

It’s a matter of equity 

Youth Voice isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s a justice issue. 

“A huge part of it for me is the equity piece,” said Ben Matthews, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Access Manager. “Young people are also a marginalized and oppressed group of people, because of their age and adults’ assumption that they don’t know how to make decisions for themselves.”  

This bias is called adultism, and it’s pervasive in our culture. Ben explained that a major red flag for an adultism attitude is responding to questions from young people with “Because I said so,” “Because I’m the adult,” or “Because that’s just the way we do things.”  

“It’s so much easier to shut down the conversation, rather than to reflect on, ‘Wait a second, why do we do that?’” Ben said.  

Being open to questions doesn’t mean a rule has to change. But treating young people as valuable members of a community means listening to their concerns, brainstorming solutions, and letting them share responsibility for taking action. After all, being a kid or teenager now is completely different from being a kid or teenager 20, 10 or even five years ago. Every generation has unique experiences, challenges and needs. Growing up is hard. 

“Technology, language, the way relationships work—all of that has changed so much,” said Ben. “There’s really no way an adult or anyone more than a couple years older can have any idea what [young people] need right now,” said Ben.  

Challenging adultism by championing youth voice ensures young people get the Camp Fire they need, not the one adults want them to have. 

What is youth voice? 

Inspired by the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality’s work on youth voice, Nikki Roe Cropp, Senior Director, Program Effectiveness, explained that when youth voice is fully integrated into an organization, young people share leadership with adults. On the way to that holistic collaboration, organizations often start with seeking youth input and giving young people more choices. The goal is to build on those valuable beginnings to arrive at true power-sharing.  

• Input: Creating opportunities for youth feedback on activities, programming aspects, and more. 
• Choice: Creating opportunities for young people to make relevant, meaningful and authentic decisions.  
• Shared Leadership: Creating opportunities for all youth to lead in diverse, varied and age-appropriate ways. 

“Youth voice has been a crucial part of Camp Fire for a long time,” said Nikki, “but it’s one of those areas we need to talk about, concentrate on, and ensure we’re doing intentionally—and developmentally.”  

Going from status quo to youth-led 

Making the shift to shared leadership means overcoming ingrained cultural beliefs about how adults and young people are supposed to interact. Both Ben and Nikki emphasized how liberating (and even relaxing) it can be for adult leaders to share power with young people. 

“It’s really getting adults to act as facilitators of learning rather than instructors of content,” said Nikki. “It’s having power with young people instead of power over.”  

Sometimes organizations think of youth voice as something for older teens only, but shared leadership can start early and deepen as children grow alongside their leadership skills. Adults still need to be responsible for making safety decisions along the way, but other leadership roles can be shared at all ages. Youth voice isn’t always a linear trajectory, and Camp Fire creates space to share power in multiple overlapping ways. The leadership opportunities listed below roughly correlate to developmental stages, but don’t underestimate younger kids’ abilities to carry out more high-responsibility power-sharing. We want young people to be the leaders they are today, not just build leadership skills for the future.  

• Lower responsibility leadership tasks:  
• Handing out materials 
• Presenting ideas to a small group 
• Helping peers 
• Setting up snacks 
• Helping a group stay positive 
• Taking responsibility for daily routines 
• Explaining directions 

• Intermediate-responsibility leadership tasks:  
• Leading a group discussion, song, project, event, etc. 
• Co-facilitating program activities with an adult 
• Participating in a program task force or leadership program 

• High-responsibility leadership tasks:  
• Planning program activities 
• Facilitating program activities 
• Mentoring other youth 
• Participating in a youth advisory group 
• Starting their own initiative or group 
• Shared power in organizational decision-making 

Advising the adults 

Youth advisory groups deserve a special mention in any discussion of youth voice. They are a powerful channel for integrating youth voice into the larger organization—if the advisory component is prioritized. Leadership programs aren’t the same things as an advisory board whose function is to practice leadership. It’s easy for adults to blur the lines between youth programming and youth advisory cabinets, but adult sponsors can help maintain the focus.    

Julia Fleenor Bejarano, Camp Fire Marketing Manager, and Hannah Howard, Camp Fire Evaluation Manager, both serve as Youth Voice Coordinators for the National Youth Advisory Cabinet (YAC).  

“We think of our YAC like a person on our staff,” explained Hannah. “We treat our YAC members equally; they are important.” 

YAC members are 16 to 18 years old, have Camp Fire experience, and commit to meeting (virtually) with Camp Fire adult leaders (our CEO, president, senior directors and directors) once a month, September through May. As experts in youth experience, they are paid for their time. 

“We try to be really clear,” said Julia, on making sure other adult leaders understand the purpose of the YAC. “The youth are here to help you make decisions. Come ready.” 

YAC meetings include educational content when it’s necessary for them to fulfill their mission, but the first goal is shared leadership. YAC has advised on a wide variety of topics including website design, social media content, how to word youth survey questions, internal training courses and more. In the past, the YAC has led the redesign of awards and recognitions and traditionally been one of the first stops for strategic plan feedback.   

Julia and Hannah have led a professional learning community for Camp Fire affiliates interested in expanding youth voice and have met with other national youth organizations who want to start youth advisory groups. They report that it’s hard for adults everywhere to make the youth-voice shift.  

“It’s really hard for folks to wrap their brain around,” said Hannah. “It’s a longer process of rewiring our brains to understand that young people are equally if not more important in conversations about youth development. It’s a reframe of the power dynamics between adults and youth.”  

Learn more about youth voice at Camp Fire 

The post It’s not a program; it’s a practice appeared first on Camp Fire.

We know that kids who have a certain set of competencies and skills are better able to navigate through challenging times and cope with adversity.  The process in which youth gain these necessary skills and competencies is called social-emotional learning or SEL.  Social-emotional learning is nothing new—teachers, counselors, coaches, and youth workers have been modeling and teaching social and emotional development strategies for a long time.  There are decades of research that illustrates the benefits of SEL for kids both in and out of the classroom.   SEL is infused into Camp Fire’s program framework, making it a cornerstone of the Camp Fire experience.     

SEL has changed over the years.  It was changing before the pandemic as folks implementing it started recognizing that this process of building social and emotional skills needs to be contextualized to different cultures, norms, and priorities. Just as regular teaching has evolved over the years to include more culturally responsive practices, so has SEL. And then during and after the pandemic and racial unrest in our country, SEL had to evolve again—as kids’ needs changed during that time.   

Transformative SEL was born in response to us finally acknowledging the disparities in education and opportunities based on a kid’s socioeconomic status, race, zip code, home language, disability status, and other factors. “Transformative SEL” is a form of SEL implementation where young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting relationships to engage in co-learning. It facilitates critical examination of individual and contextual factors that contribute to inequities and calls for collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being.  It recognizes that youth can be a part of creating just environments now and for the future.  

Today’s young people are primed for Transformative SEL. Search Institute recently reported that youth are more invested today in caring, equality and social justice, cultural competence, and valuing diversity than they were in 2016.   

Graph to the right: Internal comparison of trends between 2020 and 2022 Attitudes & Behaviors Survey aggregate data 

We know that empathy and compassion are not enough to advance equity.  At Camp Fire, we employ practices and programming that center humanity, honor identity, promote healing and liberation, and build skills needed to act and advocate for social justice.   This is Transformative SEL in action!

Want to read more about SEL and Camp Fire? Check out Building Equity with Social Emotional Learning (SEL).

The post Center Humanity, Honor Identity, Promote Healing & Cultivate Liberation: This Is Transformative SEL appeared first on Camp Fire.

In this post, Illuminative well-captured the devastating stats about the lack of safety and high suicide rates that impact our 2SLGBTQ+ young people, just like Nex (learn more here at the Trevor Project). Camp Fire has long supported and affirmed all 2SLGBTQ+ young people and works to create spaces where all young people feel safe and can thrive. In fact, we just published a new study about “the impact of both physical spaces and psychological conditions that allow youth “to just be,” with an emphasis on identity and gender-affirming practices for transgender and non-binary young people,” because we KNOW how much it matters for all adults and organizations to CREATE these spaces. They don’t just happen.

We must come together and support one another – especially our 2SLGBTQ+ youth. Our young people should never live in fear. They need us.

Members of Camp Fire Green Country plan to be at Nex’s vigil Sunday evening

Please be aware of and share these important lifesaving resources:

• Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860 (Staffed by transgender folks, for transgender folks; toll-free)
• The Trevor Project Hotline: 866-488-7386 (Available 24/7; with counselors trained in supporting LGBTQ youth)
• Rainbow Youth Project: 988 or call (317) 643-4888 (Crisis line)
• Native Crisis Text line: Text NATIVE to 741741 (Available 24/7; text support provided by crisis counselors)

Follow on IG:

• @FreedomOklahoma 
• @TransAdvocacyOK 
• @glaad @trevorproject 
• @WeRNative 
• @stopbullyinggo

The post Protect Trans* Kids: Remembering Nex Benedict appeared first on Camp Fire.

One quick scroll through your TikTok for you page, or a quick Google search for the day’s news will tell you that we have forgotten our histories, and we are reliving the lessons our ancestors before us have already learned. Even though there is more content being created and shared than ever before, our shared narratives are being lost in translation. How do we learn from those who came before us if we do not know how to share our histories? 

For Camp Fire, connection is at the root of our mission. Humans are designed for connection. It is how we make sense of the world. How we grieve. How we heal. How we create. How we grow. How we find comfort. Connection is how we survive. And it is our most powerful tool for healing and creating change. Sharing our stories, and understanding our shared history is one of the most powerful ways we connect. Across generations. Across cultures. Across differences.  

January 27^th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.   

The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27^th–the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau–as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). 

The Holocaust is one of those shared memories that we so easily lose touch with when we don’t continue telling the story. The last Nazi concentration camps were liberated in 1945, almost 80 years ago. Yet antisemitic incidents have been on the rise since 2016, with a 400% increase since the October 7^th attack. 

We must not forget the awful path that hatred takes us down.  

“And I got to thinking about the moral meaning of memory, per se. And what it means to forget, what it means to fail to preserve the connection with the dead whose lives [we] want or need to honor with our own.”

June Jordan 

That is why we must remember and tell our stories. We must have honest, real conversations with young people about the horrors of genocide, and also share the heroes that fought against fear through connection and bravery. Stories like that of Marianne Winter, a 16-year-old Jewish girl whose family needed to flee Nazi-annexed Austria, and her American Camp Fire Girl pen pal Jane Bomberger, whose family signed an affidavit of support that enabled Marianne’s family to escape to the United States. 
 
Quick note: first, prepare yourself around this topic. Before approaching such a vast and difficult subject with a young person, try to educate yourself on the subject as well as you can so you are ready with answers and insights. There are some great websites out there that can help you do this, such as the Holocaust Educational Trust at www.het.org.uk or the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance at www.holocaustremembrance.com. It is also worth mentioning that you should prepare yourself emotionally. When looking into the events of the Holocaust, there are so many facts that are upsetting beyond our imagining, and it will help you to be ready for the young person’s emotional response if you have ensured that you are as emotionally prepared as possible yourself. 
 
So let’s talk. Here are five things to keep in mind today when talking to young people about the Holocaust: 

1. Start slowly. In the beginning, keep it brief. If you go slowly and listen, young people will let you know how much information they want. Gradually introduce the topic using age-appropriate language and scenarios. Young children won’t understand geopolitics or statistics. Instead, start with concepts that relate to their everyday lives like bullying. It might be hard for a young person today to feel that events from eighty years ago have any relevance for them. Equally, the horrors are so great that it could be hard for them to grasp the facts in a real way. By talking about the effects of peer pressure or discussing their understanding of bullying and why people might be drawn to certain types of negative behavior, you can help make the issues relevant and relatable for them, and this can be a good way to gently open the wider subjects of the Holocaust. 
2. Learn together. If the young person you are talking to has done their own research or has their own stories, be open to listening to them. To learn together, go to the library and look up books on the topic. Read stories about the Holocaust, both fiction and non-fiction, that are age appropriate. Here is a list of books from the Jewish Book Council for middle schoolers about the Holocaust. Visit a memorial museum or watch an age-appropriate documentary. 
3. Be honest. Affirm the hard reality in an age-appropriate way. You don’t need to tell young people more than they need to know but don’t sugarcoat the truth, either. Young people are sensitive to evasion and will be reassured by straightforward honesty. It helps them feel more secure in a dangerous world if they feel they can trust you to tell them the truth.  
4. Encourage engagement. Seek out organizations that focus on sharing survivor’s stories with the next generation and host events at your local schools and community centers. Another great way to educate young people is to bring them to a museum or exhibit focused on the Holocaust. 
5. Expect to have more than a single conversation. As a young person grows, revisit the topic, adding age-appropriate details that are relevant to their lives at that time. Discussions will become easier the more practice you have. 

What has your experience been in remembering? 

Learn more about this day:  

https://www.hmd.org.uk/what-is-holocaust-memorial-day/this-years-theme/

https://www.ushmm.org/online-calendar/event/maintlremday0124

Sources: 

1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/going-beyond-intelligence/201811/how-should-you-talk-your-child-about-the-holocaust  
2. https://www.scld.org/how-to-talk-with-children-about-the-holocaust-expert-tips-suggested-books/ 
3. https://www.parents.com/kids/education/how-to-teach-your-children-about-the-holocaust/ 

2. https://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-features/features/2021/january/five-tips-for-talking-to-young-people-about-the-holocaust/  

The post 5 things to keep in mind when talking to young people about the Holocaust: International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2024  appeared first on Camp Fire.

Our values are our North Star. They guide our strategic vision and our day-to-day work. We’ve been a values-led organization since 1910, and it’s what has allowed us to survive for 114 years and it’s what will help us continue to meet the current moment.

On our journey to inclusion, which includes a commitment to expanding spaces for young people to “simply be”, we sought to understand how the intentionality in which we create programs impacted participants. We asked the question,  

“What impact (if any) do gender-inclusive and gender-affirming measures have on young people, their caregivers, and their camp experience?” 

This question led to a year-long study at two of our camps, which engaged transgender and non-binary youth and their caregivers following their summer camp experience.  The result is this report, a product of the vulnerability and honesty the participants were willing to share with us. We are honored to share with you and the world today: the first-of-its-kind report around the impact of both physical spaces and psychological conditions that allow youth “to just be,” with an emphasis on identity and gender-affirming practices for transgender and non-binary young people.

We believe all young people deserve to belong and access opportunities to thrive, so we intentionally craft our Camp Fire programs and spaces in ways that make this possible. Inclusion, belonging, and thriving don’t just happen by accident – it takes a lot of thoughtfulness, attention, and work.

The Othering and Belonging Institute website says, “The concept of belonging describes more than a feeling of inclusion or welcome. Its full power is as a strategic framework for addressing ongoing structural and systemic othering, made visible, for example, in the wide disparities in outcomes found across a variety of sectors and identity groups.”

Camp Fire isn’t just implementing gender-affirming practices, we’re expanding opportunities for young people to exist in their fullness through any means necessary – looking at and updating our policies, practices, language, operations, and structures.

We believe this report is just the tip of the iceberg. Our goal and hope is to scale the research in the years to come and continue to learn and grow, while always centering youth voice. So Camp Fire can continue to best serve our incredible transgender and non-binary youth. 

Download the full report below.

Download the Report

Space for Identity Exploration: Through the Lens of Gender © 2024 by Camp Fire, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International 

The post New, First-of-its-Kind Study: Creating Gender-Affirming Spaces at Summer Camp appeared first on Camp Fire.

Child development experts emphasize the importance of setting realistic expectations for the holidays, sticking to a normal schedule as much as possible, getting time outside and practicing gratitude together. Simplifying gift-giving, practicing social skills before get-togethers, giving teens space to be moody are also solid strategies.  

What else can you help the young people in your life this winter? Use the same guidelines our staff and volunteers do to build strong relationships at Camp Fire! Follow the Search Institute’s framework for positive developmental relationships to bring some consistency and affirmation to the season. 

These tips are relevant whether you are trying to encourage kids and teens you are raising, related to, and/or in your wider chosen family. We’ve taken the Search Institute’s framework and given it a holiday twist below to create 20 ideas for supporting young people through the holidays. Let’s go! 

Express Care

1. Be dependable: The holidays are no time to play the flakey funcle card. Follow through on your commitments. If you say you’re going to be there, be there!
2. Listen: Join the kids’ table (metaphorically or literally) and have a real conversation. You might be surprised by what you learn!
3. Believe in me: If you’re giving gifts for the holidays, consider one that feeds a young person’s sparks — the skills, commitments or qualities that are lighting them up right now. If you don’t know what they are into, ask!
4. Be warm: Don’t forget to individually greet kids at your next holiday get-together. Make sure they know they are welcome and that you’re happy to see them, not just their accompanying adults. 
5. Encourage: Specific compliments go a long way. Look for opportunities to call out a young person’s unique point of view, persistence, or character as you’re going about your holidays.

Challenge Growth

6. Expect my best: Experts agree that the holidays are a good time to let the small stuff go. But when it comes to the big things — your community’s shared values, for example — keep standards high for yourself and young people. 
7. Stretch: Helping a young person take their next spark step can be as simple as working on a robotics project after a holiday dinner, gifting a book one reading level up, or teaching them a new phrase in a language they are learning. 
8. Hold me accountable: If you lose your seasonal cool, model how to deliver a timely, sincere apology and any necessary restitutions. Expect the same (in developmentally appropriate ways) from any young people you’re responsible for. 
9. Reflect on failures: If a holiday event or activity doesn’t go as planned, debriefing calmly (and with humor, if possible!) can help young people learn failure is part of growing, not something to be scared or ashamed of. 

Provide Support 

10. Navigate: Stressful holidays situations looming? Help young people brainstorm solutions and strategies to manage. 
11. Empower: Get time with your favorite young person to ask what their goals are for the new year — and if there’s anything you can do to give them an assist.  
12. Advocate: If any holiday gatherings have become potentially harmful for the young people in your life (if family members aren’t affirming of an LGBTQIA2s+ teen, for example), take action. If you’re the primary caregiver, you can set protective boundaries for your family, including not attending potentially harmful events. If you are an extended family member or friend, ask the young person how they’d like to be supported and make a plan for how you’ll intervene. (This Parents article has some great resources!)
13. Set boundaries: If it’s within your control, set limits on the seasonal schedule. Help young people prioritize their favorite activities instead of getting overwhelmed. And keep sleep at the top of the to-do list! 

Share Power

14. Respect me: If you’re getting resistance to a particular holiday tradition or gathering, stop and ask why. Even if you ultimately ask for their participation, try to clearly understand their concerns first and come to a fair solution. 
15. Include me: Include kids and teens as you’re building your holiday schedule. What gatherings, activities or traditions mean the most to them? What are their priorities for the season? Give them a say in the decisions that affect them. 
16. Collaborate: Can you create a new holiday tradition with the young people in your life? What fun, new December adventure can you come up with together?  
17. Let me lead: Consider asking the kids and teens in your family if they’d like to lead a holiday activity traditionally headed up by an adult. What would change if the kids took over?

Expand Possibilities

18. Inspire: Do you know a young person who shares some of your sparks? Can you schedule some inspiration time (a work tag-along or a hobby session) with them this holiday break? 
19. Broaden horizons: Stuck in a holiday rut? Take the young people in your life on a mini-adventure. It could be as simple as visiting a new park or trying a new kind of food — the point is novelty! 
20. Connect: Do you know a child or teen who hasn’t tried Camp Fire yet? Find an affiliate or program near you. There’s no better gift than helping a young person connect to nature, others and themselves!

The post Supporting young people through the holidays: 20 ways to help this season appeared first on Camp Fire.

When we talk about equity at Camp Fire, we’re not talking about an unreachable ideal. We’re not focusing on a simplistic, everybody-gets-the-same-size-slice-of-pizza approach. We mean an inclusive value that is alive, nuanced and, frankly, difficult. 

We’re committed to fairness that does the hard work to remove barriers. We’re working towards equity that wants everyone to have what they need to thrive—but also understands all the diverse places we start from and the very different things that get in our way. We mean we are committed to taking action to bring awareness to and change to systems that promote racism, sexism, white supremacy and other oppressions. 

We’re focused on equity in action. We want to be a more equitable organization, and that takes work! We wanted to highlight some of the changes our Camp Fire affiliates have made recently to create more equitable camping opportunities. Pay attention to how much cooperation, conversation and communication it took for each of these camps to become places where more young people can belong. That’s hard-working equity! 

Building inclusive and accessible cabins

Camp Fire Columbia

Since 1924, Camp Namanu has been a summer home for Oregon’s young adventurers. In the past few years, Camp Namanu has made belonging a priority by asking how they can better welcome campers who have physical differences, financial limitations or come from traditionally marginalized communities. The camp took a methodical approach to recent updates, using audits and focus groups to narrow in on the changes that would make the most impact. They were supported by committed leaders, an experienced board, diverse funding sources and transparent communication with their whole community. Those intentional conversations led to three transformational projects: 

1. ADA-accessible updates: In the progress-not-perfection mindset, the camp wanted to make their cabins more accessible for campers with disabilities, even if the camp itself couldn’t be completely ADA-compliant because of its mountainous location. They added shower and toilet bars, ADA ramps, and an accessible, electric golf cart for easier transportation. 
2. Gender-inclusive features: Namanu designed new cabins with private changing, showering and toilet spaces to help reduce camp stress for trans and non-binary campers. 
3. Neurodivergent considerations: Campers who are sensitive to sensory input now have more comfortable cabins with thoughtful elements like dimmable, sound-free lighting and windows that open.  

Camp Namanu said these changes helped bring new families to camp, welcome more trans and non-binary campers and staff into their community, and maintain strong alumni relationships. 

Creating an inclusive swimwear policy

Camp Fire Heart of Iowa

Camp Fire Heart of Iowa has been creating places of belonging since 1919 and is looking for ways to make camp safer and more affirming for all campers. The camp was welcoming more campers identifying as LGBTQ2S+ and wanted to create a swimsuit policy that would be inclusive, not body shaming, and embraced by families with diverse backgrounds and financial means. 

Camp Fire Heart of Iowa collaborated with Camp Fire National Headquarters and Iowa Safe Schools to craft the new policy: Everyone at camp would wear swim gear that covered their tops, clavicle to stomach, and some kind of swim bottoms. The Friendship Fund helped the camp purchase extra swim shirts for campers who needed them, and the camp led an effective communication plan that emphasized the inclusion, safety and health benefits of the new policy.

Camp Fire Heart of Iowa reported that the new policy helped trans, non-binary and other LGBTQ2S+ campers feel like they belonged. As promised, the brightly colored swim shirts also increased water safety and reduced sunburns!  

Expanding leadership program access

Camp Fire Alaska

Camp Fire Alaska has been helping campers experience the wilderness at Camp K since 1966. Recently, the camp noticed that many older teens were opting to get summer jobs instead of returning to camp. With a grant from the American Camp Association, Camp K developed a month-long Leadership in Training (LIT) program with young people from rural and Indigenous communities in mind. In its first year, Camp K flew in LIT participants from around the state and provided room, board and a $500 stipend — essential for reducing participation barriers. The LIT teens learned the basics of youth programming, built their leadership skills, and discovered their individual leadership strengths. 

Camp K said LIT participants appreciated having a safe space for self-exploration, practicing new skills and growing in confidence. The camp wants to continue to deepen collaboration with rural and Indigenous communities, increase cultural competence and relevance, and continue to raise awareness of the program. 

“By design, the hope is that we are not only diversifying the camp environment for campers and for staff, but also building workforce pipelines for both our sleepaway camp as well as our rural program that’s working on the local workforce development.”

—Melanie Hooper, CEO, Camp Fire Alaska     

These are just three ways Camp Fire affiliates are working to create more equitable camp experiences, where all are welcomed and all belong. Are you passionate about equity, inclusion and belonging? Help us continue to build equitable, accessible and inclusive youth programs. Donate to Camp Fire this Giving Tuesday, November 28. 

Want to learn more about the work these affiliates did to create more equitable experiences for young people? Read the full case studies!

Dive into the full changes and learnings from each affiliate and what they reccommend you take away to apply to your own programs.

Download The Report

Recommended Citation

Camp Fire (2023). Increasing Accessibility & Inclusivity in Summer Outdoor Programs.

Available at: https://campfire.org/blog/article/equity-in-action/

Learn more about how Camp Fire is becoming a more equitable organization: 

• But what does belonging feel like?
• Dear Young People
• CAMPER 2.0: Increasing camp accessibility for historically excluded groups of young people
• Why equity is essential for developmental relationships
• Advancing Equity at Camp 
• Building Equity with Social Emotional Learning 
• Questioning Power & Repairing Harm: Addressing Cultural Appropriation in Our History

The post Equity in Action appeared first on Camp Fire.

Camp Fire: How has an understanding of nature led to your work and where you are today?

José González: The most recent element that has shaped my work is how nature heals severed connections. The land can be instructive for creating the conditions, structures, and elements for people to have a livelihood and to relate with each other. If we continue via a reductive, mechanistic approach, then all we’re doing is perpetuating harm. How can we be truly revolutionary? The root of the word revolutionary means revolution — cycles. If we were to design a workforce with regenerative cycles, it doesn’t mean money disappears overnight. It doesn’t mean you can’t have an iPhone. But you now have to approach work with different responsibilities and logic. It allows us to see people as complex, not just elements in a pipeline, and imagine a career path more like a braided river.

Camp Fire: How does making the shift to a nature-based metaphor for work help young people imagine different futures?

José González: I think it’s having a sense that there’s an agency of co-creation in that vision versus just taking what you inherit and playing the role. But it’s a both/and. I understand the frustration, the urgency to say: “Burn it all down! This capitalist, colonial, extractive, consumer-based economy and structure is no good. Be gone!” I say, “Yes, and…” Just like prescribed burning, there’s an intention and an approach. Here’s that mentorship from the land again: You have to look at the conditions we’ve inherited. If any spark makes the whole forest go away, that’s not good. At the same time, you can’t ignore all the underbrush and the necessity for prescribed burning. What does it mean to be a responsible fire tender? What does it mean to burn to create a healthy landscape? For young people, I say channel it. Help others envision this solar punk future that you’re so excited about. What are the careers? What does it mean to have a livelihood with roles that give your life meaning and don’t just treat you as another bit of the productive, mechanistic infrastructure? 

Camp Fire: What are some ways you’re seeing “responsible fire tenders” create careers and livelihoods for themselves? 

José González: A lot of young people are moving back on the land, so to speak. They are working with environmental justice, renewable energy and fossil fuel consumption. They are looking at the challenges around affordable housing and creating more community-oriented types of living. I think it’s important to ask the question: How does this job give meaning and serve my community, versus only being driven by a paycheck? 

Camp Fire: What are other ways nature metaphors are playing out in the organizations you consult with? 

José González: I tell people nobody is going to a meadow and saying, “You’re not meadowing enough today.” What does this tell you about how you can move with cycles of productivity? You can’t always be in the blooming and fruiting stage. And yet think about how often that’s exactly what’s expected or demanded of you! It’s like saying to a tree, “You know, what your issue is, tree? You’re suffering from burnout.” And the tree is like, “Yeah, it’s called fall. I’ll see you next year.” We can ignore these cues from our non-human kin, but it’s perpetuating a separation from nature. I’m not going to be exactly like the squirrel or exactly like the raven — being human is its own beautiful mess. But if I ignore what some of those natural relationships are, then I’m only deepening harm. What is the healing process? What does it mean to reconnect all of these different elements?

Camp Fire: How can we reconnect with cycles and seasons of rest, especially when our macro-culture isn’t supportive of that? 

José González: Step one is struggling with (and having grace for) the question: Where’s the urgency behind this coming from? Am I treating work like an emergency room situation as a default? Second: actually getting out in nature. I have to challenge myself to go for that walk, go for that jog, spend time in the garden, talk to the tree. The last part is acknowledging privilege. I can’t callously say to someone: “You need to go out in nature and chill!” And they’re like, “Yeah, can you pay my rent?” Don’t be fooled by thinking it’s only an individual choice. I applaud and support self care, but I don’t want us to ignore community care and structural care, so that the onus is not just on individuals. So when people say, “Hey, the outdoors is for everyone,” that’s an invitation to say, “You’re right, but why does not everyone feel that’s true?” We can ask what are the social constructs that we have agency to change.

Interested in “planet, inclusion and adventure”? Take the Outdoorist oath. 

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2SLGBTQ+ youth in states across the country who are facing attacks by lawmakers, we see you and believe you when you tell us who you are. We support your ability and right to discover yourself, find community, and thrive. Even as the Supreme Court decides to allow businesses to refuse 2SLGBTQ+ people service if it does not align with their faith, we promise to never use faith as a barrier to deny you access to our services, resources, and support. We support and affirm youth and adults of all religions and non-religion.

To Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth who see their histories and stories being silenced and erased, we hear you and will continue to stand with you and hold space for you to lift your voices. We will be here to encourage and empower you to seek higher education even as the Supreme Court denies the value of your lived experiences and the historical exploitation, exclusion, and erasure of Black and Brown people within higher education institutions by removing affirmative action.

Camp Fire and the National Indian Education Association are committed to listening to and learning from you. We are committed to educating ourselves and our colleagues about what you need from adults in today’s world to feel safe to be yourself and to thrive. We are committed to showing up for you in our afterschool programs, our day and overnight camps, in your communities, and across the country. We will use our individual and collective power as organizations to fight for your rights as young people. This includes showing up to your rallies, contacting our legislators, sharing our power and platforms with you, and supporting bills like Community Mental Wellness and Resilience Act of 2023 and Oklahoma SB429.  

Please know that there are not just adults in the world who care about you, there are entire organizations that are dedicated to connecting you with yourself, with others, and with your communities.

The post Dear young people, appeared first on Camp Fire.

We talk a lot about belonging at Camp Fire. It’s woven into our values. (We are inclusive. We work to create safe and inclusive environments, so everyone feels welcome.) It’s an important goal of our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access (DEIA) work. And it doesn’t just happen – it’s intentionally cultivated and worth celebrating! So this month, we’re sharing three powerful stories of belonging from our community. Grab your favorite beverage, curl up in the hammock, and meet Malachi, Leo, and Kim…

Malachi’s Story 

Camp Fire Central Puget Sound  

As told by his mom, Whitney 

Malachi is a medically-complex, non-speaking, wheelchair user. He loves music and dancing. He participates in a weekly drum circle. He loves books and having books read to him. He LOVES camping and exploring new places.  

I registered my son Malachi for Camp Fire as soon as he turned five. What drew us most to Camp Fire was the inclusive nature and principled mission of the organization. 

A top priority in identifying the best youth programs for our family is to find those that are inclusive and value accessible participation and flexibility. It was important to our family, too, that “disability” identity was specifically called out in the organization’s Statement of Inclusion, that the group was committed to accessibility in their programming, and that a virtual pathway to participation was available. 

In our family, we believe that we are all always learning and improving in matters of diversity, equity and inclusion. We want Malachi’s identity as a Disabled person to be celebrated and for his unique perspective to be valued. We wanted him to be part of a group that welcomes and celebrates youth of all genders and members from other backgrounds, cultures and experiences. That commitment to inclusion, coupled with an honest curiosity and willingness to learn and grow together, was an essential factor for us in choosing a youth development organization for him. 

Malachi is registered with Central Puget Sound Council of Camp Fire as an Independent Member, giving him access to all of the same curriculum and resources as any group, along with the ability to participate in special events of his choosing, while maximizing the flexibility of his participation to accommodate both his access needs and our family’s frequent travel and outdoor adventures. As an Independent Member, I get to support Malachi all along the way, as he works through his Starflight curriculum and begins earning emblems for his learning goals and achievements. We are thrilled to be part of the Camp Fire program and look forward to watching our little guy grow and learn along the way. 

Leo’s Story 

Camp Fire Camper 

My first time at camp was in 2018. It wasn’t just my first time to go to a Camp Fire camp, it was my first time to go to any camp. But I felt it was the year to try because it was the first time Camp Fire was offering the LGBTQ+ session. At first, I was a little nervous, but by the end of the week, I had done things I had never tried before (like rappelling and kayaking) and met people who shared the same experiences without any judgment. 

I returned to camp the next summer and was excited to attend for a longer time. I wanted more of the experiences of the previous summer. Now that I was past the nervousness, I wanted to spend more time learning the other water activities and go rappelling again. Unfortunately, because of flooding I couldn’t repel again, but that was all the more reason to come to camp again. That year I also made more connections, and the friendships were ones I kept in contact with over the next year, which turned out to be more important than I imagined. 

When COVID shut everything down, it was some of those friendships that I leaned on. You can also imagine my disappointment when camp shut down in 2020. It was a long year! In 2021, my brother and I returned to camp. I was so excited to be back. Camp is a place where you can learn new things, really be yourself, meet amazing people, and know the counselors are there to help you along the way. 

When I was younger, I lost my sense of self for a while. Because of Camp Fire, I have re-found my confidence, become more social, and can see myself in this world. My Camp Fire story is going to keep going as this summer I will be returning as a camp counselor, and my brother is starting his Counselor-In-Training program. I remember what that first summer felt like and all that I have gained from camp, and I want everyone who comes to have the same incredible experience. 

Kim’s Story 

Camp Fire Alaska Parent 

As an adult black woman with a young black daughter, I wanted to make sure my child was seen and having a positive experience at Camp Fire. I grew up here in Alaska, and I know what it feels like to be one of few, to feel different, to go out of the way to be seen. That was my experience. The instructors and educators who saw me made a world of difference in my life at a time where it was so crucial to my development and positive self-image. 

About three weeks in, I just asked her: Do you like Camp Fire? And she said no. I looked at her in the rearview mirror, and she said: I love it. As time went on she shared with me more about the friends she was making, funny conversations she was having with camp counselors because she’s an only child and also enjoys adult conversation, and her new love for swimming – another one of those activities I could never quite get her to take an interest in. She actually asked for swimming lessons! 

And that’s not all she asked for. She asked to go back to Camp Fire next summer, and that’s what we plan to do. We found Camp Fire to be a place rich with diversity of life experience, race, gender, ethnicity, ability, geographic location – so much more that was a plus for my family. We value diversity. Camp Fire impressed me on so many levels: their obvious commitment to the happy development of young children, helping to prepare parents who are new to their programs, and their very clear efforts toward diversity and inclusion. That doesn’t happen by chance. It has happened because Camp Fire has been thoughtful and because they select and prepare great people as part of their staff.  

I know my child is in good hands, and for that I am grateful. I consider myself among the many ambassadors for this organization who has nurtured our precious future leaders and done it so well, for so long. Thank you, Camp Fire. 

Learn more about Camp Fire’s commitment to belonging:  

• Five Ways to Help Kids Belong 
• Belonging as a core theme Camp Fire’s People & Impact: 2021-2022 
• Getting focused: Our goals for 2023-2025 

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