What We Do
We foster the development of youth across the United States through a variety of culturally responsive programs centered around a multi-year adventure summer camp experience. By providing multi-year scholarships (camperships) we remove the barriers to a high-impact summer camp experience, proven to advance low-income youth toward a successful future. We fund campers for the full lifespan of their summer camp experience, thus ensuring that the greatest youth development outcomes can be achieved.
Our network of alliances and partners provides programming and services to support the fulfillment of our vision to become an organization of broad national impact while delivering deep impact at the community level. Our Campership recipients have the option of selecting a camp closer to their home base, or they can venture out across the United States so that a well-matched camp program is not compromised by an applicant’s location.
Strong Commitment: Through an established national network of individual volunteer mentors and high-quality Youth Mentoring Organizations, A THOUSAND SUMMERS recruits and provides financial and personal support to underserved youth who would thrive from the opportunity to participate in sustained summer camp experiences. A THOUSAND SUMMERS pays for tuition, travel expenses, camp store and equipment for the lifespan of a camper’s years at camp. Camper Families, Associate Camps, and Youth Mentoring Organizations all contribute to the partnership creating a strong and committed union.
Individual volunteer mentors and Youth Mentoring Organizations assist with making camp choices, completing extensive applications for both A THOUSAND SUMMERS and for the Associate Camp, and preparing campers and their families for a three to four week time away from home in remote, rugged and rustic settings. Without this support system, many of the campers we have served over the years would not be able to realize the actual camp experience due to cultural, familial and financial barriers.
High Standards: A THOUSAND SUMMERS aligns with high caliber and highly committed accredited residential summer camps.
In addition to maintaining current accreditation through the American Camp Association, A THOUSAND SUMMERS has developed its own mission-driven standards and regular evaluation process to ensure that our associate camps continue to remain committed to delivering a diverse, rich and enduring life-enhancing experience to all of their campers.
A THOUSAND SUMMERS also offers a Capstone Program to our senior camper. Through this program, campers have the opportunity to design and implementing a community service project with the support of a volunteer advisor pre-selected by A THOUSAND SUMMERS. The Capstone Program asks that each camper selected pay forward through their own leadership something that they have learned by attending camp.
