“I really enjoyed the whole camp experience. It was wonderful and I really feel lucky to have gotten such a wonderful opportunity.”
WHAT IS A YOUTH ORGANIZING CAMP? The BRIDGES Summer Camp is an intense, week-long camp that brings together youth from diverse backgrounds to develop their leadership, facilitation, youth organizing and human relations knowledge and skills. At BRIDGES Camp students learned how to organize their peers to take a stand against hate and violence and to combat prejudice while participating in fun hands-on activities, multi-media presentations, role playing and skill-building activities. WHO ATTENDED? 22 students from Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Newport Coast, Santa Ana, Stanton and Whittier attended the weeklong camp. The majority of students are members of their school’s human relations BRIDGES Task Force. The camp cost OC Human Relations approximately $1,000 per student to attend camp and provide follow-up support through OC Youth Organizers. Camp attendees pay $250, however this summer, 73% of the students were from low income families and through the generosity of our sponsors were provided partial scholarships.
STUDENTS SAY ABOUT CAMP: “I truly enjoyed how each and every aspect of the camp brought us all closer and more understanding of each other “Thank you so much to all our staff who gave us the opportunity to grow and express ourselves.” “It impacted my life and inspired me to thrive for justice and equality amongst all.” “I love BRIDGES! I loved how we became a family.” “Thank you so much to our staff and sponsors. You have changed my life.”
Click here for a PDF of the report.
-
- Youth as facilitators
-
- Students play the “Trading Game”
-
- Team work in Building the Flag activity
-
- Team Building Human Knots
-
- Writing a Personal Commitment letter to self
-
- Camp participants
-
- Conversations between youth
-
- Building a Community
-
- Amazing Maze
