The school year is well underway and so is the need for after-school activities. A summer program in DeKalb highlights why the time kids spend outside of the classroom matters.
A camp counselor gave some reminders before the kids enjoyed their field day at a session of DeKalb’s Camp Power.
“Four people to each swing and share, share, share.”
From the swings, nine-year-old Nevaeh said she really enjoyed camp.
“We play dodgeball and stuff, and we get on the swings and stuff, and we do all these crafts,” she said. “Last time we made slime. We made rainbows out of Fruit Loops and marshmallows.”
Camp Power is a free summer program for children of University Village held at Welsh Park.
Mary Hess led the launch of the camp 10 years ago. She’s the DeKalb Township Supervisor and she has a history of working in youth development.
“I am so proud to be a part of it,” Hess said. “It's meant so much to me.”
She said the camp’s initial aim was to reduce juvenile delinquency in an area local officials consider “high risk.”
“It was a food desert, and so we had heard about in the summer thefts at local stores going up, kids trying to access food, "Hess said. “So, it just seemed like that was a great place to start out.”
University Village consists of a dense set of apartment buildings adjacent to the NIU campus and draws students and families seeking low-income housing.
Whereas she could have pushed for restrictions on youth’s movement, or increase penalties, Hess advocated for a summer camp with a focus on youth development.
“The more assets that a young person has, the less likely they are to engage in risky behaviors,” she said.
She said some of those assets are constructive use of time and positive relationships with adults.
She said they removed the two biggest barriers for kids participating in camp when they hosted at the campers’ neighborhood park - “Transportation when you use the bus and then funds - discretionary funds to do something.”
For one parent, the location really made a difference to make camp possible for her two kids.
“I don't have a vehicle right now, so it was easier for me to transport my kids back and forth.”
NIU and several nonprofits took part in developing programming in the early years. But the camp has evolved since Hess last led it in 2015. Involvement from the university and some other organizations has dropped off.
Elements of the program remain. The campers are provided with lunch. Their parents and University Village residents serve as camp counselors.
Jacoreyanna Tanner has served as a camp counselor for two summers.
“It's been really nice to serve the kids and my community, just give them something else to do other than be outside and get sucked in by the world," Tanner said. "To preserve their innocence, it's been really nice,” she said.
The camp is still free. The Kishwaukee YMCA manages and raises funds for the camp. Aaron Confer is the YMCA youth development director.
“So without the camp here being free, most of them probably wouldn't have a place to go,” said Confer.
He’s overseeing two other camps in the area each year.
“One of the things that we try to do is with all the camps is teach the kids different things from honesty, respect, teach them basic life skills through doing different activities,” he said.
Georgia Hall is the director at the National Institue on Out-of-School-Time. She said youth programs like Camp Power are important because the time young people spend in a classroom is not enough to support them.
“There are other settings and environments in which young people move that also have an opportunity and maybe responsibility to provide positive experiences for young people that are going to help support them be on positive trajectories,” Hall said.
She said a major focus on youth programming is developing young people’s emotional and social skills such as working on relationship building, self-regulation and self-awareness skills.
“Ultimately, we believe working on that skill building with kids is going to help them be more successful in school and in life, and also take them away from risky behaviors,” Hall said.
She said making the program accessible by the free price tag and location is good.
“You're exposing young people to other assets of the community, to other people in the community, and you're helping them explore possibilities for themselves,” she said.
As the price of summer camps increases elsewhere, Camp Power’s biggest strength continues a decade later - giving access to kids of University Village summer youth programming. The experiences and lessons they picked up helps fuel their new school year.
