When I Go Home: Positive Youth Development and Sustainable Community-Building Through Summer Camp

• In Event: Using Out-of-School Time as an Anchor for Social Capital and Community Development

Abstract

With more than 14 million children and adults in America attending summer camps each year (ACA, 2013) scholarship around development of youth through camp is growing. This study expands on the limited attention payed to religious camps (Sorenson 2018) and opens a new avenue to exploring community growth through summer camp through a qualitative case study of a religious sports summer camp that communities attend as a collective group, with youth and community leaders. This model of camp provides positive youth development while simultaneously fostering long-term growth within the communities that attend the camp. The findings have important implications for re-interpreting camp as a primary component of a year-round youth development intervention; creating a camp structure that facilitates community growth.

Authors

• David E. K. Smith, University of Pittsburgh

• Keith W. Trahan, University of Pittsburgh