Guest post by Daniel W. Hatcher, MPH, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, Alliance for a Healthier Generation Today, there are over 2 million children of active-duty U.S. service members, National Guard Reserve, and military veterans. On average, military families move every two to three years. This means that by the

You can’t be a growing human without experiencing some amount of pain, discomfort and suffering. But the past few years have introduced new challenges to being a kid: Pandemic isolation, climate fears, political instability, and constant availability of tech tools designed to hijack our brain chemistry to maximize use. Just

Over the past few years, as we’ve continued to navigate COVID-19 and its challenges, we served over 100,000 young people virtually, which is incredible. But now, as we’re able to operate programs in person (and we see growing waitlists for our programs), we’re again able to offer the kind of

We know that camp and outdoor programs help young people connect to the environment and each other. These life-changing experiences have long-term benefits: strong developmental relationships with safe adults; a chance to explore new interests and skills; mental health supports; and a sense of belonging — to a community and

Today, we’re very excited to share our first awards and recognition emblem redesign: 125 emblems. 3 years of collaborative, youth-led work. 100 years in the making. 0 cultural appropriation. Thousands of great memories to come.       For the very first time, these emblems will be available as stickers,

In 2020, we expanded our inclusion statement to get a lot more specific about all the ways young people might define themselves—and how we welcome, affirm and support everyone. One of the categories of diversity that Camp Fire actively celebrates is gender identity.  Young people are leading us in our

5 Days of Action is June 7-11th. It is a week designed to raise awareness and inspire adults to take action to protect children from sexual abuse. Led by the YMCA Guardians for Child Protection, the goal is to engage communities, improve internal operations, and advance policy and environmental change

One of Camp Fire’s five interwoven strategic commitments is addressing and ending cultural appropriation. In 2020, Camp Fire began working with Thrive Paradigm to identify culturally appropriative elements of its programming and recommend changes aligned with Camp Fire’s values of equity and inclusivity. In April through July of last year,

Artist: Nikkolas Smith   Our hearts and minds are heavy with grief and anger from the multiple incidents of brutality and racism we have witnessed over the past several weeks. We must stand with our Black youth, families, and staff in sadness, compassion, and anger for the repeated trauma and racism they have faced and continue to face in