Building Bridges: How Partnerships Expand Access to Camps

Amid fall programs and winter fun coming up, Camp Fire is prepping for Summer 2025, notably making sure that, per our commitment to equitable access in programming, a diversity of youth will be offered the opportunity to attend our safe, inclusive and inspiring summer camps. That audience includes youth experiencing a heightened state of need, who benefit from camp thanks to scholarships and other types of financial assistance made possible by individual donors, sponsorships, grantors, and community partner organizations, including but not limited to Family Access Network (FAN). Last summer, $75,000 was provided in financial assistance to those attending summer programs.

Prior to summer’s start, FAN and other community partners worked closely with Camp Fire to identify families and youth who could not participate in Camp Fire based on our financial assistance alone. While Camp Fire provided the bulk of financial support, our partners stepped in to help close financial gaps that otherwise could have made it difficult if not impossible for 15 youth to attend camp.

Perla Ruiz, FAN Advocate

One such FAN advocate who collaborated closely with Camp Fire is Perla Ruiz, serving out of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at R.E. Jewell Elementary and Mountain View High School. According to Perla, the FAN advocate’s mission is to link children and families to critical basic need services with the goal of keeping children healthy and in school. So how do Camp Fire’s summer programs come into the picture?

“Some of our students look forward to attending school and when summer starts, it can be a mental health challenge for these students to not be in school, so this is where Camp Fire’s summer programs come into play…we encourage such youth development because we believe any positive youth development activity, including summer programs, can help our students succeed not just in school but in life!”

Last summer, Camp Fire partnered with FAN to serve seven families, with Camp Fire meeting 75-90% of costs through its scholarships and FAN contributing about 10%. In addition, a similar partnership with Friends of the Children—Central Oregon supported three families, covering 5-10% of their fees. Between Camp Fire and various partner organizations, this amounted to over $20,000 in financial assistance , which the recipients applied toward  SummerKids program, which includes weekly, theme-based day camps designed for working families.

As the calendar year comes to a close—and opportunities take on a great sense of urgency during Giving Tuesday (Dec. 3) and with the timing of year-end donations for those wishing to capitalize on annual tax deductions—it’s helpful for people to understand the ROI behind fiscal contributions.

“I feel that for our students who attended Camp Fire, there was a significantly positive impact,” Perla says. “I remember I referred a newcomer family to the program this summer, and before they started attending, they were very shy and also a bit fearful because of some personal experiences. But once they felt they were in a safe and positive environment, it boosted their self-esteem and increased their confidence and resilience.”

Driving these outcomes is anything but happenstance. FAN works not only with Camp Fire but up to 100 community partners to support its mission in assisting these families and youth who have experienced and face extreme hardships in life. Striving to remove any remaining financial barriers to programs that provide positive experiences for youth is key to what Perla, other FAN advocates, and many of Camp Fire’s community partners collectively do.

In addition, Camp Fire takes a strategic approach to building access for all through its Equity Committee. Working to surface challenges, barriers, and ways to better serve families in situations of higher need, this committee sets and pursues goals to work with FAN and other partners to identify families who can benefit from funding beyond Camp Fire’s regular avenues of financial assistance, according to Mary Bowker, Camp Fire Central Oregon’s grants manager.

“This way of working together with our partners is outside the typical realm of how we provide financial assistance,” she says. “This committee reflects a very dedicated, proactive strategy to boost access to youth who might otherwise never get a chance to attend our summer programs, which are all about helping them feel safe, welcome and empowered to thrive.”

While FAN supports its families with assistance and resources for essential services, Perla says that Camp Fire can count, too.

“We encourage our families to reach out to FAN and see how we can help and connect them to basic needs services/resources and, hopefully, allocate some of the funds normally used for other services for something like Camp Fire and/or other positive youth development activities.”

Families served by FAN can ask about summer camp opportunities and access simply by contacting their FAN Advocate directly. Of note, asking about the financial assistance process early in the school year, before Camp Fire registration launches in mid-February, facilitates registration for Camp Fire summer programs.

Organizations and individuals wishing to contribute to building on this impact, giving scholarship dollars and financial assistance to those experiencing significant need, are invited to show their support today through a one-time tax-deductible donation or a sustaining contribution. Don’t delay—learn more giving options here and start making an impact today!