Idealism Into Action: Vegan Summer Camp for Young Activists

Youth Empowered Action (YEA) summer camp, a vegan camping experience that empowers youth leadership by developing skills and self-confidence, is planning for an amazing summer program for the lucky youth that are able to attend the camp. Is your son or daughter a passionate advocate for recyling, vegetarianism, or animal rights? Would you like to help them channel that passion into positive action and empowerment? Or perhaps you just want to see your favorite teen have a positive experience that will increase confidence, give them a chance to meet other young potential leaders and changemakers, and keep them active and healthy. There are already specialized camps for kids who want to lose weight, play basketball, or want to advance musical skills. But what about the idealist in your life? What about kids who want to make a difference in the world? Where is there for young leaders who want to address global warming, homelessness or homophobia?

An innovative summer camp for kids ages 11-15, Youth Empowered Action (YEA) summer camp inspires and empowers youth leadership to make a difference by developing skills, knowledge, confidence, and community. Its attendees are the future heads of their high school or college environmental club, the future donors and volunteers of community nonprofits, the future executive directors of leading nonprofit organizations.

In its second year, YEA will be held in two locations this summer, one in the Bay Area, outside of Santa Cruz, and the other in the Portland, Oregon area.

YEA Season Two Locations and Dates

Where: Santa Cruz, California

When: Session I July 25-30, Session II July 31-Aug 5, 2010

Where: Portland, OR

When: August 14-21, 2010

What to Expect at YEA Camp

“YEA is a place for young people who want to make a difference in the world to feel proud of their passion, to meet like-minded people and learn from one another, and to be inspired by possibilities for leadership,” YEA Founder and director Nora Kramer said. “Our campers are amazing.”

Parent Mike Boss of San Francisco shared, “I want you to know wonderful and vital YEA camp was for our daughter! She not only loved her time there, but she came back with something which I believe will be of lasting value to her, namely a sense that she can make a difference in the world.”

According to Camp Director Nora Kramer, there will be some changes in this summer’s program from last year’s very successful camp. Prior to accepting applications for camp, the staff are asking for a commitment from the kids that they will spend an hour per week on their chosen social issue after camp. There will also be some new activities, including a digital storytelling component so the youth may get training and practice in talking about their chosen issues and learning to use video to help advocate more effectively.

Some of the staff will be returning from last season, but there are also exciting new additions which will increase the experience and diversity brought to the campers. There will also be three sessions this summer: two in the same northern California location and one new spot in Portland, Oregon.

From YEA:

Youth Empowered Action Camp, a fun and innovative summer camp, builds knowledge, skills, confidence, and community for youth ages 11-16 who want to make a difference in the world. Campers learn valuable communications and leadership skills and are supported to choose an issue of importance to them, create a thoughtful plan of action, and leave camp with a committed community of peers and mentors to help make it happen. They also have a blast exploring the beautiful natural setting, playing games, making music and art, meeting like-minded new friends, and celebrating summer vacation! Our six-day, five-night sessions are either July 25-30 or July 31-August 5 and cost $800 for the full program in the gorgeous Santa Cruz mountains. For more info, including inspiring testimonials and details about our activities, please visit www.yeacamp.org, email info@yeacamp.org, or contact us at 415-710-7351.
YEA is a nonprofit 501(c)3 fiscally sponsored by Youth for Environmental Sanity.

To find out more about YEA Camp, or to apply or donate to the program, visit www.yeacamp.org

Initial season of YEA camp profiled on Veganacious

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Tags: Activists camp, leadership training, Nora Kramer, summer camp, vegan camp, vegan summer camp, YEA Empowered Action

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 24th, 2010 at 3:38 am and is filed under Advocacy, Children. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.