Environment DEC
From the February 2009 issue
DEC's Camps Diversity Program Helps Urban Youth Experience the Outdoors
Since 1947, DEC's summer environmental education camps have given young men and women a week-long outdoor adventure-enjoyably blending learning and recreation to bring conservation concepts to life. Traditionally, youth from rural and suburban areas were sponsored by sportsmen, civic and community groups to attend camp, but very few teens from urban areas participated. So in 2002, DEC developed a pilot program in partnership with the Albany Boys and Girls Club to increase the number of minority youth attending its four summer camps.
RaShawn's Story
For many young men growing up in our cities, basketball is a major part of their lives. It was no different for RaShawn Hoke of Albany-with hair tightly braided in cornrows down to his shoulders, RaShawn is the only child of a single mother. Starting when he was an 11-year-old boy, he spent a lot of time on the court at the Albany Boys and Girls Club. He would always be the one picking the teams, deciding who would play and who would sit out.
Recognizing his leadership potential, the club's gang prevention coordinator hired RaShawn and a few of his friends to form the Youth Service Corps. They worked at DEC's Five Rivers Environmental Education Center on stewardship projects. RaShawn was also selected to help expand the computer lab to include a new Environmental Learning Center, and soon it became his job to care for the wildlife at the center as well.
So it was not surprising when, in 2002, RaShawn was among several other city teens who were selected to attend summer camp as part of the pilot program that would later become DEC's Camps Diversity Program. For RaShawn, it wasn't a basketball camp, but it was something he was willing to try.
Introducing City Kids to Nature
When not at camp, RaShawn and his peers nurture their love of the outdoors by helping clean up a local nature preserve.The goal of the Camps Diversity Program is to provide outdoor recreation and natural resource experiences to youth, especially from urban areas, who would not otherwise have the opportunity. The hope is that some will one day seek higher education and careers in environmental fields.
As part of the program, RaShawn and other young men and women like him not only attend summer camp, but participate in activities designed to continue nurturing their interest in outdoor recreation and the environment before and after camp. Activities like fishing, camping, hiking, skiing, canoeing, planting trees, park clean-ups, and college visits have long-lasting impacts on the lives of both campers and their communities. DEC Camps Diversity Program staff work in Buffalo, the Capital District, and New York City to help local agencies, non-profit organizations, and community groups engage young adults in healthy outdoor activities.
RaShawn is one of the pioneers of DEC's Camps Diversity Program. He first attended Camp DeBruce in the Catskills in 2002, where he was awarded "camper of the week," and again when he returned in 2003. In 2005, RaShawn went to Pack Forest Teenage Ecology Workshop, the camp for 15- to 17-year-olds. Again, he was selected as "camper of the week" and was picked to spend two weeks as a junior counselor back at Camp DeBruce. Today, RaShawn is a student at Hudson Valley Community College and has been a valued staff member at DEC's camps for the past two years.
A Good Investment
Through the Camps Diversity Program, DEC is investing in our state's future environmental leaders like RaShawn Hoke and his peers. RaShawn says it best, "It would have been another summer wasted if I didn't go to DEC camp."
If you belong to or know of an organization that may want to sponsor underserved children at a DEC camp, please visit the Camps Diversity Program web page on DEC's website and contact the DEC diversity coordinator nearest you for more information.
