Understanding. Awareness. Acceptance. Inclusion. Openness. Sharing. Support.
These are core elements of who we are and what we believe at Experience Camps. We’d like to believe that the common bond of loss transcends race, identity, politics, wealth, and religion. And yet we know it’s much more complicated than that.
The past few weeks have brought increased attention to the injustice and oppression that people of color have been fighting for centuries. To fully realize our mission and values, we must join the fight. We are committing to immersing ourselves in the dialogue and introspection of our individual and collective roles in systemic racism, and today we share some of those commitments with you.
We will CONTINUE…
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Engaging our Diversity & Inclusion Committee to influence program decisions, make deliberate space for reflection and dialogue, and continually challenge the status quo.
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Providing training before and at camp that brings awareness and tactical suggestions for supporting campers of color.
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Eliminating financial barriers to camp by ensuring that it is free, always, and that each camper has what they need to experience it without concern or judgment.
We will START…
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Taking a more deliberate and direct approach to teaching our volunteers what it means to be antiracist at camp and in their lives.
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Aggressively seeking new channels to recruit diverse perspectives and voices for our board, staff and volunteers.
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Using our platforms to speak out on our commitment to diversity and inclusion and calling on others to do the same.
We will STOP…
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Allowing caution to overshadow the expression of our values and beliefs about racial injustice.
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Letting the people of color within our organization be viewed by their white peers as the assumed caretakers and allies of our campers of color.
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Believing that “we tried our hardest” is sufficient when there’s so much more we need to do.
This is not a finite list and does not end with this moment in time. We commit to listening, to learning, to having difficult conversations, and to being part of the solution, not just today, but for as long as it takes.
