Virtual YEA Camp Trains Aspiring Activists to Make a Bigger Difference

We are so excited to share some great news! And some not-so-great news.

The great news is that we will be holding another summer of Virtual YEA Camp again this year! Our virtual camp was so fun and impactful last summer, we are thrilled to be able to hold it again this year!

We’ll have a lot of the same amazing guest teachers and activities that were camper favorites, as well as incorporate new workshops, speakers, and activities to change things up. It’s going to be amazing!

Virtual YEA Camp is for aspiring activists ages 10-17 who want to make a difference in the world, and we’re so looking forward to helping these inspiring changemakers make an even bigger impact on the social justice causes they care about. 

Send any young people you know who would love Virtual YEA Camp to YEACamp.org for details and to register! We always make financial aid available to those who need it.

You might have figured out the not-so-great news. We won’t be holding YEA Camp in person this summer.

While we of course love being together in person, there is still so much uncertainty about Covid to feel we can ensure everyone’s safety for an in-person overnight setting, plus Virtual YEA Camp was so great in 2020, we’re thrilled to be able to offer it again!

Why Virtual YEA Camp

We created Virtual YEA Camp in 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic after months of planning meetings with past campers and staff. We were proud to create an amazing program that offered much of the best of what we do at in-person YEA Camp while also incorporating new components that we could only do virtually, like collaborating on activist projects in real time and having guest speakers and campers who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to attend in person. Our campers accomplished great things and the program got rave reviews.

In the summer of 2021, while there is great room for optimism with the Covid vaccine being administered and a return to normalcy hopefully upon us soon, in a sense there is even more uncertainty this summer than last summer.

By summertime, it’s predicted that most adults in the US who want to be vaccinated will be able to be, though that is still to be seen in all 50 states. Of course, the rollout of the vaccines has been notoriously less accessible to those with less privilege and fewer resources. The possibility of new variants of Covid makes things more uncertain. In addition, about a third of people in the US don’t plan to get vaccinated, which could mean Covid will still be with us for a long time. Importantly for summer camps, there is still no approved vaccine yet for youth under 16. Vaccines for young people are just now entering clinical trials. While most young people aren’t affected as seriously as adults are, long-term effects of Covid are unknown. Young people can also still be carriers and transmit Covid to others.

Especially since so many of the campers and staff who attend YEA Camp typically come from out of state and even by plane to join us, we felt that the only way to ensure the safety of our community and the community at large given all the unknowns and risk factors still with us in 2021 was to hold YEA Camp virtually again.

As much as we love doing YEA Camp in-person, our virtual camps were so impactful and successful this summer and winter, which made it a much easier decision for us to hold YEA Camp virtually again.

Join us this summer!
We are offering 4 sessions of Virtual YEA Camp that each build upon one another but also stand on their own, so you can register for 1, 2, 3, or 4 sessions.

The themes and dates for each session are:

Becoming a Changemaker | July 12 – 16, 2021
Understanding the Issues | July 19 – 23, 2021
Skills to Make a Difference | July 26 – 30, 2021
Careers for Changemakers | Aug 2 – 6, 2021

YEA Camp’s curriculum focuses on developing knowledge, skills, confidence, and community. 

At each session, campers will:

  • learn how to make a bigger difference in the world: from planning a campaign or a fundraiser to finding your voice and speaking up about the causes you believe in
  • make friends who care as much as you do
  • do activism together on a cause you care about
  • have tons of fun!

Get $50 off if you register by April 1!

We are so excited for another summer of Virtual YEA Camp! We look forward to holding in-person sessions of YEA Camp again in the summer of 2022.

To learn more about YEA Camp or to sign up, go to www.YEACamp.org.