We held the second session of YEA Camp for Adults at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in New Paltz, New York.

Here are some of the highlights from YEA Camp 2019.

Our 11th Summer

This was our 11th summer hosting YEA Camp for teens ages 12 – 17 and we are so grateful for the opportunity to work with these inspiring young people. 

Our first youth camp was held at Nature’s Classroom in Charlton, Massachusetts from July 13 – 20. Our second youth camp was held at Camp Buckhorn in Idyllwild, California from August 3 – 10. 

We had around fifty campers at each youth session representing two dozen states and three countries. 

From June 30 – July 6, 22 campers from 12 states stayed with us at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in New Paltz, New York for the second ever session of YEA Camp for Adults. From yoga in the morning to meeting with farmed animals after lunch, from workshops on gender and race to trainings on communication and fundraising, our campers had the perfect mix of self-care and reflection while also learning valuable skills to help advance their activism.

We love our YEA Camp Massachusetts staff!

Between the three sessions of camp, we were so blessed to have 35 amazing staff members from 16 different states.

Our Impact

Juan Antonio Nelson is an Iowa college student who flew all the way to New York to attend adult camp. When asked about the experience, he said, “Without YEA Camp, I wouldn’t feel that I could make a difference in my immediate community. I wouldn’t have the courage to stand up for others. If not for YEA Camp, I wouldn’t have met a strong community of activists who are passionately advocating for what they believe in.”

A few months ago, former YEA Camper and current YEA staff member Ananya Singh was featured on the Perennials Podcast. In the podcast, Ananya says, “When I was 12 years old, the summer before eighth grade, I attended this summer camp called Youth Empowered Action and this is a camp for teen activists and it really was a life changing experience for me. It exposes you to so many different social issues that are going on in the world and kind of takes the approach of intersectionality and showing how all of these issues are so interconnected and then really breaking down what is possible for young people to do.”

YEA Camp staff member Ananya Singh in action at the Morristown, New Jersey Climate Strike

We also recently shared the story of former YEA Camper Leah Kelly who FIVE years after attending camp, wrote this blog post where she says, “Five and a half years ago, as a 15-year-old, I attended Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp for the first time and my life was changed immeasurably. I can’t imagine how different my life would have been from then on had I not spent that pivotal week learning what it means to be an effective agent of change and forming lasting connections that supported, and continue to support me as I navigate a chosen path of social justice and fighting for what I believe in.”

Our Brand New Program

This year, we also launched the first-ever YEA Camp Volunteer-a-thon. The Volunteer-a-thon was created to encourage our community in service and activism while raising money for the YEA Camp Scholarship Fund. 

Dima Bischoff-Hashem created an awesome Volunteer-a-thon project supporting her Issue of Importance, animal rights!

Participants created donor pages, shared what activism they would be working on, and asked their loved ones to “sponsor” them in their work. You can read more about three of our camper’s projects at this link and click here to read what one camper wrote about the experience. 

All funds raised through the Volunteer-a-thon go towards the YEA Camp Scholarship Fund which makes camp accessible for all who want to attend. 

This year, 51 of our 100 participants received financial aid and 17 of those campers were on full scholarships. Overall, we funded $66,400 of financial aid this year.  

Our Gratitude

We cannot say thank you enough to everyone who made camp possible. From our food donors to our staff to our donors, thank you. 

Helping ourselves to vegan pizza with Miyoko’s Cheese and more toppings than we can count!

Thanks to two generous donors, we also have a special opportunity through the end of the year. All donations given before the end of the year will be TRIPLED. Click here to learn more and to donate to our Scholarship Fund. 

Every year at YEA Camp, we have the privilege of meeting passionate and activated changemakers who are taking the world by storm. We feel so grateful to be a part of their story and look forward to supporting you in making a bigger difference on the causes you care most about, too!

See You Next Summer

Do you want to experience YEA Camp for yourself next summer, or know someone who would love to join us? 

We are eagerly preparing for 2020 and are excited to offer an Early Bird special registration for $250 off those who sign up before the end of the year. Do you know someone who would be great for YEA Camp? Nominate them here!

• Youth Camp: in Ventura, California (July 5 – 12) and Charlton, Massachusetts (August 1 – 8)
• Adult Camp: in Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey (July 18 – 24)

See you next summer!

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By having friends and family sponsor them in this activism, participants are raising money for the YEA Camp Scholarship Fund. The scholarship fund is a core tenet of the mission of YEA Camp. It makes camp accessible for all who want to be there. In the past decade, we have trained over 1,000 activists. None of that would be possible without the support of our donors.

This summer alone, YEA Camp gave financial aid to 51 of the 100 participants to a total of $66,400 worth of aid!

Triple the Impact

This year’s Volunteer-a-Thon is an opportunity to pay that gift forward. By giving to YEA Camp, you give a young person the gift of camp. You allow us to activate them with the knowledge, skills, confidence, and community that they need to make a bigger difference in this world. By participating in or donating to the Volunteer-a-Thon, you become a champion for someone’s activism. 

Thanks to two generous donors, we are making your dollars walk a little farther this year. From now until the end of the year, all Volunteer-a-Thon donations will be TRIPLED. Where else can you invest $20 and see $60 raised to support young changer makers?

Sometimes, though, it’s hard to quantify what that looks like. That’s why we’ve invited two time YEA Camper and Volunteer-a-Thon participant, Mia Jay-Pachirat to share her story. 

What YEA Camp Means to Mia Jay-Pachirat

Hello! My name is Mia. I’m 17 and have gone to YEA Camp for two years now.  I love it. Last year, my Issue of Importance (IOI) was climate change, and my action plan was to create an art zine, all based around solutions to climate change based in New York City, where I live. (Note: A zine is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images).

Through the Volunteer-a-thon, I have been working on this zine, and I’ve started to plan out the skeleton of it. I am hoping that next month I can start making it! I am thankful for YEA Camp for giving me this opportunity to pursue my passion because otherwise, I wouldn’t have the knowledge and the community to effectively pursue what I wanted to do.

YEA Camp has allowed so many kids to learn how to fight for the world we live on. This is so important because currently not a lot of adults in the government are fighting for what the youth is going to have to live with for many years to come. I think YEA Camp allows youth to make sure that they have the tools themselves to change the world and to right the wrongs that adults have made and continue to make.

I know, personally, that through YEA Camp I have become a much stronger and passionate activist than I ever was before. I’ve learned how to talk to people I don’t know about issues that concern me and how to do that in a positive, helpful way. Additionally, the friends you make at YEA Camp are the best friends you will ever make. YEA Camp friends care about issues that you care about, and they understand what it’s like to struggle with explaining yourself to others that don’t think the same way.

Mia’s Project

So on to my zine! My basic idea for my action plan was to start creating a zine, mass-produce it, and then hand it out on the streets of New York. That didn’t work out because of school and schedule conflicts with my going through the college process. But after talking to my art teacher and making up a plan with her, she’s allowing me to do my zine in art class during the school day. I’m going to start producing a magazine next week. I have everything planned out and I am super excited.

By donating and creating a page for the Volunteer-a-Thon you’re helping so many kids have the opportunity to come to the wonderful, wonderful YEA Camp. Please, if you can donate, share a page. or even create one that would mean the world! To learn more about my project, click here.

Support YEA Camp

To support Mia and the other members of the YEA Camp community, click here. You can read more about her project and others or even create your own page. 

If you are able, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to YEA Camp this year. Your dollar will go three times as far thanks to our generous matching donors.

Interested in joining us at camp next year? We recently announced the dates for YEA Camp 2020 and are currently running an Early Bird special. Register by the end of the year to receive $250 off your registration. Do you know someone who would be great for camp? Nominate them here!

• Youth Camp: in Ventura, California (July 5 – 12) and Charlton, Massachusetts (August 1 – 8)
• Adult Camp: in Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey (July 18 – 24)

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I began September’s Climate Strike at a church packed with teenagers and their chaperones, and wondered if I was the only non-religious person there. St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity, a quick walk from Foley Square, opened their space, gave free breakfast and paint and cardboard to all of us. I met up with a dear friend and some teens she was chaperoning from her church. She was busy fulfilling her role as a family minister, referring to everyone present as “Friend.” I was busy making small talk with some folks in collars, wondering if they could sense my unbelonging. 

Youth rally at the 2019 Climate Strike in New York City

I have always been fearful that in religious spaces people are able to immediately pick up on my lack of faith, a non-believer in their midst. Yet as I carried this grain of insecurity with me, I had to stop and consider that a protest and a service aim to achieve the same goals. A protest unifies, as any service aims to do. A protest reminds us what we have to fight for, and why it matters. The environment that can get our otherwise isolated selves to wish peace on our neighbors is the same one that has us teaching and learning new chants and showing the 6 year-olds how to use a megaphone. A protest grounds us, pushes us to construct the world we want to be part of.

As I reflect on that day, I can not help but realize that the climate strike restored my commitment to compassion in the face of uncertainty.

And that feels a lot like faith to me. I’ve never been to a church service that I connected with, that is, until I attended the climate strike. Beginning my day at church set the tone but since that day I have been thinking a lot about the holy nature of direct action.

Thousands of people marching for their future in New York City

I do not mean to assign strict religious meaning or symbolism to the dedicated organizing of these youth. I mean only to say that they reoriented my own thinking, and helped me to remember that the affiliation or community we may lack within a particular faith can be found in movement organizing, and the unifying force of a cause worth fighting for. 

What I found particularly impactful is that the youth do not hesitate to be honest.

While the truth of the climate crisis is without a doubt overwhelming, I’ve found that adults respond to it by thinking within our systems, retreating it always seems, to market-based solutions. Constrained by what is in front of us, what we understand, sometimes it can feel like adults lack the imagination to tackle a problem so large. But these teenagers, they believe in what they do not yet see. They believe in the possibility of a new, different, and just world.

Youth, whether because of their lack of formal status within larger systems, or because of the sheer uncertainty of their futures, give us all the permission to think outside of the system. Whereas all too many adults look to the market to correct what the market has bore, the children are thinking differently. Their ears are to the ground, and the sky, to the forest floor and the sidewalk, they are listening to the environment, not the invisible hand. Their minds are not constrained to the market, and to face this problem, our minds must not be constrained to the market either.

We should watch closely as the children believe in a world system they can not yet see, and take this as a lesson in applied faith. 

Greta Thunberg, speaking at Battery Park said, “This is the biggest climate strike in the history of the world.”

As an activist, I have often been intimidated away from action by my own perceived lack of knowledge. When I let fear control my actions, I never end up acting, I stay quiet and convinced I do not belong. I would bet most of us feel this way from time to time. Yet, on that Friday, only a year since Greta Thunberg began striking, alone, outside of the Swedish Parliament, between 6 and 7 million people worldwide joined her. We alone are fearful, but together we are certain. What the youth reminded me was that expertise is not a substitute for emotion. Facts do not always convince us the way that fear does.

The voices of the youth are clear — they do not get a future if we do not change our world.

NYC public school students (1.1 million of them) were excused from classes on Friday to participate in the Climate Strike.

And this month, I was honored to stand amongst them, when chanting carried the weight of hymnal, and we were all invited to imagine a different future. 

No one here had to be a scientist to become a leader. We only had to understand that the climate crisis will unify us, whether it be as quiet victims or as rising activists. It is not the responsibility of the youth to lead us, or present us with solutions. But we may all be better off by observing their abandon, the force of their determination, their willingness to show up, as experts or not. And we will all be better off by realizing that the community we seek may be right in front of us, on the picket line, or the school strike. That the collective imagining of a just world is a worthy, and holy project.

The children and teenagers at the climate strike push us to think outside of our worlds, breaking down the walls of an economic system that works for so few. The children and teenagers of the climate strike push us to turn to our neighbor, and wish for peace in the form of a call to action. 

About the Activist:

Maggie Berke is a postpartum doula invested in the fight for comprehensive reproductive justice. She has a background in LGBT+ advocacy and education, and lives in Brooklyn. In her free time, she is writing poetry or participating in theatre projects. You can find her @goldenhourpostpartum and @maybemaggiewill on Instagram. 

Maggie attended YEA Camp for Adults in Summer 2019. We are so grateful she joined us.

Maggie is one of many former campers and staff members to partake in the 2019 Climate Strike. Check out this recent blog post about other YEA Camp Alumni who lead Climate Strikes in their communities. We are so proud of every camp member who takes what they learn at camp and uses it to make a bigger impact in whatever way makes sense for them.

If you’d like to learn more about how to advocate for environmental justice and other causes you care about, join us at YEA Camp for teens or YEA Camp for Adults. We will be announcing our 2020 summer dates soon. Looking to add to your activist tool belt in the meantime? Click here to download our free ebook, The Beginner’s Guide to Changing the World!

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Today, there are a million reasons to unleash your inner activist: combating injustice, educating people on issues you care about, fighting for those without a voice, and the general state of our planet (i.e. THE WORLD DESPERATELY NEEDS HELP) are some that come to mind. But did you know that the pursuit of activism can also make you happier?

Here are four reasons following your inner activist will not only make the world better but actually make you feel better.

1. Decrease your cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance is an idea in psychology that says that people feel better when their actions align with their values. We all have experienced that icky feeling when we are doing something that goes against our core beliefs, such as consuming animal products when we know how farm animals are treated and the effects on the environment, purchasing a pair of sneakers that are not ethically made, or keeping your money at a bank that furthers economic inequity or diverts funds toward the destruction of the environment.

Yet often, we push that inner tension to the back of our thoughts. Following your instinct to do what’s right is an effective way to lift the veil of cognitive dissonance. When your actions serve your beliefs there is a remarkable amount of empowerment, peace, and fulfillment that come with that.

Deep friendships

2. Make meaningful friendships.

One of the great benefits of following your inner activist is that it inevitably leads you to people who feel similarly about the issues you hold dear. Imagine meeting someone and skipping past the awkward what do we have in common icebreaker-ey talk. That is what it is like when you connect to fellow activists. A bond naturally forms because you already know you share a common cause.

Making friends based on a mutual desire to help the world can often result in deeper connections too. We all made friends in school because we had the same interests. We all made friends at work because of a mutual dislike of the boss. But being understood and seen by our fellow activists is profoundly fulfilling and a strong foundation for deeper friendships. These friends also bring out the best in us, join us in our activism, and inspire us to get even more active on a cause we care about.

My favorite aspect of having activist friends is that there is no competition whatsoever. We all want the same thing, so I cheer on my friends who have made headway and continue to make a difference.

3. You actually have a reason to go on social media.

Instead of aimlessly, habitually, scrolling through pictures of everyone’s “happiest” version of their lives (which may have taken numerous shots and carefully worded text to craft), YOU are there with a purpose.

Whether spreading the word about an issue you are dedicated to, educating yourself or other people on a cause, or connecting with others who are passionate about the same things — you are not wasting your time. You are also not feeling inadequate, comparing your life to the people you follow (we all do this) or getting annoyed at your aunt’s narrow-minded tweet. You are focusing on something bigger than you, and following through on your desire to help.

Numerous studies show the way social media and unhappiness are directly correlated. And while it would be great to disengage from it altogether, for many of us, this is not possible. Reframing our use and the ways in which we interact on social media platforms allow us to get the most fulfillment from it.

4. Science says so.

According to a famous psychological study by Sonja Lyubomirsky, about half of our happiness is biologically predetermined. This is called our “happiness set point.” Another 10% correlates to our living conditions. The last 40% of our happiness has to do with our actions — the things we control.

Taking meaningful, purposeful action makes us happy. Working toward other people’s happiness and improving the lives of others increases confidence and decreases depression and anxiety.

We often view activists as disgruntled, angry, combative radicals who alienate people who don’t believe what they do. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In a study where college students were interviewed based on their level of involvement in issues and their personal level of happiness, those with high levels of involvement tested as the happiest.

Ready to spend the summer with your inner activist?

Are you looking for ways to make a bigger difference in the world? Are you looking to add greater fulfillment and happiness to your life? If so, join us at YEA Camp this summer!

For the past 10 years, we have been training people to make a bigger difference in the world and to have a great time doing it.

This summer, we have two sessions for teens and one session of YEA Camp for Adults, with folks coming from all over the country to attend. Not only will it be super fun and help you make a bigger difference on the causes you care about, it might even boost your happiness set point.

About the Author: Camilla Rubis is a TV Writer in Los Angeles and YEA Camp volunteer. She is passionate about the spread of financial literacy to empower and support future generations.

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YEA Camp for Adults will be amazing! Join us!

As we prepare for our second year of YEA Camp for Adults, we wanted to share more about its purpose, ways it’s similar but also different from a typical leadership or activism conference or training or retreat, and how it might be the most fun you’ve ever had focusing on self-care, personal growth, and changing the world.

We are living in a time when children are being separated from their families at the border, when those in power are ignoring scientists’ warnings about climate catastrophe, and the richest 26 people in the world currently own the same wealth as the poorer half of the entire global population. These are just a few of the most devastating injustices we are facing.

It’s enough to make a big-hearted person feel totally demoralized, check out, or give up.

But, thankfully, many people who have never been activists before are getting involved and inspired to bring about change.

Seeing this has been incredible! People are attending their first marches and getting involved in politics for the first time. They’re donating money, having uncomfortable conversations to challenge outdated thinking, and on and on.

For the past 10 years, YEA Camp has been training teens to make a bigger difference on the social justice causes they care most about, and we recognize that folks 18 and up have some of the same needs as teens do to get involved at higher levels than ever before.

That’s why we created YEA Camp for Adults.

Check out our new video about YEA Camp for Adults!

Changing the world is hard! Not only does it take knowledge about issues and skills to make an impact, it takes self-confidence to get out of our comfort zone, and community to learn from and work with.

So many people got their start as changemakers by mostly stumbling along without a plan or rationale. It’s often lonely and time-consuming to try things out without much in the way of relevant knowledge, skills, mentorship, or even open conversations with experienced activists to help navigate a path that is inherently entrepreneurial and against the status quo.

Left to our own devices, it’s too easy to just like posts on social media, go to a march every few months, and complain about all of the world’s problems without doing much of anything about them.

That’s where we try to intervene and make a real difference. We leverage the experience of our staff to help kickstart or up-level your activism.

Social Justice Activism and Leadership Training for Aspiring Activists

At YEA Camp, we curate the most foundational concepts and skills that we want to make sure every changemaker has in their toolkit. Things like:

• Fundamental strategies for understanding and chipping away at racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression
• Intersectionality and how different social justice issues relate to one another
• Evaluating our habits and choices to see how our daily actions and purchases can be some of the simplest ways we can make a difference
• Going deeper and examining our limiting beliefs and fears to help us find our voice and tap into our power
• Tapping into our resilience when we feel overwhelmed and demoralized by the state of the world
• Communication skills to help us have more effective interactions with people who we disagree with, especially those in positions of power — and to know when to avoid these interactions
• Skills to inspire others to get involved, to use social media or grassroots outreach effectively, to raise money for your cause, or to launch a socially responsible business or venture
• Interactive activities tailored to different learning styles and to help you apply everything you learn
• Tapping into our creativity and using the existing skills we each have to find our niche and make a difference in a way that is most appropriate for each of us
• Developing strategies to assess the best use of our time, and to make a plan that inspires us

Why A Summer Camp for Activists?

So many reasons! Let’s focus on three.

Join us at YEA Camp for Adults at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, just outside of New York City.

1. Summer camp brings together the elements of fun, inspiration, and relaxation. As activist-minded people, we can become focused on all the problems in the world. In comparison to so many injustices, it could feel impossible or selfish to enjoy our lives. We hope you’ll see that taking time to be out in nature, be silly, and enjoy life is a long-term investment in your activism. It can help us replenish our energy and inspiration so that we can think clearly and truly be of service to others.

2. Camp inherently challenges us to get out of our comfort zones.

   From meeting new people, to being open to the unknown, to the most basic adjustments to new food and a bed that’s not your own. But as we tap into our courage in a safe environment, we can build a muscle that actually expands the size of our comfort zone. Things that made us nervous before become not so scary, and that is hugely helpful for any activist. With an activist mindset, we see infinite opportunities to take action beyond what we’ve done before, where we’re not sure what to expect, or where we may be opening ourselves up for criticism or perceived failure. We can all benefit by getting more comfortable getting out of our comfort zones.

3. Camp might be the best place in the world to reinvent yourself.

   Most of us spend the majority of our time with the same people.  Our coworkers, family, friends, neighbors, and even ourselves know us to be a certain way. We are a product of our past ways of being and seeing ourselves. But what if we want to re-evaluate who we are or how we want to approach life? What if we want to pursue new passions or set new goals? That can be hard to just wake up and do one day over breakfast or at work.

Being at camp is transformational.

You get to show up as whoever you want to try out being. If you’re naturally shy, what if you try being outgoing? In a welcoming environment where nobody knows you, we won’t even know you’re just trying that out!

This is an opportunity to brainstorm a new way to get involved in your community or a more inspired career. We will have no judgments –just offer support and thoughtful input if you ask for it.

There are conferences and trainings to learn about specific problems in the world or to build specific skills. But they’re usually boring or stuffy, in a sterile hotel conference room all day packed with people you won’t get to know, and with someone droning on to explain a PowerPoint you could have read at home.

But what if you could learn the basics of what you need to know to make a bigger difference while also having one of the most fun weeks of your life, building strong bonds with like-minded supportive people, and spending time in nature rejuvenating yourself so that you feel inspired rather than drained?

That’s YEA Camp!

Details, Please?!

YEA Camp for Adults is a leadership training and activist retreat all held on the grounds of an animal sanctuary!

YEA Camp for Adults is held at the incredible Woodstock Farm Sanctuary — a home for rescued farmed animals who will be some of our hosts and friends as we enjoy our own sanctuary during our time together. We chose June 30-July 6, the week of July 4th, so it will be easier to get away.

We only have 50 beds, so this will be an intimate setting. Everyone will get to know everyone and nobody can fall through the cracks. The accommodations are modern, and we will have a personal vegan chef cooking for us! We also promise you will become friends with creatures with 2 legs, 4 legs, and even wings!

We also offer a sliding scale and financial aid to make it easier for people to be able to come.

If you’re passionate about making a bigger difference in the world, YEA Camp was created with you in mind.

Summer is fast approaching! We hope you will take advantage of this once-a-year opportunity to take your change-making to new heights!

Check out our event page here. And find out more or register to join us this summer by visiting our website here.

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