YEA Camp is a summer leadership camp for teen activists.

Since 2009, Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp, a summer camp for social change, has been holding life-changing overnight camps for youth across the country. This summer, for the first time, YEA Camp will be holding a session in Southern California, in the beautiful Angeles National Forest.

Pressed by the current political climate, young people all across the country, and especially in California, are getting more and more engaged in social issues. They are walking out of school, marching in the streets, and making their voices heard on political issues. They are taking a stand against racism, homophobia, sexism, xenophobia, and in support of immigrants, equality, health care, the environment, and animal rights.

YEA Campers from all over the country attended Women’s Marches, the day after Inauguration Day.

Supporting activist-minded progressive teens is the whole reason for YEA Camp’s existence, and moving to a bigger location just outside Los Angeles will help YEA Camp serve even more young people.

At YEA Camp, young people ages 12-17 choose an issue they are most passionate about, what the camp calls their Issue of Importance (IOI), and throughout the week campers develop knowledge, skills, confidence, and community to help them make a bigger difference when they go home.

Campers have gone on to start school clubs to improve student self-esteem, rally and fundraise for organizations they support, go to Standing Rock, and so much more. In fact, YEA Camp recently successfully nominated 3 former campers for $1000 Pollination Project grants to help them expand on their food justice activism work, and all 3 were funded!

YEA Camp helps young people who know they want to make a difference figure out what to do, or to take what they are already doing to the next level. By the end of camp, everyone creates an action plan for what they intend to do when they go home. Check out many testimonials from past campers here. Here’s one we really love from 13-year-old rockstar YEA Camper Ananya.

YEA Camp’s California camp will be held August 6-13 in Wrightwood, CA, approximately an hour north of Pasadena.

In addition to the west coast session, for the sixth year in a row, YEA Camp will hold sessions on the east coast as well, with a camp in Massachusetts from July 9-16, and a camp in New York from July 23-30, a session especially for animal advocates.

“There is so much that each one of us can do to make a difference in the world,” said YEA Camp Founder and Director Nora Kramer. “It’s so inspiring to see our campers find their voice and get active on causes they believe in. We’re thrilled to be offering this session just outside Los Angeles and to be able to serve more campers than ever before.”

Space is still available for each session, though space is limited. To learn more about YEA Camp, visit www.yeacamp.org.

To learn more about YEA Camp, visit www.yeacamp.org.

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For those who know anything about YEA Camp, a summer camp for social change, it should be no surprise that when our campers’ votes were tallied at the end, our current president didn’t just lose the popular vote. It was unanimous. He received zero votes.

YEA Camp is for 12-17 year-olds who care about social justice issues like racism, poverty, gay rights, women’s equality, the environment, animal rights, and more. They expressed significant concerns about the prospect of a Trump presidency’s effect on all of these causes.

Fast forward to the day after Inauguration Day, and we were proud to see dozens of YEA Campers attend Women’s Marches across the country.

Take a look at just some of the YEA Campers who participated.

Former YEA Camper and now YEA staffer Shelby at the LA march.

Check out Shelby’s blog post”When They Go Low… We Get Involved!”, about her experience at the march!

YEA Campers Perry and Samantha met up at the Santa Cruz march.

YEA Camper Kailey (right) and friend at the Dallas march

YEA Camper Jake sporting his YEA Camp t-shirt at the St. Louis march.

Paula attending her first march, at the Women’s March in San Jose, CA.

Check out Paula’s blog post, “How My First March Restored My Faith in Gender Equality,” about her experience attending the march!

YEA Camper Grace attended the rainy march in Portland, Oregon.

YEA Camper Amanda with her signs for the Cleveland march. #intersectionalfeminism

Drake’s little brother Dax (future YEACamper!) with the sign he made for the Charlotte march!

YEA Camper Drake with environmental activist racecar driver Leilani Munter at the Charlotte march.

Former YEA Camp Assistant Director Laura (a science teacher) with her kids — future YEA Campers! — at the Portland march.

YEA Camper Elisha in the middle (you can’t read it, but we recognize that she’s wearing her YEA Camp “This is what an activist looks like” t-shirt!) on the way to the Seattle march.

Former YEA Camper Jacob (all grown up with a beard!) at the Women’s March in DC

This is just a sampling of some of the YEA Campers who attended Women’s Marches across the country (and took and shared selfies with us!), and this is just a drop in the activist ocean of young people getting activated for change!

If you know a 12-17-year-old who attended the march or cares deeply about some of the important social issues of our time, YEA Camp is the place for them to be this summer! Nominate a camper here, or just send them to our website to learn more!

Thanks to YEA Campers for inspiring our hope for the future!

The post YEA Campers Show Up In Force for Women’s March All Over the Country appeared first on YEA Camp.

It’s inspiring to be so sure that an event in your lifetime will be remembered in history, but it’s especially electrifying when you and 5 million fellow humans in 673 places around the country and world(!) are the ones making it unforgettable.

The Women’s Marches that rocked the globe on the day after the inauguration brought people together in a timeless form of public outcry, but in an unprecedented degree. Experienced activists and first-time activists walked side by side, generations united, people of so many backgrounds joined voices. Handmade signs expressed concern, power, and resistance, representing issues as diverse and intersecting as we are.

Shelby’s in the bottom left at the rally in Los Angeles, joined with Perry and Samantha in Santa Cruz, CA; Jake in St. Louis, MO; and Laura, Elsie, and Emmett at the Women’s March in Portland, OR.

At YEA Camp we explore the ways that all oppressions are connected. Our movements now more than ever are strands of one movement, with a clear political emergency to collectively resist. To name many but not all of these struggles: reproductive rights, sexism, racism, protecting and valuing Black lives, immigration, healthcare, climate change, Islamophobia, Indigenous rights, the fight for a living wage, Transphobia, LGBTQ rights, rights for people with disabilities, corporate power and corruption. With so many lives and futures under attack, this solidarity is what keeps me hopeful. We can only be strong together.

Now that’s it’s been a few days since the march, I know we’re all wondering…. Where do we go from here? How do we do this work that we chanted about, to fight back against the hate that has been hurting our communities for so long, and is now in the front seat of our government?

This will look different for everyone. I hope we can use this opportunity to re-center ourselves and look deeply at our strengths, challenges, privileges, biases, and desires for what we want our world to be like. This is a great time to find local or national organizations that are active on issues you care about, and to educate ourselves on issues we want to learn more about and prepare to educate others or intervene when it is safe to. If you want to get involved in politics with this new administration, learn more and find a group through IndivisibleGuide.com. Let’s be very aware of when our movements are not reflecting the inclusion and intersectional approach that we need. We must remember everybody who marched with us, and even those who didn’t.

So we’re all at a pivotal moment. Where does YEA Camp fit in? Through camp, we all have created a brilliant network that spans the country (and beyond), making change in big and small steps, the way we do. Our footprints are all over! Our campers and staff attended marches in over 20 cities! So let’s reach out to each other and to our communities to remind each other how powerful and needed we are!

And many of our schools and communities are now full of young people on the verge of becoming activists, electrified and listening. Let’s find ways to encourage them too! Share YEA Camp with them, where they can get tools and connections to transform their passion into action, just like you.

From now through this weekend, anyone who signs up for camp with the code “WomensMarch” they’ll get a 10% discount on tuition to camp. Register by Sunday at midnight for the discount!

Let’s keep this momentum going, friends.

The post When They Go Low, We … Get Involved! appeared first on YEA Camp.

This week’s Women’s March was inspirational to many, and it was especially so for us because so many of our campers and staff attended marches around the country.

We love sharing updates from our former campers, who are doing such great things! Paula attended YEA Camp 6 summers ago, and was a counselor in training for us the following summer. We are thrilled to still be in touch with her and that she is sharing her story with us of attending her first rally. 

By Paula Orrego
Former YEA Camper

When I attended YEA Camp as a 17-year-old in 2011, I learned about the issues facing women today beyond what I was experiencing in my day-to-day life. I learned about the “glass ceiling” and how women make less than 80 cents to a man’s dollar, and even less if she is a woman of color or has a disability. I learned about modern female slavery and how it exists today. Because of YEA Camp, I gained not only new knowledge of gender equality, but also the confidence to go out into my community and take a stand for my rights.

Paula attending her first march, at the Women’s March in San Jose, CA.

Being a woman in a Western society is a blessing but can be emotionally exhausting as well. On the one hand, I am proud to be a woman. Many generations of women fought for the rights I have today, including the right to vote and have a say in my government. The struggle has been and continues to be long and hard, and I am grateful for the women of my past.

However, being a woman can be exhausting because we as a society still have ways to go to reach gender equality.

Starting at the age of 12, I have been catcalled and whistled at by older men. I remember the first time I was stared at by men–my mother and I crossed the street to a doughnut shop, and on the other side, my mother told me to quickly walk into the shop because she did not like the way the men at the corner were eyeing me.

Now that I am older, I am aware of other awful things that could happen to me as a woman. I could get shot at for not accepting a guy’s advances. I could make friends with a seemingly nice guy, only to find out later he is a threat to me and my family. Many women, even at my age, have experienced these atrocities.

This is one of the reasons I went to the Women’s March on January 21st. I am tired of living with anxiety over the men I meet in my life.

I was not expecting to see so many single men at the march. I knew husbands and fathers would be coming to the march with the women and girls in their lives, but I had never expected so many single men coming because they supported and respected women in general.

These men did not come to pick up women, either. They came with their signs and marched alongside me, for me and all women.

Marching with people of different races and gender identities for the rights of a minoritized group I belong to was a touching moment in my life. My first rally ever was a reminder of how many people care about the same things I do, and I am so happy there are so many men who believe in gender equality just as much as women do.

You inspire us, Paula!

Do you know a 12-17 year-old who attended the march would love YEA Camp? Register this week, by Sunday Jan 29 at midnight, and get 10% off tuition! Go to www.YEACamp.org for the dates and details and to register, and use the code “WomensMarch” for the discount.

The post How My First March Restored My Faith in Gender Equality appeared first on YEA Camp.