By Maggie Berke I had never been to sleep-away camp. Even as a child, the thought of spending a week with strangers in an environment tailor-made for sharing and vulnerability made me nervous and fearful. But I’ve spent this past year trying to reorient my life towards service and acts of good. I became involved…

By: Camilla Rubis The category is…activism. Set in a gritty 1987 New York, Pose depicts the LGBTQ world of balls, the competitive pageantry scene that allowed a marginalized group to shine, be seen, and garner credibility within the community. The show’s characters are all a part of houses, a family system formed because often trans…

By Nora Kramer Even if you’re lucky enough not to be targeted directly, just watching the news or even our social media feeds these days bring a daily assault on so many issues progressives care about: human rights and equality, environmental protection, animal welfare, and the state of our democracy and our discourse, for starters.…

By Camilla Rubis 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…

“I wish this camp had existed when I was a kid,” lament parents every summer as they drop their kids off at specialty summer camps. Summer camp is a way to make new friends, learn useful skills, and leap out of comfort zones. Don’t adults deserve those same benefits? Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp was…

By Monik Walters Summer camp for adults was the last thing on my mind on a hot day in June 2018. Well, second to the fact that I had 200 unread emails waiting for me. In hindsight, one of those emails would turn into the miracle I didn’t know I needed. I was almost to…

By YEA Camp Founder and Director Nora Kramer Hello YEA Family, Ten years! This year, this month, today, we are celebrating 10 years of YEA Camp! I can’t believe it. It was 10 years ago in April that I put a $2,000 check in the mail, pulled from my savings, to pay the deposit on…

When someone says “summer camp,” images of campfires, marshmallows, and scary ghost stories dance in our heads. We think about the way summer camp helps young people gain independence, make new friends, explore nature, gain valuable skills, and get out of the house during the long summer break. For most “grown-ups,” summer camp is a…

By YEA Camp Founder and Director Nora Kramer 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…

As a summer camp for social change, we at YEA Camp recognize the huge impact of our food choices on the planet, other species, workers, global food access, and our own health. While we have always had many campers and staff who aren’t vegetarian or vegan, an important feature of YEA Camp since the beginning…