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by Maureen Kelly and Lisa Maurer
Camp is a special environment that can benefit children
and adults of all backgrounds and abilities, including children with disabilities
or special needs; gay, lesbian, or bisexual youth or families; at-risk
youth; or minorities. By working to create an accepting and tolerant camp
environment, campers from all walks of life can learn to better appreciate
the differences and similarities they bring to camp. Ultimately, camp
can be a place where a few people can make a big difference in showing
kids how proactively working toward respect and diversity can help build
a better world.
Conducting an inclusion audit is one step toward creating
a camp environment that is inclusive and proactively accepting. Your efforts
to include people of diverse backgrounds will help open the doors to a
rich and rewarding camp experience for all campers and staff and their
families.
What Is An Inclusion Audit?
An inclusion audit looks at and evaluates the messages
that your camp sends, including the images and publicity used to invite
children and families to be a part of your camp family. This inventory
assists you in looking at your camp environment and examining how you
are viewed by the campers, parents, and the public.
This audit will be most effective if you encourage people
from different departments within your camp to survey different areas;
a change in perspective will often yield a fresh view. For instance, have
the people who create your camp’s media look at the registration forms
and vice versa. The underlying question that needs to be asked during
an inclusion audit is: "Is what I see congruent with the messages
of acceptance and diversity that my camp wants to send?" You’ll want
to look at the following areas.
Review Your Promotional Materials
Review all camp media including print and radio advertisements.
Do the photos in your brochures show a diverse group of campers and families?
According to U.S. Census reports, less than 30 percent of children live
in a traditional, two-parent home. Your efforts to visually include a
variety of family images will have a positive impact for many families
and kids. Also, look at your camp video. Does it include campers with
disabilities taking part in activities with other campers?
Your camp mission statement should be reviewed as well.
Does it mention that you include all campers regardless of background
and ability? Does it contain language that a certain group may find offensive?
Do your promotional pieces include your mission statement?
In addition to looking at what you’re saying, look at
where you are placing ads or focusing your marketing efforts. Are your
ads reaching a diverse population? Do you need to change where you advertise?
Evaluate Your Forms
Do your forms ask only for the names of moms and dads?
Remember, many campers live in one-parent homes, with grandparents, or
in other nontraditional settings. Instead of asking for the names of parents,
ask for the names of contact people or care givers, leaving it open for
each family to fill in appropriate information without excluding some
by limiting the question. You may want to proactively ask a question like
"what is something special or unique about you or your family"
to help assess the diversity your campers bring with them.
Examine the Camp Environment
What do you see when you look around your camp? Do the
images on your walls reflect the diversity of your campers and the families
they come from? Are the books and magazines in your library representative
and inclusive to all dimensions of diversity? Does your camp have a diversity
policy stating that campers and staff will respect one another without
regard to background or ability?
Family Day may cause anxiety for some campers. Which
family members do you invite to camp? Have you intentionally made the
invitations inclusive to extended families and other nontraditional families?
Are you prepared to help families and campers feel welcome?
Hire Positive Role Models
Are the people working at your camp aware of the positive
impact of respect, appreciation, and acceptance for all kids and families?
It is vital that camp staff be given an opportunity to evaluate their
personal beliefs and values about disabilities, sexual orientation, and
socioeconomic standing so they can be prepared to work effectively with
the many diverse groups served by your camp. Prepare and train your staff
and yourself to be sensitive to issues campers face. Tell staff up-front
about the challenges they may be facing.
Where do you advertise for camp staff? Are you recruiting
staff of diverse backgrounds as well? Campers will feel more comfortable
if there are staff members who are like themselves.
A successful camp continually questions how to best carry
out their mission and serve their constituency. Camps, like people, can
only learn from examined experience. You must commit to looking at your
past challenges and turning them into future successes. Serving underserved
constituencies poses an exciting challenge with equally exciting benefits
for the entire camp community.
Originally published in the 1999 March/April
issue of Camping Magazine. |
