My Place Summer Camp
ACP’s My Place summer day camp is an eight week opportunity for rising first through sixth grade students. When the academic year comes to a close, homeless children lose the structure and food school provides. Campers are chosen from ACP’s client children based on 3 criteria: their safety during the summer (is there adult supervision or are their living situations dangerous); their health and educational needs (do they have untreated medical issues or how far behind are they academically), and if their parents are involved in the students’ education (did they participate in the student’s school activities, parent-teacher conferences or ACP’s monthly parent workshops.)
My Place summer day camp provides these students with a safe, fun and educational environment for the summer. My Place allows these children to take a break from the familial and situational hardships they must deal with on a daily basis to be children, enjoy the summer, and understand the importance of academic success.
During the summer, these students run the risk of forgetting what they have learned and, as a result, fall even further behind. At My Place, however, we devote time to helping students retain and improve upon what they have learned. The curriculum for My Place was designed specifically for our client population and with attention on subjects they typically struggle with: reading, math, and science. Students receive 15 hours of Math, Science and English instruction per week from CMS teachers hired by ACP for the summer months. The teacher to student ratio is on average 10:1. As a result, teachers have the opportunity to address the individual academic and behavioral needs of each student.
Activity time is part of each day, designed to provide the client campers with hobbies or interests they may have never had a chance to try before. Photography lessons are provided by local nonprofit Silent Images and swimming lessons provided by local nonprofit SwimMAC. Other activities are provided by local community or civic organizations. Every Friday campers are taken on a field trips, including the Harvey Gant Museum, Discovery Place, Children’s Theater, Charlotte Museum of History, Johnson C. Smith University, and many more.
Community Volunteers are always invited to become involved in ACP’s My Place Summer Camp. Volunteers can be breakfast or lunch buddies, tutors or classroom assistants. We also encourage volunteer groups to host an activity hour for our client children to experience new hobbies and expand their horizons.
