Fun for the summer, enrichment for a lifetime

Young people have the best chance to rise above the barriers of poverty when they succeed academically and have meaningful enrichment opportunities. For many children, summer is a time of fun (no school!), but it is not a time to stop learning. At Children’s Aid, we make sure that every young person’s summer is loaded with fun and intellectually engaging activities that keep their growth stimulated and their minds sharp. After all, education neither begins nor ends in the classroom.

To accomplish this, Children’s Aid offers free or reduced-fee summer programming to nearly 3,000 children at 17 locations throughout New York City and Westchester County, including our famed Alvin Ailey dance camp, New York’s Summer Rising learning and enrichment program, our countryside Wagon Road Camp, and day camps throughout local communities we serve. Our camps incorporate fitness, nutrition, literacy, and cultural engagement, and are also designed to combat summer learning loss.

In addition, Children’s Aid helps older youth and young adults learn valuable job skills and leadership lessons through our Summer Youth Employment Program. Children’s Aid places more than 3,300 participants in a broad array of jobs at our more than 100 partner placements, including at summer camps, corporations, and the offices of city and state elected officials.

And when school is back in session, Children’s Aid is there to provide the extra academic, social, and mental health support children and youth need to learn, grow, and become leaders of their own lives.

their reading comprehension over the summer, helping them start school in September with renewed confidence