Camp Hope America – Mississippi

I hope that you had a camp experience when you were a kid.  I know I did.  Camp was a time of learning new skills, meeting new friends, and picking up wisdom that I have used in my life for many years.

Now, imagine that your home life didn’t allow for such a space.  Instead of waking up in a secure and nurturing environment, noise and fear were the norm.  Now, imagine how important it would be kids in such chaos to have a safe place to go and grow.

Camp HOPE America is the leading year-round camping and mentoring program in the country for children and teens impacted by trauma. They are focused on creating hope and healing-centered pathways through collaborative, trauma-informed care for youth exposed to trauma to believe in themselves, in others, and in their dreams.  Hope Rising Mississippi is working now to secure its affiliation status with Camp HOPE America.

Camp HOPE America is the first evidence-based camping and mentoring program in the United States to focus on children and teens exposed to violence. The mission is to give youth a brighter future by creating pathways to hope and healing.

What makes Camp HOPE America special is the trauma-informed lens where the program was developed.  At Camp HOPE America, campers are praised for the person that they are becoming; seeing their character for who they are and not what they have accomplished. From the beginning, the goal has been to create a year-round program where youth can feel safe, seen, heard, encouraged, and cared for. Camp HOPE America is composed of a week of camp, supported by year-round activities.

Throughout the course of a week at camp, campers participate in a variety of activities ranging from field games to rock climbing, tubing to high and low ropes courses, and art projects to silly campfire songs. Campers are challenged to step outside of their comfort zone and accomplish an activity they haven’t had the opportunity to before, in order to overcome their fears. Each day, campers read about real people, not too much older than they are, who have overcome diversity, abuse, and other real life challenges to show them that they are not alone, and that their past does not define their future.

The year-round piece of the Camp HOPE America program is intended to create a safe and nurturing community for not only the youth involved, but their families as well. The events held throughout the year are varied, ranging from team building activities to college tours. We want to continue to expose children and teens to potential careers they never would have known about, STEAM projects, hobbies and interests, etc., while also giving them positive role models and friends.

Camp HOPE America accomplishes its work through the process of affiliates.  Across the US, Family Justice Centers, Multi-Agency Centers, and community-based agencies affiliate with Camp HOPE America, utilizing their evidence-based program and receive support and training from the highly experienced team at the national level.  This is where Hope Rising Mississippi comes in.

Hope Rising Mississippi is the hub connecting the nonprofit agencies to the state agencies all for the betterment of the kids.  Hope Rising Mississippi provides training to the agencies, the families, the kids, and the volunteers.  It oversees Camp Hope America Mississippi and the year long Pathways program for the kids and their families.

Want to be a part of this great work?  Contact us at info@hoperisingms.org.