Summer Together Private Camps: Things to Know
For some of us it felt like a blur, for others it felt like time stood still, crazily enough next week school is out for summer. We combed through some resources and have some last minute information about Summer Together private camps and how to try and get the student in your life registered.
Image Credit: Mayor London Breed’s YouTube Channel.
Last week, on Thursday May 20th, Mayor London Breed, the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and their Families, Department of Public Health, and the YMCA of San Francisco hosted a town hall on summer youth programs and learning opportunities. Here were some key take-aways from the town hall:
Dr. Maria Su, Executive Director of DCYF, touched on how private camp slots will be opening for SFUSD families on Monday May 24th, more on this below.
Everyone brought up how Summer Together is still hiring for teachers, to learn more about this, click here.
Dr. Susan Phillip of the Department of Health talked about how children under 12, who have not been able to get the vaccine yet, will still have to wear masks. The state of California still requires everyone indoors to wear masks regardless of if you have gotten the vaccine, and this will be the standard for Summer Together.
Someone brought up how there were not enough camps for children with disabilities. Dr. Mariah Su broke down the process of selecting the private camps that DCYF would work with on this initiative. DCYF initially reached out to 130 private camps, of that 130, 40 camps expressed interest in partnering. From there, DCYF chose to partner with 25 private camps, and five of those camps serve children with disabilities. According to the Summer Together website, those five camps have not reached capacity, to learn more, click here. They also encourage reaching out to your local YMCA and Rec & Park to learn about what openings they might have for children with disabilities.
The following scenario was posed: Someone was wait listed for a program that they wanted, what should they do now? Dr. Maria Su emphasized hanging tight, people at Summer Together are working with families who may have been wait listed with a Rec & Park program to find a private camp program that works for them. If you are still nervous about getting a spot, head to the DCYF website and fill out a private camp preference form to try and also get a private camp spot.
Every participant in Summer Together will get a breakfast, snack, and lunch.
To watch the recorded town hall, click here. To view closed captioning, click the button that says “CC” in the bottom right hand corner. If you click settings, and subtitles, you can change the subtitles to other languages that are translated through google translate.
Starting on Monday May 24th, DCYF opened registration for for the remaining Summer Together private camp slots to all SFUSD families. Families will need to complete the Private Camp Preference Form in order to fill the final remaining Summer Together Private Camp slots. Once slots are all filled, DCYF will post a notice stating that all of the Summer Together Private Camps are officially full. On Monday May 31st, at 8 PM, the general enrollment for Summer Together private slots will close.
Image Credit: Summer Together.
To access the Private Camp Preference Form, click here. Some important things to note about the form:
After you fill out all of your choices, you will come to a screen that includes a Privacy Policy Acknowledgement and a Risk Acknowledgement. Please be sure to click the "Review Answers" button at the bottom of this screen in order to advance to the Submit page.
After you submit your Preference Form, you will not be able to alter, edit, or make changes of any kind to your form – no exceptions. Please be entirely certain that all your contact information and session and camp selections are correct when you submit the form.
One form for all of the children in your family. If you would like to register more than one child in a private camp, you will have the option to do that in this form. The form allows up to four children.
To volunteer with Summer Together, click here.
To send a question to Summer Together, you can fill out a form here.