We take summers very seriously at Children’s Aid. That’s because it is the perfect time for kids to make new friends, develop skills and passions, and most importantly, have fun. So, we’ve made sure to design our summers to capture everything necessary to support New York City children and their families in between school years.

Last week, we officially kicked off the summer with the start of our camps for more than 2,500 kids. They will learn and play on the grounds of Dunlevy Milbank, Goodhue, Wagon Road, and dance their way through Ailey camp. In addition to our arts and fitness programs, we offer literacy programming at each camp site—nine of which are Children’s Aid community schools—that will combat summer learning loss for each of our participants. We also operate camps in Washington Heights for parents that feature workshops on social emotional learning, fitness, and nutrition to supplement their children’s success.

And with play, comes work. This year we plan to employ more than 2,000 teens through our Summer Youth Employment Program within various internship opportunities that will keep them career focused and college ready.

We are looking forward to a busy and fun-filled summer for our youth. And as always, we are excited to see how they will use their time in our programs to design their futures.