Jewish Camps Get Grants To Better Integrate Campers And Staff With Disabilities

Image by foundation for jewish camping

By Marcy Oster April 1, 2019

(JTA) — Sixteen Jewish camps in North America have been awarded grants to increase accessibility for campers and staff with disabilities.

The grants are part of the $12 million Yashar Initiative, a program of the Foundation for Jewish Camp funded by The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The Yashar Initiative was designed to address the needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorder, as well as people with intellectual, developmental, physical and sensory disabilities.

The grants will go for capital improvements, professional development, staff training, research and evaluation.

Each of the first 16 camps that received grants was required to independently raise 25 percent of the project’s cost before applying. They will receive money for both capital improvements, as well as a program grant totaling $2.5 million for the first round of the initiative. The camps anticipate finishing their improvements by the summer of 2020.

Each grant recipient also committed to increasing its total campers with disabilities to at least 5 percent of the camper population.

The camps that received the grants are Beber Camp, Wisconsin; B’nai Brith Camp, Oregon; Camp Keff, California; Camp Ramah, California; Camp Ramah Poconos, Pennsylvania; Camp Simcha, New York; Camp Solomon Schechter, Washington; Camp Tawonga, California; JCC Camp Chi, Wisconsin; JCC Camp Ruach, New Jersey; JCC Camp Yachad, New Jersey; JCC Camp Z Frank Apachi, Illinois; Mid-Island Y JCC Camp, New York; Ramah Darom, Georgia; Ramah Day Camp, New York; and URJ Camp Harlam, Pennsylvania.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO