Improving the lives of underserved Chicago youth with educational and cultural enrichment experience

Camp of Dreams was first conceived of in February of 2003, and was initially operated as a pilot project of a parent organization. What began as a summer camp for low-income Chicago youth quickly became a year-round endeavor as we realized that our participants would best benefit from a consistent, dynamic community. The year-round program ensures that our participants (who we call “Dreamers”) remain engaged and challenged in a program that insists on accountability, respect and creative learning. In the words of a parent, “on Saturdays they are being productive and positive and summer gives them a sense of responsibility and maturity.” By the fall of 2004, it was clear—both because of the program's merits and because of relationships with and commitments to participants and their families—that the program should continue as its own, independent non-profit organization.

Camp of Dreams is designed for Chicago’s underserved youth and helps them develop the life skills that will enable these young people to successfully meet life’s challenges. Our mission is to create a culture of teamwork, self-respect, independence, compassion, and healthy living. Camp of Dreams is dedicated to the belief that dreams can be made real, and that the realization of any dream depends on the cultivation of pertinent skill-sets. Camp of Dreams also believes that the growth of life-skills progresses most effectively in a supportive environment in which camper and staff learn to care for themselves, for one another, for shared surroundings, and for the community as a whole: whole communities, whole learners, whole lives.

Carrie L. Newton
Executive Director
Phone: 312-643-5549
Fax: 312-643-1036
Email: carrie@campofdreams.org