This article first appeared in the Boston Globe and was co-authored by Camp Harbor View Chief Executive Officer Sharon McNally and chair of the board of the Yawkey Foundation John L. Harrington.
BOSTON (The Boston Globe) – Boston is a hub for excellence in education, innovation, creativity, sports, and connection. But every great city must evolve to thrive in changing times. Such change entails dedicated leadership and investments across many sectors — public, private, philanthropic — to close the gaps to opportunity. Since its inception in 2007, Camp Harbor View has been fulfilling its mission to provide Bostonians and their families one-of-a-kind summer camp for students in grades 6 through 8, year-round leadership development for students in grades 9 through 12, and comprehensive family services, including college and career planning, scholarships, clinical support, and resource coordination — all at no cost to families.
Much has been said about the loss earlier this year of Camp Harbor View cofounder Jack Connors. He was many things to many people, but there is an important common thread pulled across his many endeavors. Jack invested in youth, in families, in communities, and in the potential of every individual in Boston to have the resources and support to achieve their aspirations.
As two people who were privileged to be close to Connors, we know that he would want us to move ahead with what he had placed in motion, and that’s why our two organizations — Camp Harbor View and the Yawkey Foundation — are doubling down on the investments Connors made in the next generation of our city’s leaders.
In the months before his death, Connors was in discussions with the Yawkey Foundation about how to make sure that his investment in Boston’s youth continued to spin off dividends for generations to come. The foundation, perpetuating the philanthropic legacy of Jean and Tom Yawkey, who were owners of the Red Sox, was a natural partner in this goal — Camp Harbor View and the Yawkey Foundation share a mutual commitment to providing young adults with opportunities for out-of-school time and the Yawkey Foundation has provided more than $800,000 over 15 years in support of Camp Harbor View’s teen programs.
Connors and John Harrington, chair of the Yawkey Foundation, carried out their strategic planning over hot dogs at Sullivan’s Castle Island — yet Connors soon learned that he would have less time than he had expected to continue these conversations to map out the long-term plan for the camp.
While many people are aware of its iconic summer camp in the Harbor Islands, few are familiar with the fact that the camp operates after-school and weekend leadership and social-emotional development programs from a modest space in the South End, specifically for teens who are part of the camp community. These year-round programs have been making a difference in the lives of campers, and campers’ families, long after the youth have aged out of the traditional summer program. Yet there’s a wait-list of teens who want to get involved and countless opportunities to grow. It’s clear that the organization needs a new home base, and that was a priority project for Connors that, sadly, he was unable to accomplish. This is where the Yawkey Foundation has decided to step in.
With a $7.5 million grant announced Wednesday, the foundation is helping Camp Harbor View move all of its year-round operations to a space in the Southline Building in Dorchester. Convenient to various modes of public transit and bringing the totality of the camp’s programs and resources under one roof, it will be a game changer for thousands of Boston teens and families. This new space, this hub of year-round youth enrichment, will be named The Connors Leadership Academy. Fittingly, the academy will ensure that all the youth and family programming that Connors invested in when he created the camp will be sustained over generations to come.
Camp Harbor View is not just a camp. It’s a community of teens and families building a more inclusive, equitable, joyful, and connected next generation for our city. From summer camp to year-round leadership workshops and after-school programs, to college prep, college scholarships, and guaranteed monthly income for families — its mission is to be the holistic partner families need to achieve the kind of economic mobility and opportunity that propelled Connors from his humble beginnings to the privilege of being among the many community leaders determined to create a better Boston for all.
Here’s to delivering on Connors’s vision for investing in Boston’s children. And here’s to a new home — a welcoming, supportive, and resource-rich harbor — for Camp Harbor View and its programs so it may continue to provide opportunities for future generations of our great city.
At Camp Harbor View, we often ask ourselves if we’re doing enough. Are we doing enough for our campers, Leaders in Training and staff? Are we doing enough for the families of the youth we serve? About six months ago, we decided that the answer to the last of those important questions was “NO.”
When the Boston Globe published its recent series on racial income disparity in Boston, one of the stunning statistics shared was that the average net worth of families of color in the city is $8.00. That’s not a typo – $8.00. Camp Harbor View has always been committed to promoting equity and opportunity in Boston, but this series stirred our desire to do more. Encouraged and supported by the Board of Directors, we decided to begin with Camp Harbor View families; to learn from them about the obstacles and hurdles they face with respect to economic mobility and to work with them to design pilot solutions to some of the most intractable problems they encounter.
We have taken the first step by engaging the services of the consulting team of Turahn Dorsey and Reverend Mariama White-Hammond to lead us through a process of information-gathering with families and LITs from our program, and then to work with family representatives and an advisory board composed of corporate leaders to create short and long-term solutions of varying size and scope.
Racial and economic inequality has long been the norm in Boston. We know that we cannot fix a problem of this magnitude, but we believe that we might be able to have an impact on at least a small group of families. Perhaps that grows into something more substantial and perhaps we will create a model that can be replicated. We realize this is a tall order, but we feel a deep responsibility to the families who have placed their trust in us, so we’re off and running. We’ll keep you posted.
Two Camp Harbor View alumni are interning this summer at local healthcare organizations. Check out Q&As below with Megan Michta & John-Michael Louis.
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Megan Michta
- 10-week internship at MGH Liver Center
- Rising Sophomore at UMass Amherst
- Studying Public Health & Environmental Science
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How long have you been a part of Camp Harbor View?
I started attending Camp Harbor View as a camper when I was 11 years old and have participated every year since then – over 9 years now! In this time, Camp Harbor View made me the hard worker that I am today.
What are the most valuable lessons you learned during your time at Camp Harbor View?
I really appreciate that Camp Harbor View instills strong leadership values into all campers and staff. It’s so refreshing to see and hear young children discussing respect, courage, responsibility, character, and community. As a camper, I never thought much about it, but as a Leader in Training and staff member, I realized how important it is to talk about leadership with kids and shape them into active and engaged members of not only the Camp Harbor View community but also their own families, neighborhoods and schools.
What are you doing this summer at Mass General Hospital?
My internship at MGH combines my interest in public health and my love for patient care very well and it’s very exciting because it’s my first job in medicine. I’m learning about different liver diseases as well as researching what factors could be contributing to them and how they could be reversed.
How has your time with Camp Harbor View prepared you for this opportunity?
At camp, I challenged myself to be the best version of myself so that I could be a role model for my campers. I also learned to adapt and stay calm in stressful situations. The caring and patient nature working with the kids at camp has transitioned into effectively communicating with patients and treating them with respect and kindness. The healthcare field is intertwined between many different people – doctors, nurses, research coordinators, EMTs, insurance companies and more. The communication and teamwork skills I learned at camp are a great foundation for working in healthcare since there needs to be constant communication about patient care.
What have you learned so far through this internship?
Working in clinical research has allowed me to explore many different parts of medicine, including: going on rounds with the hepatologists, shadowing weight loss surgeries and liver biopsies, aliquoting blood samples, screening clinic schedules, going through patient charts and learning about the research process and institutional review board (IRB), and much more!
What’s next for you?
This summer I have decided that I have definitely found my place in the world through medicine. Nothing excites me more than hearing about a new clinical trial that is working to treat a disease or seeing doctors in the Emergency Room save lives. After I graduate, I’m excited to pursue a Master’s in Public Health and then eventually my MD!
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John-Michael Louis
- 12-week internship at Madaket Health
- Rising Junior at UMass Lowell
- Studying Computer Engineering
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How long have you been a part of Camp Harbor View?
For eight years! I first had the opportunity to be a camper then a Leader in Training and then a member of the summer staff.
What are the most valuable lessons you learned during your time at Camp Harbor View?
Leadership and inclusivity. I met all sorts of people when I came to camp as a boy. I learned how to build relationships of all kinds and made lifelong friends. At Camp Harbor View I grew to be a man.
What are you doing this summer?
This year, through Camp Harbor View, I received the opportunity to intern at Madaket Health, a healthcare tech startup in Cambridge that is working on streamlining, automating and reducing errors in the Medicare system. This is my first internship and I didn’t know what to expect going into it. From day one at Madaket I’ve felt welcomed and included in the community. The work we do at Madaket is very much team-based and requires a lot of communication – similar to camp.
How has your time with Camp Harbor View prepared you for this opportunity?
At camp, I learned how to lead by example while also building up those around me. In the professional setting, this allows me to receive feedback well and act on it. On the island I also learned to take initiative in anything I do despite not knowing the outcome – taking that risky first step goes along way regardless of where I end up. Whether it was on the rock wall or swimming for the first time, Camp Harbor View really prepared me for uncertainty and taught me how to rise to the occasion in new situations. I’ve used this in meetings to find the courage to speak up and share my point of view.
What have you learned so far through this internship?
This summer internship experience has opened up a world of opportunity for me. Personally, it’s shown me what type of job, company and work environment suits me best. On a broader scale, I’ve learned about the structure of large corporations vs. startup companies and working on both the front- and back-end of the Madaket system has given me a new appreciation for potential impact of coding, artificial intelligence and software development.
What’s next for you?
This internship has reconfirmed that I want to get a job in coding and software development after I graduate. I’m so grateful to Camp Harbor View for connecting me with Madaket. I may not be at camp this summer, but I’ve definitely taken my Camp Harbor View experience and relationships with me. Not only did the program shape who I became but it’s shaping where I’m going.
Teens in the Camp Harbor View Leadership Academy are gaining new skills and developing campaigns to have a positive impact on social issues, thanks to a new program in partnership with AT&T.
The Positively Digital program will include hands-on training for teens in grades 9-11 in Camp Harbor View’s year-round leadership development program. AT&T selected Camp Harbor View, The Base, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston as partners in the project and it kicked off with a panel discussion June 5th at the Boston Public Library.
Camp Harbor View President Sharon McNally wrote about the program this week in the Boston Globe along with Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston President & CEO Josh Kraft and The BASE Founder & President Robert Lewis Jr.:
“While we need to be cognizant of too much screen time and other connectivity dangers like cyberbullying, trolls, and the spread of false information, we think it is time to flip the script a bit and take advantage of an opportunity that is at hand,” the three wrote.
“All of us — parents, teachers, mentors, youth organizations — need to empower kids to think differently about technology and use it as a tool for positive change.”
View updates from the launch event on Instagram and from AT&T— and follow us for more updates as the teens roll out their campaigns.
