An organization that started in Camden to keep kids off the streets during summer is opening a new free summer camp in Cumberland County in July.
Krista Smith, the executive director of the nonprofit UrbanPromise Millville, said the camp will offer a program that is needed in the area.
“I don’t think that there’s a program with the same mission that’s existing in Millville,” said Smith, a lifelong Cumberland County resident.
“Our city really needs this,” she said.
UrbanPromise, a Christian-based nonprofit, launched nearly 40 years ago in the basement of a Camden church with a mission to keep children in urban communities safe during the summer.
The organization has expanded to international communities over the decades, and now it’s coming to another New Jersey community under the same mission.
Fifty kids in grades first through sixth will have the opportunity to be selected for the free summer camp at its first location in Millville in a pilot program.
The program will run from July through August for six weeks at In His Presence Worship Center, a church on Broad Street. Free breakfast and lunch will be provided each day, officials said.
It was important to choose a local church in the heart of the city as the camp’s primary location because it’s accessible and recognizable to the community, Smith said.
“I wanted to make sure that it was accessible to kids who might walk there or easy for parents to be able to drop them off pick them up in the morning,” she said.
Different classes will be taught during the four-day week camp, including nature studies, movement, spirituality, art and dance, the organization said. There will also be wellness, meditation and physical activities.
One goal of the camp is to prevent the “summer slip,” so kids don’t lose what they learned during the school year over the summer months, Smith said.
The organization has just started raising awareness and hosting fundraisers for the program, so several spots are still open, officials said. Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to Millville residents.
It has also been a community effort to get the camp up and running, with about a dozen local high school and college-aged students planning to work at the site. That will help young people in the community get leadership training, said Smith, who has been a teacher at UrbanPromise for six years.
Through UrbanPromise’s Camden program, kids have even been able to go on field trips to national parks and nature places like Canada, Utah, and Mexico. As the organization grows in Millville, directors plan to expand it to have a similar impact, Smith said.
“I think what they are doing in Camden will transfer so nicely in Millville,” she said.
Information about signing up for the summer camp is available at urbanpromisemillville.org.
A second free camp is coming to Cumberland County this summer for youth impacted by violence, according to the county prosecutor’s office, which is launching the program with Inspira Health Network. The camp aims to address the growing issue of youth violence in the community.
The free camp will provide 30,000 hours of supportive services for children and young adults between the ages of 10 and 24, according to officials.
The program will include year-round case management services that will help young people with their academics, physical and mental health and offer mentorship and other services, according to county officials.
According to the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report, the most recent year for which full data is available, Cumberland County had more than double New Jersey’s violent crime rate with 421.2 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.
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Nyah Marshall may be reached at Nmarshall@njadvancemedia.com.
