2023 Transformations Camp – Camp 1 Recap

Transformations Camp – July 2023

This past July, we held our first Transformations Camp of the summer and it was a beautiful success! This week-long empowerment camp is tailored for young women of color ages 11 to 16. Throughout the camp, participants forged strong connections, nurtured self-acceptance, explored the true sense of belonging, and gained insight about what equitable spaces look and feel like.

Meaningful Field Trips

With a theme of equity and belonging, the week was filled with impactful field trips and opportunities to learn more about our community and what it has to offer our young people. Participants took a trip over to Spark Central to explore their free creative haven, they went to visit Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson in City Hall to take a tour and learn the potency of their voices and votes. They explored Riverfront Park and what it has to offer and learned how to navigate the city bus lines. While visiting these spaces they engaged in powerful conversations about equity and what it takes to create spaces that foster a sense of belonging and acceptance.

Fulfilling A Vital Need

This camp was originally started in 2014 and was created by past YWCA CEO, Regina Malveaux. After a pause from the pandemic, we brought the camp back in 2022 through a partnership with Jaime Stacy, the camp’s facilitator.  Within one day of registration going live, all 20 slots for the camp were full and we realized how big the need was for spaces like this. So this year, we decided to expand and offer two camps, one in July and one in August. It is our goal to continue to expand and offer more camps like this one in the future as well as additional pathways to keep these youth engaged and supported as they prepare for their future.

“The time spent in this space exploring belonging, equity, equality, acceptance, diversity, along with the many community experiences serves to equip and empower participants to become the next leaders that our world needs,” states Jaime Stacy, Camp Facilitator. “This work is essential to breaking generational cycles of unhealthy relationships with self and with others.”

Why The Camp Is So Successful

This camp was designed to be a place where youth can feel safe to show up as their authentic self. A space that grants them permission to say the quiet things they have been keeping in their mind out loud and with each other. This camp fosters a container that allows the youth to let down their guard and be honest and vulnerable. “Watching the youth transform before your eyes from tentative on the first day to self-assured by the week’s end, is truly remarkable”, remarks Lizbeth Reyes, YWCA Spokane Prevention Coordinator.

A pivotal factor amplifying the camp’s impact is mentorship. Accompanying Jaime to each camp are three mentors, 17-20 years old. The support of these young role models allows for deeper explorations of the camp’s themes, establishing secure spaces for collective learning. They create intimate, safe spaces that allow the campers to explore and learn together.

This camp also offers a unique opportunity for participants to spend time with YWCA Spokane’s Prevention Team, a group of advocates at our agency who are dedicated to violence prevention and cultivating healthy relationships in our community. With a wide array of lived experiences, this team was able to share with the youth about the different pathways they took to get to their career field. They were able to shed light on what it is like working in this field while exploring powerful discussions about how we can develop healthy relationships and create healthy environments for all.

A Special Story of Equity, Belonging, & Shoes

When we met with Jaime to plan for this year’s camps, Jaime shared with us a personal story from her own past that helped her create the theme for this year’s camp: equity and belonging. She shared with us a powerful story of an experience she had as a young child receiving a new pair of shoes from a special field trip to the local fire station. Take a look at this video to hear Jaime share this story. This story inspired a new wish for the camp, that each camper receive a brand new pair of shoes at the end of the week. A pair of shoes that were special to them, a good fit for them, not something borrowed or forced upon them. So to end the camp, we were able to take a special field trip to the mall to get every single camper a brand new pair of special shoes just for them.

“The youth were shocked. They did not believe we were actually going to give them a new pair of shoes,” shares Jaime Stacy. “And not just any pair of shoes, a pair that they picked out. A pair that fit them specifically. Any pair in the store, just for them.” This provided a beautiful ending to the camp and a special way to deepen into the topic of equity and belonging. Every single one of us deserves to feel like we fit in, that we can show up authentically and be accepted for who we are, and that our environments are equitable and welcoming to us all. We all deserve to belong.

Many of the youth express that they have never been in such an empowered environment. They expressed how much they appreciated this space, a space specifically for youth who look like them, for youth who can relate to things they have experienced. The week was full of tears, laughter, connection, and true transformation as they realized ‘I belong’.

이 일을 지원하세요

This camp would not be possible without the financial support of our community. Special thanks to our key sponsors Jim Sheehan and Providence Inland Northwest Washington and other key partners for their ongoing support of our prevention work in Spokane. If you or your organization would like to support the growth of this transformational work, please reach out to Erica Schreiber, Director of Community Engagement by emailing ericas@ywcaspokane.org or by calling 509-789-8275.

Thank You To Jaime Stacy & SWAG

We can not express enough just how amazing Jaime Stacy is as a facilitator and leader in Spokane. It has been inspiring to watch her light up young people with sincere passion, care, joy, and love. It is through our valued partnership with Jaime Stacy and SWAG that we are able to bring Transformations Camp back to the Spokane community. We also partnered to bring a brand new offering to youth in our community called the Transformations Self-Care Celebration, which we hope to bring back this winter. In addition to championing this camp, Jaime has done an incredible job of lifting up and supporting young people in our community through her work at SWAG. Learn more about Jaime and her work with SWAG.