When Glennys Torres was looking for summer child care for her kids, she envisioned a program full of outdoor play and time spent with friends.
But Torres quickly realized she didn’t have many options because of the cost. Each summer, she ended up enrolling them in a free school-based summer camp, but she said her kids spent too much time on screens.
“I feel like that was the only choice that I had,” said Torres, a child care provider who lives in New York City. “Getting one that I would like my kids to go to, playing outside, doing a lot of activities, was really expensive.”
Each year, parents of 24.6 million children in the United States hunt for structured summer experiences, including summer camps, sports programs or summer enrichment programs. These programs are a key form of child care for elementary age children and children who attend school-based preschools that don’t operate during the summer.
But nationwide, 51 percent of children are unable to enroll, mostly due to high costs and a lack of transportation, according to a new report by the nonprofit Afterschool Alliance. Low- and middle-income families are especially likely to miss out on summer opportunities; 13 percent of low-income children attend summer camp, compared to 45 percent of those in high–income families, according to the report.
“Finding affordable summer programs for their children is one of the greatest challenges many working families face,” said Jodi Grant, the Afterschool Alliance’s executive director, in a statement. “Parents need to stay in their jobs to provide for their families, but they can’t find affordable summer programs. So instead of being active, engaging with peers and caring adults, and learning new skills over the summer, their children may be unsupervised, on screens, at risk, and in some cases without healthy food during the summer months.”
Research shows summer camps can influence career interests, improve social skills and contribute to higher self-esteem. Although free and low-cost camps exist, experts say that in many communities the demand outpaces the supply. Some school districts have cut back on summer learning opportunities in recent years after Covid relief funds, which helped pay for those programs, ran out.
Some nonprofits have tried to expand free camp offerings to families that would otherwise miss out. In New York City, the Fresh Air Fund runs six sleepaway camps north of the city, offering free camp experiences for low-income New York students starting at age 8. The camps also provide clothes, sleeping bags and other items to children when they attend.
“All the kids of New York City deserve the exact same access to the outdoors, the exact same access to learning about who they are in a summer situation, the exact same access to creating community and new friendships,” said Lisa Gitelson, the chief executive officer of the Fresh Air Fund.
For that to happen, more funding needs to be provided for camps, in recognition that they are a form of child care, she added. “For parents to be able to work, they need somewhere for their kids, always, whether that’s school year or summer.”
Two years ago, Torres was given a flyer about the sleepaway camps. She applied for her son, Evander, who was 8 at the time.
Evander said he missed his parents at first, but he was excited to meet new people and spend his days swimming and playing basketball, kickball and soccer. And he learned a lesson that he says other kids should learn too: “It’s not only fun to be on electronics when you can go outside and breathe the fresh air and play.”
This story about summer camp was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.
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