CHILDREN,
YOUTH & CAMP
JOSH SHENKER | DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND CAMPING SERVICES
Throughout 2018 we started to see the benefits of all of our
changes and enhancements to our programming for the
Children, Youth, and Camping departments.
In our J-Care afterschool program, we had 156 different
children in the program throughout the school-year. In the
fall we averaged as many as 137 children in the program with
17 of those being middle school aged youth only using the
transportation aspect. It was our first full year using our own
drivers for J-Care. The overall quality in customer service,
supervision, and safety of our children and the routes we take
continues to improve with this switch and training of our
drivers. We feel we have maximized our space for best use for
the program. With each age group getting its own space (J-Care
room is the K-1st room, the computer lab is the 2nd-3rd grade
room, and the youth lounge is the 4th-5th grade room) we have
far more flexibility with scheduling and kids have more variety
of activities. With our lower supervision ratios and regular staff
training we added a lesson planning routine for our counselor
led activities. Youth fitness classes such as Pound, Yoga, and
Cycling were also incorporated into the schedule for the 4th-
5th grade group throughout the week.
Parents Night Out, our monthly Saturday night program,
averaged 17 participants per Saturday. Our School Days Out
program averaged 26 kids per offering, over 47 total SDO
throughout the year. Winter Camp was a successful program
with new initiatives in an attempt to mirror summer camp.
2018 was the first year that C&Y ran youth sports leagues. We
have put the emphasis on sportsmanship and fundamentals.
Part of this effort has included moving away from the coaches
drafting their players and holding a skill evaluation where one
can assess individual abilities to be able to split everyone into
the fairest teams possible. We have also worked to improve our
communication with a weekly league email, regular touchpoints
with coaches, and schedule/standing updates.
Summer Camp J 2018 was a success in many areas though
falling short in budgeted registration. We made some key
programmatic changes, additions, and shifted the structure.
Some changes included: going to weekly registration, including
AM/PM care in the cost of camp, adding specialists as the
activity facilitators, adding overnight travel to Tiyul, adjusting
the field trip plan for Shalom and Giborim, and creating a more
intentional parent communication plan.
As we enter year two of the Children, Youth, and Camp
management’s tenure we are continuing to re-evaluate the
programming, policies and procedures across all of our programs
to ensure that we are providing the best possible experience for
our children and parents. We are committed to continuing to
grow, improve, and exceed expectations.