Mission: Camptown’s mission is to challenge, mentor, and teach youth about life through outdoor adventure and nature programs that help build confidence, character, and hope.
We foster values such as sharing, caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility as we help youth adjust to and cope with their changing world. We lead youth to a better path through camping and adventure programs in the great outdoors.
Youth form ideas and attitudes through these direct experiences. In the wilderness, they learn skills such as leadership, teamwork, and conflict resolution. They develop an appreciation for the natural world. They place themselves in a beautiful environment that transcends the landscape of street and suburban life.
Programs: Camptown is an indianapolis based nonprofit organization dedicated to serving youthin central indiana through outdoor adventure and nature programs. Camptown partnerswith other youth serving organizations to provide custom programming to help enrichthe experience for the youth involved. These partnerships include schools, churches,community centers, home school groups, boys & girls clubs, and local probationoffices. Camptown works primarily with inner city at risk youth. In 2013, camptownserved 3,357 youth from 43 different youth organizations. Camptown providedfinancial assistance to 99% of program participants, with 91% qualifying for free or reduced lunches.
Camptown has provided outstanding outdoor educational experiences for my special needs high school students over the past seven years. Each one has been a wonderful opportunity for my students. These students mention their Camptown experiences as some of their favorite high school memories.
Camptown has provided classroom and outdoor experiences for my special needs students for the past seven years. It is impossible to comment here on all of the benefits my students have had from their programs. A short example is a high school student who had never spent the night away from home before, and had never slept in a tent. His confidence soared the next morning;he was so proud of himself. Camptown teaches leadership, environmental stewardship, builds an increased confidence in individuals, and provides an opportunity for underprivileged youth to learn and enjoy each other in a new setting.
