The New Jersey Y camps, in partnership with the 92nd Street Y, received a $1.5 million grant to create a specialty camp taking advantage of cultural resources in New York City. Sharon Goldman, center, who will direct “Passport New York,” participates at a workshop for grant recipients held in November.
Photo courtesy Foundation for Jewish Camp
December 4, 2008
The New Jersey Y Camps has received a $1.5 million grant to develop a specialty program in partnership with New York’s 92nd Street Y.
The joint program, known as Passport New York, will offer campers experiences in fashion design, sports, film, and culinary arts in conjunction with a range of NY cultural institutions.
The NJ Y Camps/92nd Street Y proposal was one of five across the country selected to participate in an initiative spearheaded by the Foundation for Jewish Camp. Intended to “incubate” specialty programs, it is being funded with $10 million from the Shimon Ben Joseph Foundation — commonly known as the Jim Joseph Foundation.
The goal, according to Michele Friedman, director of new camp initiatives for FJC, is to develop new camping models that will attract Jewish teens and preteens who are not currently attending traditional Jewish camps.
“The specialty camp market has burgeoned over the last 10 to 15 years. It’s a growing market in the United States. But there’s nothing in the field of specialty camps in the Jewish sector,” said Friedman.
Locally, Paula Gottesman of Morristown, a major philanthropist in the MetroWest community and a strong proponent of strengthening the Jewish camp movement, serves as a cochair of the NJ Y Camps-92nd Street Y specialty camp committee.
NJ Y Camps and the 92nd Street Y already team up for a specialty program in ceramics.
Photo by NJ Y Camps
Passport New York will be based at the 92nd Street Y’s de Hirsch Residence in Manhattan. It will offer experiences tapping the resources of New York, such as the Fashion Institute of Technology, the New York Yankees, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and prominent chefs.
The 92nd Street Y will handle the content, and NJ Y Camps will take responsibility for the day-to-day needs of campers. Sharon Goldman, managing director of the 92nd Street Y, will serve as the director.
“Because of the resources of the 92nd Street Y, it’s a natural,” said NJ Y Camps executive director Leonard Robinson. “We can offer so many programs at such a high level, and we’ll attract kids from across the country.”
The camps will open in the summer of 2010. When it opens, Passport New York will include two three-week sessions, which will feature basic and advanced instruction in five specialties, serving a total of 270 campers. It will slowly expand over three years to offer basic instruction in 10 specialties and advanced instruction in seven, serving a total of 510 campers. Tuition may vary from specialty to specialty, but is estimated at $3,000-$4,000 per session.
Neither the partnership nor the specialty camp idea is new to NJ Y Camps. The 92nd Street Y has been offering programs on-site at the NJ Y Camps’ facilities in Milford, Pa., for 13 years, and NJ Y Camps launched its own one- and two-week specialty camps in sports, arts, and sciences three years ago.
But, as Robinson pointed out, the specialty camp that emerges from the incubator will be far more intense. “This is a total immersion, where the specialty program will be a substantial portion of the day,” he said.
The other camps included in the grant offer specialties in environmental awareness, outdoor adventures, wilderness travel, and sports.
An independent selection committee selected the camps from a pool of 30 proposals. “We were looking for models with a potential for growth and success,” said Friedman. “Len Robinson has a fabulous history launching camps, even within the organization, including other models addressing different segments of the community. Passport New York was also an interesting model, taking advantage of New York City.”
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