Rebecca Kahn remembers seeing the impact of her work during a trip to Wisconsin.
She was visiting one of the Jewish summer camps that had recently invested in upgrades to its campus to make it more accessible for campers with disabilities. The work was funded in part with a grant from Kahn’s organization, the New York-based Foundation for Jewish Camp, which has deployed millions of dollars through its Yashar initiative to help camps across the country make their grounds and operations more inclusive.
In Wisconsin, Kahn said, a parent approached her and described the personal impact of the grant funding.
“They said, ‘If it wasn’t for Yashar and this investment, we wouldn’t be able to send our kids to camp,’” said Kahn, who is the foundation’s senior director for grant making and field expansion. “I think the Yashar initiative and the work the FJC has done as a result of it has really changed the game for campers with and without disabilities.”
The Yashar initiative resulted in the distribution of more than $10 million for camps for both capital and capacity-building investments. The foundation brought the program to fruition with the support of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, an organization whose stated mission is to meet the basic needs of individuals experiencing poverty.
Kahn said four rounds of funding starting in 2019 disbursed 59 grants to 46 camps, including some in Wisconsin.
Camp Ramah
Camp Ramah Wisconsin in Conover, part of Vilas County, was among the grantees. It received an approximately $300,000 grant through the Yashar initiative to offset the cost of upgrading its sports campus.
Jacob Cytryn, the camp’s executive director, said the roughly $1 million project entailed a complete redesign of the sports campus to make it more accessible. The project wrapped up in summer 2023 and marked the first serious renovations to Camp Ramah Wisconsin’s sports courts in more than 25 years.
Although Camp Ramah Wisconsin’s population doesn’t currently include anyone who needs to access the camp with a wheelchair, Cytryn said the camp now is prepared. He said the facility is equipped with basketball hoops of adjustable heights, and the courts have markings in specific colors so that they’re accessible to people with different sensory needs.
Outdoors, Cytryn said, Camp Ramah Wisconsin has a playscape also designed with sensory needs in mind.
The funding obtained from the foundation’s Yashar initiative built on a decades-long commitment within the national Camp Ramah network to make the camp experience accessible to Jewish youth from all backgrounds.
“It’s deeply embedded in our DNA,” Cytryn said. “We believe that showing holistic Jewish community includes showing all sorts of different kids – and staff, for that matter – that diversity obviously manifests itself in a number of different ways.”
More investments in accessibility are on the horizon at Camp Ramah Wisconsin, which hosts between 550 and 600 campers throughout the summer on its more than 100-acre campus.
Cytryn said the camp has its sights set on building a new camper care center as an upgrade to an existing facility. The center provides mental health support and a place to rest between activities for both campers and employees.
Constructing the new center is estimated to be a $750,000 project. It’s likely to be built in the next two to three years, dependent both on fundraising and laying out Camp Ramah Wisconsin’s master plan.
Cytryn also said the camp plans to bring forward additional housing for campers with disabilities who have higher support needs and may not be able to live in a cabin with their peers full time.
Additions like these contribute to Camp Ramah Wisconsin’s efforts to make its summer experience accessible to any Jewish kid who wants to partake.
“As the world continues to get more complicated out there for our children, we are committed to working to meet their needs and to be there to support them and give them successful summers in camp,” Cytryn said.
OSRUI
In the southeast region of the state at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, the Yashar funding supported a goal of ensuring all campers have a successful summer, said director Beth Rodin.
A multiyear grant of more than $200,000 supported a major expansion to make some of OSRUI’s bathrooms more accessible for people with disabilities. Lina Wallace, the camp’s senior assistant director, said OSRUI also updated its basketball courts and paving throughout the camp to make the grounds more accessible not only for people who use wheelchairs but also others who need stable footing.
Rodin said the funding via the foundation’s Yashar initiative allowed OSRUI to accelerate its timeline to complete those projects.
The funding has had a broader impact beyond meeting mobility needs, Wallace said.
“It’s opened the door for us to think about inclusion in a number of different ways,” she said.
For example, Wallace said OSRUI, which serves about 900 campers ages 7 to 17 each summer, has worked to provide other types of accommodations for campers. Those include space to serve people with sensory processing issues.
“Even though the work was done in some physical capacity, it’s helped us think about it in other ways,” Wallace said.
She said OSRUI has received positive feedback about its recent upgrades, including how the camp is making itself inclusive for people who are neurodiverse.
“We know that success might look different for each camper, and so we try to be really thoughtful and partner with parents to determine what success looks like and to ensure that we can provide all of the tools and the resources to make camp successful,” she said.
And the work isn’t finished.
Rodin said OSRUI is mindful of inclusion and accessibility as it plans new construction and building updates – such as a new bath house and a dining pavilion. Those will be Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible, she said.
“Our commitment is to ensure that we’re consistently moving forward and adding to what we have,” Rodin said.
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