Statement related to the Greater Midland Community Center Summer Camps.
Recently members of the community have expressed concern about the Boys Only! and Girls Only! summer camps listed in our 2017 brochure. Specifically, some parents were concerned that the activities listed for each group reinforced gender-based stereotypes. We agree.
While we believe that gender specific camps offer a great opportunity for friendship building, bonding and a unique environment for kids to build critical developmental assets, we do not support the idea that some activities are only of interest to a specific gender. During these camps, there are many opportunities for activities that will appeal to everyone including; sports, games, contests, songs and crafts. We regret that the camp descriptions indicated otherwise and will take immediate action to correct this.
The Greater Midland Community Center offers over 130 camps to almost 3,000 kids in our community every summer. We are proud of our long-standing commitment to our area youth.
Thank you for your concern for our youth and the messages that we are delivering to them. Please contact Kevin Heye, Vice President of Operations Kheye@greatermidland.org with any questions.
