John Austin Cheley Foundation

John Austin Cheley Foundation fosters the development of youth through a variety of culturally responsive programs centered around a multi-year wilderness summer camp experience. Our program provides: -immersive, multi-week youth development opportunities at high-quality wilderness-based summers camps across the country -multi-year funding for campers which can cover tuition, travel expenses, camp store and equipment costs -dedicated mentoring to support and prepare each camper and their family to extract the greatest benefit from the camp experience -service-oriented leadership opportunities for campers to "pay it forward- and enrich their communities -social and emotional group learning experiences that foster meaningful relationships and guide youth to navigate their lives with a sense of belonging and purpose. Our program produces: -data-driven youth development outcomes -life and career skills known to be difficult to replicate in other settings -broad national impact through a network of high quality accredited camps and respected youth mentoring organization

The camp fellowship program is a leadership and career development program centered around independent employment at summer camp and aimed at recent alumni of our campership program. Each aspect of the camp fellowship program focuses on equipping the participants with critical thinking, problem-solving, interpersonal, and leadership skills that are highly coveted and transferrable to other educational and professional settings. The program prepares the participants for the responsibilities of working at a summer camp, and also provides mentorship opportunities that foster meaningful relationships with the younger participants of our campership and compass programs. The camp fellowship program includes a stipend that reflects the additional responsibilities required both before and during your employment at summer camp. When added to the job-related compensation received from camp, this stipend removes the financial barriers that may exist when considering a position working at summer camp by providing combined earnings that are competitive with other opportunities.