Our Strategic Growth Plan

Evolution and Innovation - A New Program Model is Born
Throughout our history anecdotal evidence (from our staff, our participants’ teachers, parents, guidance counselors and social workers, and our alumni themselves) has supported our knowledge that a summer camp experience can have a transformative impact in a child’s life. This evidence also proved that for many youth who lacked adequate support and resources at home, the transformative effect wanes as the school year progresses and they struggle to stay connected to the safety, confidence and joy they found at camp and in the Crossroads community.

As a result, over the past ten years Crossroads for Kids has revolutionized the way people look at summer camp by evolving the model to capture the cumulative and life-changing effects of a summer camp experience in a comprehensive year-round, multi-year youth development initiative that combines immersive residential camp experiences and school year programming.  Our year-round program model allows Crossroads to remain a consistent and reliable place for kids to turn, regardless of whether they move to a new school or a new foster family. Over the ten years of programming, we provide invaluable experiences and opportunities, and connect our youth to important community resources and people that can help open doors so they can experience success as they transition into adulthood.
 

Strategic Plan: New Model Expansion
Today, Crossroads for Kids’ capacity allows us to serve approximately 1000 youth annually in our residential summer camp programs, with 400 of these youth also enrolled in our year-round programming.   In 2010 Crossroads for Kids Board of Trustees completed a visionary five year Strategic Plan that commits to the growth of our long term, year-round programming to provide 100% of the youth we serve with access to our unique program model and its incredible outcomes. Our long-term goal is to expand our year-round programming to include all of the kids who attend our summer camp programs, with a specific goal of increasing the number of youth served in long term programming from 400 to 800 over the next five years.

The Crossroads program is not a quick fix or an intervention.  It is a long term prevention program that provides a positive, supportive community for at-risk youth to belong to as they navigate the many challenges and obstacles they face in working towards a better future.  In a relatively short period of time we have seen the profound impact that our long-term support has had not only on the lives of the youth in our programs, but the lives of their extended families and communities. With a strategic plan in place, a consistently balanced annual budget and a strong endowment fund, our challenge is now to grow our high impact multi-year programs without sacrificing any of the quality that makes our model successful.