GIVE THE GIFT OF CAMP

YWCA Vermont is driven by the mission of eliminating racism and empowering women. We carry this mission forward in our culture at Camp Hochelaga by working to create an environment of full inclusion, social safety, and freedom of expression. Camp Hochelaga aims to be a place where any camper, regardless of individual identity labels, is welcomed into social, emotional, and physical safety. We recognize that spaces that are truly safe and welcoming for people of all identities and life experiences are often hard to find and require constant work, intentionality, and culture shift. We strive to continue making Camp Hochelaga a space of diversity, safety, and true empowerment for all by creating a culture of inclusion during our seasonal staff training sessions, growing our summer team by welcoming counselors from diverse backgrounds who model this culture of inclusion at all times, and continuing to grow our Circle of Girls scholarship fund so that the camp experience is accessible to an ever widening community of campers and families.

Camp Hochelaga is traditionally a girls camp program. Under our umbrella organization, YWCA Vermont, we are dedicated to empowering girls and women through our programming. We are also equally dedicated to living and operating in alignment with our mission which inspires a culture of genuine inclusivity and safety for all. We are committed to providing a safe, genuinely welcoming, and judgement free space for youth who identify as cis-female, gender-expansive, trans, non-binary or genderqueer removed from the many defining environments of social media and greater society. One of the largest benefits of the camp environment is the openness with which camp encourages identity exploration, empathy for one another, and empowerment through positive connections with peers and mentors.

If you or your camper have any questions or concerns about inclusion at Camp Hochelaga please do not hesitate to reach out to the year-round camp team.

At Camp Hochelaga, the social, emotional and physical safety of campers is our top priority. Engaged supervision, support and guidance from our camp counselors and larger staff team plays a central role in maintaining safety at all times.

In alignment with American Camp Assocation standards, Camp Hochelaga strives to maintain a staff to camper ratio of 1:4 and never operates with a ratio larger than 1:8 during times when campers are in cabins and overnight, and a staff to camper ratio that is never greater than 1:10 during daily activities. Camp counselors sleep near cabins, and counselors are directly engaged with campers during mid-day cabin times, and during meals, activities and transitions. Our camp staff team is trained to build positive mentor-based relationships with campers so they can offer individualized support, maintain a culture free of bullying, and meet the care needs of each camper in their group. Camp Hochelaga maintains these supervision ratios and practices during all off-site trips and changeover weekends.