The YWCA of Cortland is a strong supporter of the Cortland Area Communities That Care Coalition – CACTC. Together Coalition partners work to promote the reduction and prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use among children and youth. Rather than dealing with these issues after they have already occurred, CTC seeks to prevent alcohol, tobacco, and drug use before it ever starts by focusing on individual, family, and community characteristics that contribute to positive growth in children and young adults.

The YWCA’s summer daycamp is a community program designed to promote positive growth in children and young adults. This year’s camp theme is YWCA Island Adventure and as always 5 – 12 year olds participate in one curriculum while 12 – 15 year olds are part of the Counselors In Training track.

Island Adventure presents a cooperative environment that emphasizes bonding, team building, self-confidence, and confidence in others. A series of group challenges throughout the summer will teach campers to work as successful parts of a group, to take individual responsibility and make individual contributions to the larger group, and to finish whatever is started. The CTC framework finds that children and young people who are positively attached to their peers, programs, schools, and families are less likely to engage in negative behaviors including alcohol, tobacco and drug use, and are consequently more likely to be successful in school and adult life.

The Counselors in Training (CIT) component of Island Adventure at the YWCA recognizes that as kids become older they are ready to take on more responsibility and learn new skills. Young adults (12 – 15 years old) bond with their group and adult leaders, learn skills needed by future camp counselors, select a group volunteer activity in the community to last the entire summer, assist with younger campers on Friday field trips to area parks and points of interest, and participate in all of the swimming, hiking, and picnic activities that make Central New York such a wonderful place to live.   The CTC framework finds that when opportunities, skills, and recognition are part of a child’s or young adult’s life their chances for successful growth and development increase and they are less likely to engage in negative and self-defeating behaviors.

Island Adventure will be fun for younger and older campers, will teach kids cooperative forms of behavior and problem solving, will provide nutritious lunches and snacks, and will get kids moving – in the YWCA’s gym and pool, outside on walking trips around town and in the playground, and by bus to field trip destinations on Fridays. Field trips this summer include Fillmore Glen, Greenwood State Park, the Syracuse Zoo, bowling at Cort-Lanes, Taughannock Falls, Little York, and the Ithaca Sciencenter. Parent chaperones are welcome! Parents are children’s first and most influential teachers and mentors, and the CTC framework recognizes their powerful influence in helping kids become successful adults. Please call Brandon Morey at the YWCA at 753-9651 if you have questions regarding Island Adventure and visit our website at www.cortlandywca.org 

CTC teaches us that successful children and young adults are the product of families, schools, peer groups, and communities. Cortland County has an investment in raising healthy kids and the CTC Coalition, including the YWCA, is there to help. To learn more about CACTC call Judie Murphy at 756-5992.

Amy Simrell is the Executive Director of the YWCA and a member of the CACTC Board.