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The City Kids Wilderness Project, Inc. (City Kids) is a nonprofit program founded on the belief that providing enriching life experiences for underserved and at-risk children can enhance their lives, the lives of their family and the greater community. Our goals are to strengthen participants’ self-concept; increase academic achievement by teaching life skills; increasing personal motivation and initiative; develop interpersonal skills and leadership ability; and foster an appreciation and knowledge of the environment. Native Washingtonian Randy Kidder Luskey founded City Kids in 1996 to address the basic right of every child to be challenged emotionally, mentally and physically. Since our inception the program has grown to include a five-year experiential program with progressively challenging curricula culminating with a job-training program.
Our founder continues to be personally and financially supportive of City Kids. Additional donors – individuals, foundations and corporations – also contribute to our organization. As our program grows each year, so do our expenses. Therefore, we must find additional donors each year to assist our founder in meeting our operating and capital budget. The fund raising goal this year is $240,000. Our total budget is $643,000. Our programs are offered at little or no cost to the children. Less than 10 percent of the budget is allocated to fundraising. This is a very modest expenditure, which exemplifies our commitment to put the money we raise to work helping children.
If you would like to make a donation to the City Kids Wilderness Project, our How You Can Help page provides instructions for making a gift.
In 1997, our first summer camp opened. Since then, we have grown in response to our participants' needs and interests. Many children and teens return each summer and our program matures with them. We offer summer and school-year educational activities and five levels of program achievement. Annually, we enroll 65 children and teens.
Our experiential program creates opportunities for significant personal growth. On the ranch and in the wilderness, our camp counselors encourage and support students as they challenge their personal limits, both emotional and physical. Rather than thinking, "I can't do it", our students come to learn that every experience has its successes. Through struggle comes personal growth and insight. While each child develops at his or her own pace, every child returns home with a wealth of memories and lessons to reflect upon.
These are valuable lessons for all individuals. At-risk youth, however, often lack the systems - home, school, and community - that can provide them with the necessary experiences, role models and support. Our program helps fills this void.
The Wyoming environment, the challenging and fulfilling activities and our caring staff create a framework for enriching life experiences - experiences that help children reach their true potential. Please visit Programs to learn more about our philosophy and activities.
Keeping in touch with our students year round adds consistency and continuity to the lives of the young people we serve. City Kids provides activities from September through May in and around the Capital Region. A variety of outdoor activities and leadership workshops are offered to enrolled students and perspective recruits. Weekend and school break trips venture beyond the city limits to rural Maryland and Virginia. After school enrichment programs utilize national park lands, green spaces and waterways within the District. We promote “No Child Left Indoors” and “No Child Left Behind” by helping children and youth engage in active learning in stimulating environments.
Our founders donated the Broken Arrow Ranch to City Kids to create a home base for all of our summer programs. In December 1997, the City Kids Wilderness Project Board of Directors deeded a conservation easement to the Jackson Hole Land Trust protecting forever the open spaces of the 62-acre Broken Arrow Ranch. The name "Broken Arrow" honors a nineteenth-century treaty between new world settlers and Native Americans to bring peace to the wilderness. The arrow was broken to symbolize the end of war. Today the ranch provides crucial winter range for moose, mule deer and elk and it is a critical migratory artery between the Hoback River and surrounding Wyoming and Gros Ventre Ranges. We think the ranch is a wonderful environment for an extraordinary migration of city kids to the wilderness.
A former guest ranch, Broken Arrow is nestled between the Hoback River and the Bridger-Teton National Forest seventeen miles south of Jackson, Wyoming. Rustic log cabins house four to eight children and their counselors. A central lodge is a gathering place where students and counselors join to share healthful meals in the dining room or to enjoy a board game in the recreation room. A swimming pool, horse corral, pastures and playing fields provide ample space for active children to play and learn.
In the off-season, winterized cabins are leased to provide income to the camp. Much of the rental income is used for capital expenditures such as upgrading the ranch's electrical and water systems, repairing aged cabins and replacing leaking roofs. The wonderful western ranch atmosphere combined with the natural beauty of the surrounding lands and rivers, crafts the perfect home away from home for our city kids.
