Whatsoever Community Center

1201 Ewing Ave
Kansas City, MO 64126
phone: 816-231-0227, Ext. 1
website: www.whatsoevercc.org

Whatsoever Community Center’s Summer Camp partners with youth to provide opportunities for academic enrichment, social development, and most importantly, forming connections with the larger community. Summer is filled with cultural arts, project based learning activities, boy’s and girl’s leadership clubs, and service learning. Youth build, plant, and harvest a community garden. They learn to prepare healthy lunches and snacks each day. WY Productions, a youth led film company, teaches media literacy through documentary, animation, and experimental film-making. Youth learn about science and literacy through academic project based learning. Service Learning is a major component of summer programming. Youth plan and implement service projects such as neighborhood clean-ups, mural painting, and food drives. The summer program is supplemented with educational, cultural, recreational field trips, and an annual camp-out. WCC’s Summer Camp is reviewed and funded by Heart of America United Way, as well as Jackson County COMBAT.

Participants in WCC’s Summer Camp learn valuable life skills and gain experiences they would not have access to otherwise. Youth grow in positive identity and gain social skills. Outcomes are measured by attendance and participation. A program impact survey measures participant attitudes. Staff encourage and facilitate cooperation. We are happy to report another successful summer camp. In order to maintain a quality program, we didn’t increase enrollment (50 campers in 2008; 53 campers in 2009). However, we experienced a dramatic increase in parent participation and community involvement. Youth planned and executed a showcase event for their families with record attendance of over 60 additional family and community members. Our attendance and behavior records for the summer indicate an increase in daily average attendance and overall decrease in behavior problems. Campers indicated they built positive relationships with peers as well as adults.