Equity & Inclusion

The Gulick family bought the property that is now Aloha Camp on Lake Morey and hosted gatherings for family and friends. 1905 marked the first official season for Aloha Camp, with 22 campers. At that time, bringing girls to camp was radical, as boys were considered to be up to outdoor challenges, not young women. Harriet Gulick (“Mother Gulick”) credits Mamie Cochran, family cook and caretaker, as one of two people who suggested the property would be a lovely spot for a camp for girls. In a Scamp Spirit newsletter tribute in 1922, after Mamie’s passing, Mother Gulick wrote, “She was full of the real Aloha spirit long before Aloha was known…I can see her resolute face in 1904 when she said, ‘Sure it will be a success. I’ll do the cooking and we’ll make a go of it together.’” Aloha Club, our camp for women 18 to 80, hosted its first campers in 1910. Another progressive concept for the times, Aloha Club was located on Lake Katharine and accessible only by canoe. Aloha Hive, a camp for younger girls, opened in 1915 on neighboring Lake Fairlee.

Lanakila’s first camp season was in 1922. During this period, the Gulick family invited international counselors from a broad range of countries to camp, including England, Sweden, France, and others. Recognizing the value and importance of a diverse community, camp leaders and alumni created to provide camperships and allow more children to attend the Alohas. Today, we welcome more than 100 campers and counselors from places around the world like Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Italy, New Zealand, Colombia, South Africa, Australia, the Philippines, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

In 1968, when there was no longer a successor in the Gulick family who wanted to lead the camps, Aloha, Hive, and Lanakila were at risk of closing. A group of dedicated alumni and parents who loved the Alohas stepped in to save the camps by creating a nonprofit organization, the Aloha Foundation.

Aloha Foundation leadership cultivated relationships and forged partnerships with organizations, primarily based in Boston and NYC, that were working in communities of color to help us recruit children who would thrive at camp. Although the Aloha Foundation is not religiously affiliated, in the 1970s, we developed a longstanding connection with Cornerstone Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, a partnership created thanks to close friends of the Alohas. In 2005, the Diversity Fund was created as part of the Centennial Campaign. The following year, the Aloha Foundation leadership team participated in a diversity retreat to discuss the future vision for the camps. The Board of Trustees created the Diversity and Inclusion Taskforce in 2011, which presented recommendations and adopted the Diversity Values Statement:

The Aloha Foundation believes that diversity at all levels is essential to our mission and enriches our community. As an educational organization, the Aloha Foundation is committed to fostering a multiplicity of backgrounds, interests, values, experiences, cultural viewpoints, and beliefs.

We therefore strive to:

• Provide meaningful opportunities for Aloha community members to learn from the experiences and appreciate the perspectives of people with backgrounds significantly different from their own.
• Increase the social, racial, and economic diversity of the Foundation’s camps, programs, staff, and Board.

In 2014, thanks to funding from the Diversity Fund, the Hulbert Outdoor Center launched a pilot leadership program, designed for a group of 60 students from diverse communities. The Success Leadership Program, which has continued to grow in popularity since its inaugural year, consists of onsite teambuilding, leadership, and community project sessions, followed by participants sharing their knowledge in their home schools and leading school-wide projects to benefit their communities. Five years later, a total of 230 students from 10 schools participated.

With peers from other Vermont non-profits, in 2018, program directors and leaders engaged in a four-month-long cultural competency training project with CQ Strategies, based in Burlington, VT. In 2019, all full-time staff attended a one-day session with CQ Strategies with the goals of strengthening our understanding and appreciation of each other.

 

• Created the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force: In 2020 we hosted a virtual Aloha Community-Wide Town Hall, as well as segmented listening sessions and discussion groups for our community. The resulting creation of this eight-person group included the Executive Director, two Trustees, and five staff members (current and former/year-round and seasonal).
• Completed working group assignments: Five groups of staff, alumni, and parents met to create recommendations related to specific areas of focus that emerged from the summer listening sessions: 1) staff training 2) counseling strategies including Success Counseling 3) singing and songbooks 4) defining our commitment to a “Child’s World”, and 5) research on Mamie Cochran, one of our camps’ founders.
• DEI Pre-Camp Training Sessions: Beginning in 2021, these 90-minute DEI sessions, completed in pre-camp, focus on self-awareness in connection with social awareness and understanding “isms” with an intersectional focus on race and gender.

• Facilitating Difficult Conversations: This training module centers around facilitation tools and tips; differences between dialogue and debate/discussion; and scenario work practicing facilitation with realistic camp scenarios.
• Affinity Spaces: Inspired by campers and facilitated by counselors with specific training, affinity spaces are optional and designed for campers with shared identities to gather, connect, and share lived experiences. Some affinity spaces initiated by campers this summer included BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), Latinx(e), and LGBTQIA+ groups.
• New Partnerships: Foundation and seasonal staff members visited Harlem Academy in February 2022 to learn more about the school community and build connections with students and families. Five new campers from Harlem Academy joined the Aloha, Hive, and Lanakila communities this summer. The Aloha Foundation also partnered with the Anne Shore Sleep-Away Camp Program, Cincinnati Country Day School, and KIPP Capital Region Public Charter Schools. 
• New Staff Check-Ins: Foundation staff continually offer opportunities for open dialogue with new staff members about their experiences and finding a sense of belonging at camp.
• CIT Facilitation Training: This education session, including facilitation training and scenario work, was designed for our counselors-in-training, such as First- and Second-Year Apprentices (Horizons), Midis (Hive/Aloha), and Second-Year Bridgers (Lanakila).