ABLE Youth Competitors

Green Chimneys is a multi-faceted nonprofit helping young people to maximize their full potential by providing education, residential, clinical and recreational services in a safe and supportive environment that nurtures connections with their families, the community, animals, and nature.

We believe all children deserve the opportunity to thrive. Children in low-income housing developments with high density poverty are experiencing a widening "opportunity gap," including a lack of trusted relationships, few involved adults with high educational achievement, and few-to-no extended learning opportunities. This opportunity gap is a root cause of why almost half of low-income children become low-income adults. The DREAM Program helps close this gap for over 500 of the most vulnerable children in our communities by providing deeply committed college student mentors, local and regional adventures, summer enrichment and overnight camp, support for postsecondary success, and an unwavering commitment to dreaming big. The core of our model is Village Mentoring, a high dosage, college campus-based one-on-one and team mentoring model. A parent of a DREAM participant provides an unsolicited window into the impact you could have as part of The DREAM Program: “Through DREAM, my kids were able to see their true place in the world and feel valued for who they were. DREAM has provided immeasurable opportunities for my children – opportunities that, as a low-income parent, I could never have provided.” Facebook: www.facebook.com/the.dream.program Instagram: www.instagram.com/the.dream.program Twitter: www.twitter.com/DREAMprogram

With a mission to transform the world for children and adults with challenging illnesses, disabilities, or special needs, Camp For All collaborates with more than 65 nonprofit organizations throughout the year to enable thousands of campers and their families to discover life. Located in Burton, Texas, in a tranquil setting, encompassed by lush landscape and rolling hills, the 206-acre camp site features more than 100,000-square-feet of facilities, two lakes, nature trails, wooded areas, and cleared areas for a wide range of activities. The smoke-free facility is fully accessible and designed to foster campers’ independence. Camp For All is the national leader in creating and providing proven life-changing experiences through passionate and professional staff, cutting-edge facilities, and innovative programming. Camp For All was designed with no barriers for children and adults with special needs to experience the thrill of camping and nature, just like their able-bodied peers. All of the programming is “adaptive,” meaning that the activities can be accomplished regardless of the campers’ challenges, be it mobility, emotional or learning issues. Camp For All provides an environment that is free of the barriers in the everyday world, such as 8-foot-wide sidewalks to maximize mobility in wheelchairs, sloping entrance into the pool with a special lift, ramps and myriad special saddles to aid horseback riders, low beds with wide space in cabins, and large accessible showers and toilet areas. This culture of inclusion is underscored throughout the camp site and is truly built to “level the playing field” for all. Camp For All is the only recreational facility that accommodates the special needs community in this way.