Help us meet our spring campaign goal of $35,000 image

Help us meet our spring campaign goal of $35,000

Investing in youth leadership strengthens our vision of multicultural democracy

$35,526 raised

$35,000 goal

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We are closing in our goal thanks to our generous donors and our successful match challenge

EFC alums (and siblings) Jeff Shannon and Carol Shannon Hsu have pushed us closer to our goal through a successful match challenge. Now you can help us fund every Encamper whose family cannot pay the entire program fee. Donate today in support of multicultural democracy and youth leadership!

“The Encampment is a big reason I'm in the field I'm in. That summer empowered me. I felt like I could do something about racism and sexism. It helped me understand that whatever I had to offer was important. That it mattered what I thought, and what I felt and did. It encouraged me to keep going. And I'm still in this field of community organizing and change-making because of it.” — Eleyna Fugman, 1991/CA

In the world today, we see the war in Ukraine, a Supreme Court hostile to women and civil liberties, governors stripping trans people of their fundamental rights ... It’s a reminder of why the EFC exists and that now, more than ever, our country needs young leaders who can cross divides and work for justice.

“It’s important to give young people the tools to be change-makers and how to pick actionable steps; take a big problem and turn it into something that you can do something about on a day-to-day basis.” — Bernice Hightower, 2018/MS–2019/CA

We’re two Encampers from different times, and we’re writing today to ask for your support for our 2022 Sponsorship Fund.

The Sponsorship Fund helps the Encampment practice the democracy we teach: making sure that young people who can’t afford it can participate. It’s a crucial tool for us to live our values: bringing diverse perspectives together; immersing young leaders in the work of society and community; learning how to change the injustices of our country.

We think about our own life-changing experiences at our Encampments. There were people from different geographies, economies, ethnicities; rural and urban; black and brown and white. The EFC created the space where that diversity of experiences allowed us to have deep, life-changing conversations.

What makes that diversity possible? The generosity of donors like you. Your support makes sure young people whose families cannot afford the full program fee can be part of the EFC.

The Encampment is returning to in-person programming this summer (July 5–27). We share the same rising costs as everyone else during this pandemic, and we’re making sure we do everything possible to ensure that Encampers and staff will be in a healthy and safe environment at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.

Your donation helps pay for room and board, the thoughtful learning experiences our staff create, and the life-changing connections Encampers have. For less than the cost of a summer residential program or camp, the EFC creates a multicultural community focused on experiential learning that introduces the participants to a variety of activists and strategies for making change.

The EFC includes a focus on the many different ways that the arts can be used in social justice.

“That was my biggest takeaway: using poetry to engage my community in a protest for Maurice Gordon, an unarmed Black man killed by state troopers.” — Bernice

Encampers also create ways to hold those “hard conversations” about racism and equity.

“I used the tools I gained at the Encampment to help foundTischPDX. Our mission is to bolster leadership in young and marginalized Jews. We're primarily Queer, Jews of Color or Jews raised outside of Judaism … We share our experiences and talk about systemic oppression, ability and disability, and gender justice. We talk about racism in the Jewish community and outside the Jewish community, and we have hard conversations.” — Eleyna

Your donation, no matter what size, ensures that the power of multi-cultural, cross-class conversations, so crucial to democracy and justice, continues at the Encampment. But most importantly it means that 2022 applicants like this one get the funding they need to participate:

“A family friend attended the Encampment and said that it was life-changing … After being cooped up in the house because of Covid, I am ready to get out in the world and have my voice heard. What I hope for is to make an impact on the community and be a part of change. I have so much passion inside of me that I want to share it with others.”

Help us meet our spring campaign goal of $35,000 by giving generously today. Your donation funds experiences — from full sponsorships to one day in the life of a 2022 Encamper to focused field trips; for instance, the environmental justice trip to the Channel Islands or the multicultural exploration of different communities in Los Angeles. Please give generously to support these life-changing conversations and connections.

In Community,

Eleyna & Bernice