UNPRECEDENTED CAMPAIGN TO ESTABLISH UNIVERSAL BEST PRACTICES FOR CAMPS
LOS ANGELES — Meow Meow Foundation has assembled a team of subject matter experts to deliver long overdue summer camp safety best practices available to stakeholders and parents later this year.
The summer camp industry is a colossus with a $70 billion economic impact. More than one million staffers serve 25 million children at 25,000 camps. U.S. Presidents, business moguls, celebrities and sports stars have attended a variety of camps since their inception more than 100 years ago.
During 2024, Meow Meow Foundation president Doug Forbes researched every state to asses its summer camp regulations, if any. His findings were rather startling, which fueled the idea to establish independently researched and drafted universal best practices that could fill the gap while he attempts to enact federal camp safety legislation.
“I was stunned to discover that only a little more than half of our states even have some iteration of camp safety laws,” Forbes said. “And with the exception of a handful of states, most regulatory framework is anemic at best.”
The vast majority of states do not mandate health supervision, emergency action plans and certifications in high-risk activities, unbeknownst to almost all parents that Forbes has surveyed. .
Forbes said he has attempted to convene and coordinate with the American Camp Association on this issue. He admits to having challenging experiences with ACA former CEO Tom Rosenberg, its former chief lobbyist Cathy Barankin and its current spokesperson Mike Stillson.
According to a trove of regulatory records, the ACA has attempted to defeat or water down camp safety legislation since the 1960s. They did so with Forbes’ own legislative measures.
The ACA offers an accreditation program replete with camp safety standards. But Forbes contends that those standards are insufficient and camp-centric, instead of child-centric. “Although they do offer about 250 standards, I am admittedly concerned that those measures are under-researched, in addition to the fact that a relatively small percentage are mandatory to become accredited.”
Nonetheless, Forbes said he reached out to current ACA President Henry DeHart to see if the two entities could build a bridge toward more robust best practices. DeHart informed Forbes that the ACA has no interest in doing so.
Forbes therefore contacted globally renowned camp expert Dr. Chris Thurber to help develop independently researched and heavily scrutinized camp safety best practices. Thurber is a PhD psychologist with nearly four decades working in and consulting for the camp industry.
Thurber and two other team members are engaging global subject matter experts in primary areas of camp programming. He and Forbes have also coordinated with the Alliance for Camp Health, Child USA and the National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention, among others.
Forbes said, “My foundation is investing significant funding into this matter, because 33% of children will attend a camp at a point in time — it’s a huge endeavor but one that will maximize camp impact and minimize camp harm.”
Forbes expects to distribute a national best practices program at some point well ahead of the 2027 camp season.