New York state released safety guidelines this week that pave the way for day camps to open as early as June 29th. Now day camp programs in the city are racing for permits to function and seeking funding to serve kids who’ve been cooped up for months as temperatures start to spike. Camp directors say they’re worried budget cuts and bureaucratic hurdles may prevent them from opening at all.
“It’s a mess. It’s a mess. It’s a mess,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. “I just don’t know what these kids are going to do during the summer. Parents are hysterical, too.”
Brewer said camps are more important than ever.
“I can’t imagine a safer place with all of the guidelines,” she said. “Camps outside are perfect. Better than inside, in the elevator, with your friends, with your grandmother.”
The new state guidelines, approved by Governor Andrew Cuomo, call for a suite of safety protocols. They include limiting group sizes to 10 while keeping the same 10 people exclusively together; requiring adults to wear face masks whenever they’re within six feet of others; temperature checks; frequent hand washing; disinfecting of equipment; and a protocol if someone tests positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
There's a range of day camps across the city—some largely depend on private funds to operate, others are city-funded. Regardless of funding and focus, all day camps must abide by the state Department of Health and city rules.
With this week’s release of state DOH guidelines, some private and nonprofit day camps in the city told Gothamist/WNYC they’re now waiting for the city’s parks and health departments to issue permits, putting them in limbo given the state’s directive to open and the city’s delay in issuing permits. Day camps in New York City must also file for a local health permit 90 days before opening. But with the clock ticking, camp leaders say they hope that process can happen in fewer than 20 days so they can open later this month.
The de Blasio administration hasn’t moved at a speed that would indicate any urgency in seeing the camps open as they’re currently reviewing the state’s health guidelines surrounding day camps, according to the mayor’s office. They offered no hint on when or whether the administration will approve the issuing of permits this summer. A spokesperson for the New York City Parks Department deferred Gothamist/WNYC’s questions to the Mayor’s Office.
“Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of uncertainty,” said Riel Peerbooms, director of Trailblazers, a nonprofit that typically serves 600 to 700 kids on a sliding scale—some campers' fees are subsidized—in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. He said he’s awaiting a response on a permit from the Health Department, which will determine whether Trailblazers opens this summer or not.
Dan Garodnick is president of Riverside Park Conservancy, which partners with several organizations to provide sports camps. “The Parks Department said it was not going to be issuing any ballpark permits through August 31st,” he said. “The problem is we’ve got a lot of kids without a lot to do over the summer. Parks are a natural and obvious place for them to be. And the question is whether they’ll be there under the auspices and rules of the parks department or whether they’ll be there on their own without oversight.”
Katie Duffy, camps director at Asphalt Green in Manhattan, said the nonprofit submitted paperwork to the city’s DOH, as they always do, in March, and is hoping to get the greenlight any day. “It’s been a nailbiter,” she said.
Duffy said the camp had already adjusted plans in hopes that camps would be cleared to open. “Typically, we’ve had 500 kids participate at our Upper East Side camp. This summer we’re expecting a maximum of 200,” she said.
As is the case for all day camps set to open, Asphalt Green's campers and staffers will have their temperature taken each morning, and the camp has dramatically increased plans for cleaning and sanitizing.
Meanwhile, leaders of city-funded camps are lobbying hard to see funds restored for their programs after Mayor Bill de Blasio slashed their budgets this spring. Youth advocates are calling on the New York City Council to restore funding for free summer programs like Schools Out NYC (SONYC), COMPASS NYC, and Beacon that are run by the city Department of Youth and Community Development and serve some 100,000 kids.
De Blasio eliminated funding for these programs to balance his proposed budget in the wake of a catastrophic health crisis and economic downturn.
But amid the protests against police brutality, de Blasio announced last weekend that the city would shift some unspecified amount of funding from the NYPD to youth programs and social services, making advocates hopeful that summer programs might be restored. At a press conference Thursday, he announced a youth program to serve 3,000 young people starting immediately. The mayor and the council are required to approve a budget by the end of June.
The coalition Campaign for Children submitted proposals to the city for a combination of remote and in-person summer programs. And Gregory Brender with United Neighborhood Houses said now the group is lobbying hard to restore funds.
“Sadly, the children and families most impacted by these budget cuts are already disproportionately affected by COVID-19,” the group wrote in a statement. “Youth programs not only keep kids engaged, but provide vital supports to children and their families, combatting learning loss, supporting social and emotional health, and helping families access food and economic supports, all during a time when they need it most.”
Some day camps that have normally relied on DYCD funds are proceeding with opening camp, albeit in a more abbreviated form. Michael Halpern, director of youth services for Mosholu Montefiore Community Center in the Bronx, said the organization was ready to open day camp, shuttling kids to its campsite in Orange County as it has for the past 75 years.
Halpern said he took Tuesday’s guidance from state health officials—which mirrors guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—and applied it to their daily operations.
One big change, he said, the number of campers allowed on site is vastly reduced. While roughly 600 kids would be on the campgrounds daily in pre-pandemic summers (it has the capacity for “thousands”), this year MMCC will likely serve about 300 campers a day.
“In your normal summer, when I have my funded programs coming up there also I typically have 1,200 kids a day up at the camps. So 300 kids it’s gonna feel empty,” he said.
