Cincinnati Recreation Commission
805 Central Avenue, Suite 800
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Youth and Teen Outdoor Adventure Programs 2023-24
The Cincinnati Recreation Commission is looking to expand its outdoor adventure programming for youth and teens ages 12-17. The goal of the program is to give youth and teens in the City of Cincinnati the opportunity to experience new challenges in an outdoor environment, learn about themselves, and develop leadership skills.RiverTrek will be a 5 day, 4 night camping/canoeing/kayaking trip down the Little Miami River during the month of July. The ski and snowboard club will be a 4-6 week, once per week, learn to ski and snowboard program during the winter months of January - February.
Program Goals:
RiverTrek
RiverTrek was initiated by Cincinnati Recreation Commission (CRC) staff members in 1997 to provide a summer program of self-discovery designed to enhance the confidence, understanding, and leadership skills of Cincinnati area youth and inner city youth, through a 65 mile journey down the Little Miami River. To this day, RiverTrek remains the core program of CRC Outdoor Adventure Recreation offerings.
RiverTrek allows teen participants, most of whom reside in the city and are not naturally exposed to nature and the outdoors on a routine basis, to re-envision themselves on neutral turf away from the influences of their routine day-to-day environment. This affords them the opportunity to practice making different choices in their lives while in a safe space and exposed to the natural world surrounding them.
Additionally, veteran participants are eligible to be selected to serve as Peer Leaders for the program. As Peer Leaders, they are responsible for modeling behavior and organizing and leading their team of peers with daily assignments throughout the week. These range from campsite prep and tear down, preparing and serving meals, organizing equipment, safety patrol, etc. This gives participants the change to develop leadership skills, find their voice, and identify their strengths.
In addition, this year we are hoping to add 1 or 2 one-night camping trips to our program offering. We have found that one of the barriers to getting youth to participate in the RiverTrek program is a hesitancy to spending an entire week outdoors and camping overnight for the first time. Therefore, we are looking to help alleviate that fear by adding one or two one nighters as a small introduction to those who may be interested but are fearful of the new experience.
Learn to Ski and Snowboard
2023 was the first year CRC was able to offer the Learn to Ski and Snowboard program for 50 youth through a partnership with Corbeau Ski Club and Perfect North Slopes. Each Friday for 5 weeks, teens were able to receive free ski lessons at Perfect North. Perfect North Slopes donated rental equipment and lessons and Corbeau Ski Club provided snow gear for the kids. This year, we are looking to expand the program in a few ways: 1. expand from 50 kids to 75, 2. add leadership development and character building education to the program, and 3. provide lift passes for those who successfully complete the entire program. Our goal is to eventually develop this program to mirror RiverTrek in the sense of creating a peer leader program and helping youth and teens to mold their leadership skills. A winter sport compliment to the successful summer RiverTrek program.
Program Results:
For the Rivertrek program we always set a goal of 50 participants. This past summer we had 52 children show up! We were confident in our ability to accept the additional children because we have a very seasoned team.
In 2023 we had 40 students participate in at least 4 lessons and then in 2024 we doubled the number of students to 83 who participated in at least 4 lessons. In 2024 there were 96 students who participated in at least one lesson. 62% of the participants identified as non-Caucasian, 80% had no experience skiing or snowboarding, and 53% participated in free and reduced lunch at school.
We have used the success of these programs to plan more outdoor adventures for the upcoming year.
Website:
http://www.cincyrec.org Amount: $25,000
Date: April 2023
