On Wednesday, the West End campus of Spelman College echoed with the laughter of young girls excited to paint a mural at summer camp. Perhaps as they worked with an array of colors, they imagined themselves one day returning to the surroundings as students at the storied women’s college.
Sparking HBCU attendance in young children is the mission of Camp HBCYouth, a 7-week summer program launched in 2021 by Spelman graduate Reagan Fresnel and Morehouse alum Brian Wright.
At the root of Fresnel’s vision was an opportunity to create affordable summer camp experiences for the underserved communities that often live in the shadows of HBCUs.
“Only 5% of Black children attend summer camp, so we are definitely carving out space for our students in the camp world at large,” Fresnel told Capital B Atlanta.
The 29-year-old, who serves as CEO and executive director of HBCYouth, remembers attending a camp at Morgan State in her native Baltimore, and she is proud to say there are now four HBCYouth camps running this summer.
“We work with Morehouse College, Tennessee State University, Clark Atlanta, and now Spelman College,” Fresnel said. “We started to bridge the gap between our HBCUs in the immediate communities that surround them.”
And while the camp, staffed by HBCU students and alums, features fun activities for kids from kindergarten through elementary school, Fresnel wants to make sure her campers are prepared to excel when they return to school in the fall.
“We are an academic day camp designed to help children avoid a summer slide academically,” she said.
The programs, with the help of corporate partners like Walmart who sponsored the mural project at Spelman, expose students to Black history and STEAM and STEM topics. This summer, the camps offered a wellness sport thanks to a partnership with the United States Tennis Association.
“Our campers receive tennis lessons twice a week,” Fresnel said. “Over at Spelman, they have golf.”
Each camp has around 60 to 70 students, and Fresnel estimates they’ve served nearly 1,000 students since their inception.
HBCYouth also operates as a summer food site, serving students breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack to help fight food disparity.
Determined to make the camp as accessible as possible, the founders keep the rates affordable at around $250 per week, and also offer “camperships” to subsidize students that may have a greater need.
“As a proud Morehouse graduate, I’ve seen firsthand the power of the HBCU community to shape lives and open doors,” Wright said in a press release last month announcing the camp’s partnership with Amazon Access that enabled the organization to expand HBCYouth to more campuses.
Here, Fresnel shares what makes HBCYouth so special, and why she’s determined to create affordable summer experiences for Black children.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Capital B: How did your own HBCU experience shape your desire to do this work?
Reagan Fresnel: Wanting to have the same experience of giving the safe space of Black pride, Black excellence. Spelman implanted those seeds in me. It’s our motto to really go out and change the world.
Spelman has not had any youth programming in over 20, almost 25 years. This is a huge moment for me and Spelman, to do it with my college and other HBCUs is something that we’re more than excited about. My co-founder, Brian Wright, he also attended Morehouse College. Our HBCUs instilled values of legacy, community, and excellence that we want to make sure others experience, and that pipeline starts earlier than high school.
What’s been one of your biggest challenges in running HBCYouth?
Our biggest hurdle is really meeting our families where they are. The need for financial assistance for children to attend camp is large, especially for the surrounding communities around our HBCUs. We do have families that can afford it. We want to make sure that we are still prioritizing and making sure that families that need assistance can receive it so that they can also have this opportunity. [We] are actively trying to make sure we reserve those spots outside of those that just can pay.
What’s the makeup of each camp?
We cater our sites to the HBCUs. Our Spelman site is an all-girls camp with an all-girls experience designed and curated for the Black/brown girl experience. Morehouse is the same, it is an all-boys site. Our sites at TSU and CAU are co-ed.
What’s been some of the responses or feelings campers have expressed about the opportunity to attend your camp?
From their families and the campers, I think they’re more than happy to have peers around them that look just like them and not just be the only one.
Where do you hope to see HBCYouth grow into the future?
We would love to see HBCYouth grow to every HBCU across the country. We would love to serve more children and even offer more programming outside of Camp HBCYouth. Camp HBCYouth is our first program that we’ve launched under the HBCYouth Foundation for elementary-aged students. It is our goal and our overall vision to have elementary, middle, and high school programming that directly pipelines students all the way through into HBCUs.
If you are interested in learning more about HBCYouth or supporting its endeavors, visit camphbcyouth.com.
