EmpowHer Camp Overview
EmpowHer Camp, a multi-stage skill-building, empowerment, and mentoring program that brings a diverse group of girls with disabilities (ages 13 -18) to camp with successful disabled women mentors in the Adirondacks for one week to learn about disaster preparedness and basic survival skills, while also developing independent living and leadership skills. The next summer, the girls are invited for a reunion trip in Washington, D.C. to explore how they have grown as leaders. During the year between the first trip and the reunion trip, the girls create a yearlong local project involving inclusive disaster strategies. This is a life-changing program for participants and their families, as well as the disabled women mentors.
Stage 1: Skill-Building Camp
Young Leaders camp in the Adirondacks for a week and learn independent living and survival skills from disabled women mentors.
Stage 2: Projects & Mentorship
Young Leaders create a project involving inclusive disaster strategies which they work on with their mentors across the year.
Stage 3: Leadership Reunion Trip
Young Leaders are reunited in Washington, D.C. where they share their projects with their representatives and community members.
Stage 4: Ongoing Support
We connects with all of our participants, past and present, to help them achieve their long term goals.
2024 Camp Applications are closed; please check back in early 2025 for next year's applications.
Read more about our EmpowHer Camp outcomes in our impact reports.
EmpowHer Camp Outcomes
of EmpowHer Camp 2022 graduates have secured paid opportunities as a result of their participation.
89%
of parents of EmpowHer Camp graduates ranked their child’s confidence an 8 out of 10 or higher after their completion of EmpowHer Camp.
100%
of the EmpowHer Camp 2023 Cohort reported an increase in communication skills, both public speaking and communicating and socializing with peers.
100%
Opal
EmpowHer Camp Graduate
"My participation in EmpowHer camp has helped me become a more flexible, more independent, more confident person. I have realized I don't need everything to be perfect and I don't have to do everything on my own. Without all of you, I would not be where I am today.
Jenny
Mentor
"Interacting with each and every one of our Young Leaders and watching them work on changing the world is worth all the ridiculously ableist hardships that I have encountered in my life. I can't even describe [my mentee's] growth this past year. It's been utterly amazing and I love watching her become comfortable with all of who she is.
Jen
Parent
"From the moment I picked her up from camp, continuing in the airports on the way home, all the way through her first week of in-person high school, I have noticed the disappearance of the reticence and shyness she’d shown previously in the area of self-advocacy. She’s more eager to speak up for herself.
Interested in talking to a participant or their guardian about the experience?