Summer Camp In Southington To Get Special State Dollars

State of Connecticut

SOUTHINGTON, CT — State officials May 23 announced 110 Connecticut organizations providing summer services to youths will receive a piece of a $13 million pie, including one organizations in Southington.

Gov. Ned Lamont and Education Commissioner Charlene M. Russell-Tucker May 23 announced the grants that aim to provide learning opportunities to children during the summers of 2023 and 2024.

The funding is part of the latest round of funding under the Connecticut Summer Enrichment Program.

The Southington group targeted for funding is:

• Southington-Cheshire Community YMCA — Camp Naciwonki

Established by Lamont in 2021 in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and administered by the state Department of Education, the program was created to help K-12 students whose education may have been negatively impacted by the pandemic.

Targetedd are low or no-cost, high-quality enrichment programs when kids are out of school during the summer, such as summer camps, childcare centers and other similar programs.

With the release of this funding for 2023 and 2024, the state will have dedicated a total of $33 million for the program since its creation.

These resources come from federal COVID-19 relief dollars the state received to support its response to the pandemic, including from the American Rescue Plan Act and the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund.

This 2023 and 2024 cohort of grantees are expected to serve more than 66,000 students across both summers.

“Since we created this program a couple of years ago, these grants have expanded access to summertime learning opportunities for thousands of Connecticut students who otherwise may not have been able to enroll in this kind of high-quality programming,” Lamont said. “Summer camps are a valuable experience for children when they are out of school – not only for supporting their overall education, but also when it comes to strengthening their social skills and emotional well-being.”

“We are looking forward to partnering with a number of Connecticut’s summer enrichment programs over the next two years to provide quality summer programming to our students,” Russell-Tucker said.

Families seeking to enroll their children in the participating programs for the summer of 2023 can find a list of available opportunities online by visiting summerct.org. Camps will run as early as the first week of June through the end of August.

For the full announcement, click on this link.