Pohlad Family Foundation Helps Youth Attend Summer Camp

The Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation, Minneapolis, has awarded 42 grants totaling $360,850 to organizations throughout Minnesota to help make the summer camp experience a reality for a larger number of young people in the state.

Employees at the grantee organizations will identify youth ages 10 through 15 who would benefit from residential camping experiences, assist youth and their families in the selecting and preparing for camp, and award scholarships for camp fees and expenses.

Now in its sixth year of operation, the foundation's annual summer camp program has enabled more than 3,500 Minnesota youth to attend accredited camps of their choice. A recent program evaluation found the camp experience to be helpful to participating youth in numerous ways, including increased in self-esteem and self-reliance, improved leadership skills and ability to make new friends, and reduced family stress.

Positive evaluation results prompted the foundation board to allocate an additional $100,000 to the program this year. These additional funds will allow the number of children supported by the program to increase from an average of 700 campers per year to an estimated 943 youth this year.

"Most grantees are social service and education organizations that view the scholarship funds as an important, positive and value-added service to the youth and families they serve," said Bill Pohlad, president of the foundation. "As a family, we appreciate the opportunity to partner with these organizations that have strong relationships with their clients."

For a complete list of the 2004 grantees for the Pohlad Family Foundation's summer camp scholarship program (PDF, 1 page), click here.

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