City Kids Wilderness Project Annual Report 2017
Dear Friends,
Every year, City Kids provides programming and support for over 130 DC youth and young adults. In recent years, several alumni have joined our staff and are now leading City Kids program activities. This has a tremendous impact on our work and is a testament to the impact of the program.
After a year long pro-bono consultancy with Boston Consulting Group, we entered 2017 with a new strategic plan and a clear road map to guide our growth and impact. Our strategic pillars include a continued focus on financial sustainability, a commitment to expanding our staff team to better support our work, a critical focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and addressing the need for a program home in DC that mirrors the sense of home we have with our summer program at Broken Arrow Ranch. Programmatically, we continue to focus on long-term impact, and building out support for young alumni as they embark on post-secondary educational and employment opportunities.
City Kids continues to receive prominent recognition and support, and in 2017 we were awarded the Eleanor P. Eells Award for Program Excellence from the American Camp Association which we received at the National ACA Conference in Tampa. City Kids was also selected as one of the DC region’s best nonprofits by the Catalogue for Philanthropy, and received a Force of Nature grant from REI in support of our gender equity work in utilizing the outdoors to empower and inspire women and girls.
Our achievements are only possible due to the generosity and support of our individual donors, foundation and corporate partners, dedicated board, staff, JETs, and volunteers. We are deeply grateful for your support and are honored to be working together to create positive opportunities for our youth and lasting change in our community.
With heartfelt thanks,
Eloise Russo
Executive Director
and
Randy Luskey
Founder and Board Chair
