Come Explore with Us...

Blue Sky Fund is on a mission

to provide transformational

experiences for urban youth

through outdoor education.

Looking forward to this Saturday's Outward Bound Together service planning meeting... OBT's purpose is to bring together youth from across Richmond to help make a difference in the community. We are always looking for meal leaders to provide food for the meetings, so please let us know if you would like to assist our guys and girls in that way!!

Click HERE to download a copy of Blue Sky's 2012 Outdoor Leadership Institute Application. 

"This is the first time I've ever been to camp, and it was REALLY fun. It was a great experience. We got to swim every day, canoe, tube, do arts and crafts...I learned a lot of new songs and made new friends. I hope I can go again next year!" -- Tiana S.

       Blue Sky Fund exists to get inner-city kids out into the great outdoors. Blue Sky Fund mentors and educates at-risk youth through after-school and weekend programs, as well as through "camperships", a type of scholarship fund that allows many of our youth to attend summer camp.   In 2009, we sent 86 kids to summer camp who would otherwise have not been able to afford such an experience.  We also have explored the great outdoors with 3rd graders reaching for new heights on their science academic requirements. 

      We have brought together diverse groups of 9th graders through a wilderness trip and opportunities for community service.  We have hosted hundreds of neighborhood kids at our Church Hill Games, and much much more.

  Our participants are primarily Richmond City Public School students living in under resourced neighborhoods and homes.  Our city's youth deserve access to all the educational opportunities possible, and we are passionate about providing experiential learning throughout the year as well as the rich memories and lessons of summer camp.   We serve these kids through strategic partnerships with schools, community organizations, churches, and tutoring groups.  We would love the opportunity to help you get involved if you are interested.  Please contact us to find out more about Blue Sky Fund.

      "Yet, at the very moment that the bond is breaking between the young and the natural world, a growing body of research links our mental, physical, and spiritual health directly to our association with nature--in positive ways. As one scientist puts it, we can now assume that just as children need good nutrition and adequate sleep, they may very well need contact with nature."

-Quotation from Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder

*for more "proof" that Blue Sky Fund's work is essential to meet our community's needs, please click on Research and Discussion to read more.