welcome to the forum to both cappaert and jez_j!
just for reference, i have no background in education, but i have helped with various programs in schools (mostly K-5), and also with organizations that bring school classes to natural areas (mostly K-5, but occasionally high school) or offer camps or supplemental home school kinds of programs, and i’ve even helped to get a story time program up and running at a local park.
nature-related educational programs for middle school students that operate without a connection to schools (for staffing, transportation, food, etc.) and occur during summer, breaks, weekends are a little bit of a blind spot for me. i’m not aware of any such programs in my area that explicitly serve underprivileged youth in that age range, though there definitely are such camps filled with privileged children. the closest thing i can think of are nature-based social programs like scouts, which still has relatively strong Latinx participation in my area, though participation drops quickly as kids get older. there are also various nature experience programs that don’t explicitly aim to provide education. for example, there’s a kayaking on the bayou program here that occurs in an area with a population that is mostly black and brown. my understanding is that though their goal is not specifically education, they do want to be a gateway to environmental science, and sometimes their facilitators will provide nature education as a bonus. (i think similar kayak programs are relatively common throughout the nation, and some places trade the kayak for a horse or something else like that.) locally, one popular subset of these kinds of experiential programs that target urban youth in this age range and includes a little more classroom instruction involves urban / community gardening + cooking. the gardening instruction often includes simplified ecology, though the flora is restricted to cultivated plants. it looks like there’s a program in St. Paul that adds a conservation component to that. here’s a fund in San Francisco that seems to give to a good range of experiential programs, though none of these look like they have a strong focus on education: https://sff.org/make-an-impact/give-new/yan/.
oh… and there are also programs that offer bite-sized bits of education + nature. locally, the State of Texas offers weekly programs at a state-run park, and it looks like NYC has a Rangers program, and i’m sure there are others around the nation… since each of these events is relatively short – maybe 1 to 2 hours – it’s not really a camp experience, but maybe if you add them all up, they can be substantial. i think these are generally open to all, not just disadvantaged youth, but at least in these parts, i do see disadvantaged youth taking advantage of these kinds of programs.
in general, i think you’re headed on the right track. partnerships are always helpful, and i think making sure your campers will be able to easily relate to other campers is definitely important. i’m not sure what the cost model is for your campers is, but i think if you’re intending to attract underprivileged youth, you definitely need to have a source of funding to cover their costs. and then just going the extra mile to prepare parents and children so that they get a better understanding of what to expect in the field and in the lab before they arrive will probably be helpful.
more details (it looks like jez_j above has many similar thoughts):
regarding partnerships, i think you definitely do need to have community partners to connect you to your target audience, and i think it also might be helpful to have other partners who have complementary programs to share resources and knowledge. for example, suppose you had a kayaking program like the one i described in your area. then your programs could work together. if you both incorporated iNaturalist into your programs, you could rotate/share the same set of mobile devices instead of both groups having to acquire their own set. you could write grant applications together. you could maybe let them get the kids excited about being outside the first week, and then you could take the same set of kids the next week and really dive deeper into insects in the field and in the lab.
speaking of insects, i’m going to go on a short tangent and mention a minor idea over at another thread that could be something you might be interested in and uniquely capable of pulling off, in conjunction with others who work on black advocacy:
it could be something along the lines of Black Lights for Black Lives (Minds?) – “we’re looking for moths. and equality.” or “black people at night leads to science.” or something more creative, as long as it doesn’t come off as too gimmicky or as misappropriation. it could be a one-time event in an urban park or something like that, appealing to all ages. (i haven’t met a person yet who doesn’t like to see various things fluoresce under UV and also look at all the interesting creatures attracted to such lights.) bonus points if you can provide food from a neighborhood establishment. this kind of thing might build a bond with the community and provide a gateway to kids becoming interested in science and science camps…
back to your camp, i don’t think your camp roster necessarily has to consist entirely of underrepresented youth, but it might help to make sure that each such child comes in with at least another 3-4 children who share the same background and preferably are already friends (just as a fallback, if they aren’t able to make new friends quickly). (when i see privileged kids arrive at camps, often they already know many of the other kids who arrive and so don’t have to put a lot of effort into forming new connections.) being very intentional in getting the kids to break the ice with each other and with staff might also be helpful, especially for middle schoolers.
regarding cost, as far as i can tell from my experience, just about any cost would strongly deter low-income families from sending their children to a camp, leaving you with only children of privilege. so when you’re seeking funding, make sure to think about not just the cost of your camp, but also things like the cost of transportation/parking, the cost of basic gear like a reusable water bottle, etc. in my area, there are some specific challenges that i’m not sure how to overcome – like during summers, a not insignificant number of children are expected to work with their parents or take care of younger children while their parents are at work. there may even be more challenging family dynamics. so if you needed to overcome those kinds of barriers, you might need more specialized help for that.
preparing children and parents for the field and the lab is probably critical, especially for kids who have no existing concept of field or lab. i’ve seen more than one boy show up at for a nature center field trip in pressed clothes and brand new shoes. obviously someone cared a lot for the boy and took extra effort to make him look good. but then he spent a lot of time worried about getting his shoes and clothes dirty. (it’s possible this is related to the cost/gear issue. are those his only pair of shoes?) i notice that kids who have been exposed to nature before usually seem to be more confident and get more out of the experience. so at least a note with some extra guidance, if not a personal phone call to parents to discuss the finer points and to answer questions and work out issues in advance is probably helpful.
oh… and if parents are interested in knowing what kind of practical jobs your camp might lead to, you might need to be prepared to answer that. at least in my area, there are a lot of black and brown folks working in public health, with good, respectable jobs related to mosquito control, air and water quality, health policy, etc. when i’ve talked to such people, more than one has said that they got into it because their communities are disproportionately affected by, say, asthma or cancer or lead poisoning, etc., and by working to make the air and water clean, or by strategically planting trees to reduce heat islands, etc., they are improving their own neighborhoods and improving the lives of their children. so i bet if you can find someone locally like that, he or she might be a good person connect all those dots (camp->education->job->community uplift). such a person might even know of some kids who might be interested in your camp or be willing to help in other ways (partnerships).