Chicago Adventure Therapy Programming
This project's parent organization is Chicago Adventure Therapy
It operates in United States
It uses Water sports
Entered the Sport For Social Inclusion Award
More about Chicago Adventure Therapy Programming
Chicago youth face numerous barriers to living physically and emotionally healthy lives. On any given night, 2,000 Chicago youth spend the night on city streets without a safe place to sleep. In the 2008-2009 school year, 258 Chicago public school students suffered gunshot wounds, 40 of whom died from their injuries. Last year, Illinois Kids Count reported that nearly a third of children in Chicago live below the poverty line.
Our city holds a multitude of resources and opportunity, but because of their socioeconomic status, our participants have access to few of them. Because our participants are affected by these and other overwhelming challenges everyday, we are committed to offering a viable, effective alternative to traditional talk therapy, an intervention that is often not effective for at-risk youth. We provide outdoor, wilderness-based activities right in the midst of our participants’ city, activities that introduce them to sports and the communities of people passionate about those sports.
When a program is over, we work hard to give our participants continued access to the resources and communities involved. We believe that in one small way, we give them back the city that is rightfully theirs.