TRAINING OVERVIEW
This training will inform folks who work within the DFI Title XX Camping Services Program how to complete and fulfill the funding requirements. During the training participants will learn about:
Requirements, rules, and legalities of the DFI Title XX funding,
Application process, including required documentation,
Allocation of funds and financial information regarding the funding for camps,
Billing paperwork and registration documents required for campers/clients,
Outcomes and Camper Development requirements, and
Overall timeline for the funding year, including critical deadlines and due dates.
WHO IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND THIS TRAINING?
Each agency’s main contact must have completed this training within the last 5 years, OR
In the case of a new employee/main contact, they must complete this training within 60 days.
ADDITIONAL INDIVIDUALS INVITED TO ATTEND THIS TRAINING?
Additional employees or volunteers who work with the funding process are invited and encouraged to attend this training, including:
Registrars and Office Managers will process the registration documents;
Financial Directors, Fund Development Directors, and others who work with grants and funding sources;
CEO/ED, COO, and other leaders who would like to better understand how the process works, including the financial and legal aspects of funding;
Program Directors, Camp Directors, and other leaders who will be completing and responsible for the Camper Reports and Outcome Surveys; and
Other folks who are interested in learning more to assist in the document collection and preparations.
LOCATION & TYPE OF WORKSHOP
These workshops are live, virtual events and will utilize the Zoom Meeting platform and requires a computer to access. ACA Illinois will not record these events. This training is 60 minutes in length and completed with the agency and our Manager of Family Services at a time that is convenient for them.
WHAT TO BRING TO WEBINAR & HOW TO PREPARE
This training includes visuals and interactions that require the person(s) in attendance to be logged on and able to participate. Each person should be prepared to have their camera on, access to audio (including the ability to speak and hear,) and interact within the Zoom room via a computer. Bring a notebook/paper and pen for activities.
To schedule your training, please email registration@acail.org or by calling 312-332-0833 x4.
Do you know the number 1 rated volunteer and professional development experience in ACA? Being an Accreditation Visitor! Join us and learn more about this popular volunteer role in ACA Illinois that can increase your professional skills, give you access to new ideas, and provide a critical service to the camp community.
In this short session, we’ll cover:
Why Visitors are essential to the Accreditation program,
The benefits of serving as a Visitor to both your camp and your career advancement,
Qualifications to become a Visitor (we know you probably have them!),
Process and timelines, and
Some time for Q&A!
We look forward to sharing this excellent opportunity that can help your camp continue to excel and your career continues to advance! Jump in and attend a session and you can walk away with a gift card just for learning about the Visitor Crew!*
Please Note:
1). There is no obligation to become a visitor when you attend to learn more.
2). This session is intended for potential volunteers and future Visitors with ACA Illinois. If you are from outside of ACA Illinois but interested in learning more about how to become a visitor where you live/work/summer locally, please email Colette at colette@acail.org.
*Gift cards are limited to the first 25 registered for each session. Participants must preregister and attend this session in full to access this benefit.
This session is a live, virtual events and will utilize the Zoom Meeting platform.
Please Note: ACA Illinois will not record this event.
This is an interactive training course. Each person should be prepared to have their camera on, access to audio (including the ability to speak and hear,) and interact within the Zoom room via a computer. Bring a notebook/paper and pen for activities.
THE FINE PRINT
Please Note: By registering and attending an ACA Illinois event or meeting, virtually or in person you are agreeing to all the event policies listed here. These policies include photo release, refund, link sharing, Code of Conduct, and other relative policies.
HOW TO REGISTER
You must have a Member Profile in our registration system to register for this event. If this is your first event with us, please click here to create a profile. It's free!
WHAT IS THE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS BOARD?
The Young Professionals Board (YPB) is a volunteer community group of camp pros 35 and under who work together to develop opportunities for growth and leadership within the camp world.
Members of this group have the chance to develop their executive leadership and governance (board) skills, build a stronger network, and provide critical feedback to the ACA Illinois Board of Directors and staff on the needs of emerging professionals. In addition to leadership development, the YPB also plans events and opportunities for the emerging professional!
WHO CAN JOIN THE ACA ILLINOIS YOUNG PROFESSIONALS BOARD?
Any person who meets the following criteria is invited to attend meetings, join the board, and volunteer with this group:
Membership with ACA or ACA Illinois is not required. You don’t have to be from Illinois to join.
WHAT'S THE TIME COMMITMENT? WHEN AND HOW DOES THE GROUP MEET?
The YPB meets monthly to network, plan events, participate in career development training, and more! The monthly meetings are held on Zoom for one hour. It is not required to attend every meeting - so please come when you can!
WHY JOIN THE ACA ILLINOIS YOUNG PROFESSIONALS BOARD?
It will help your career advancement! Moving up in your career requires skill-building and the YPB is designed to work alongside the ACA Illinois Board of Directors so that members can develop governance and executive-level skills. Additionally, members have access to a stronger network that can enhance their future opportunities for career growth.
Joining will help the camp community! The YPB is seen as the expert on the needs of emerging professionals and the ACA Illinois Board of Directors seeks their engagement and input in the Association’s goals and objectives, to better serve the community. ACA Illinois is a volunteer-driven, grassroots organization that requires the voices of many! This is your chance to give back and lift up your ideas!
These workshops are live, virtual events and will utilize the Zoom Meeting platform.
Please Note: ACA Illinois will not record these events.
This event and workshop series must be paid for at the time of registration. If you would like to pay by invoice and/or check, please contact registration@acail.org before registering.
This is a per-person fee event. This event requires camera, computer, and audio access for the participants as it’s designed to be interactive. Any user that has additional persons in attendance that are not registered will be automatically removed from the event without a refund.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
Jump into this fast-paced FAQ to learn about the State of Illinois and the nation’s largest, federally funded campership program and see if your camp may qualify!
More than 250,000 clients of IDHS have had the chance to attend camp because of the DFI Title XX Camping Services Program. Each year ACA Illinois works with camps that serve clients of IDHS to pay a portion of their camp fees. Camps apply to join the program to gain access to these funds.
WORKSHOP DETAILS
If your agency currently serves, or would like to serve clients of the Illinois Department of Human Services (who are receiving TANF, Medicaid, or SNAP benefits) and are between 5-17 years of age or are adults with special needs, then we invite you to learn how you may be able to access funding to support your campers.
This session will cover:
Qualifications for camps and agencies to join the program;
How the finances and match funds work;
Timeline and due dates for the application and billing seasons;
Outcome Goals; and
And other relevant information that will help the participants understand the program.
Sign up today to see if your agency can access these funds.
Please Note: This Information Session is for camps & agencies that are considering joining the DFI Title XX Camping Services Program for the first time.
WHAT WILL THE DFI TITLE XX FALL MEETING COVER?
This meeting will cover upcoming changes, timelines, due dates, and plans for the DFI Title XX Camping Services Program.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Each agency must send at least one (1) person from their agency to attend. Agencies are invited to send as many folks to attend as they would like to register. However, for the Fall Meeting, we encourage the following folks to attend from each agency:
The person responsible for completing the application.
The camp registrar or person responsible for processing the camper registration documents.
Agencies are invited to send as many people to attend from their agency as possible.
HOW WILL THIS MEETING TAKE PLACE?
This meeting will be held over Zoom. Participants must have access to their computers to engage in this training.
I'VE ATTENDED TRAINING IN THE PAST, DO I NEED TO ATTEND THIS?
Yes, this is not a training. This is a meeting designed to share important and timely information.
WORKSHOP SERIES OVERVIEW
Are you worried whether your staff will last the summer? Are you questioning whether you have the juice to even get to the start, let alone the finish, of another camp season?
The answers are at your fingertips. Camp and youth program providers are already masters at providing enriching, rejuvenating, and personal development experiences. However, these same leaders are often not well equipped with the skills and strategies required for nurturing and managing their own (super awesome) reserves of care and support. These same people are also inundated with many layers of responsibilities and stakeholder demands. Some of which, they may not yet recognize as draining or problematic. This workshop series uses evidence-based knowledge (yay for science!) and experiential education to set you up to administer care and camp without burning out.
WORKSHOP SERIES DETAILS
Join Dr. Mandi Baker in this four-part mini-series that supports leader well-being and the management of emotional labor that leads to burnout. Each workshop is 1.5 hours and will include foundational knowledge and experiential activities. Each workshop will explore a different ‘layer’ of how burnout occurs, how it can be decreased, and how wellness (mental, physical, social, and emotional) can be improved.
Workshop #1: Setting The Scene With Me
In this workshop, we will explore how burnout happens for staff in youth development programs (especially camps). We will explore the ‘layers’ that interact and intersect to improve or diminish staff and workforce wellbeing while, also, defining what wellbeing is. This workshop will, then, consider the art and science of self-care and how these strategies can (and should) be activated in camp contexts (yes, even while in full-swing camp season). This workshop is 2 hours to accommodate all the vital information and to make sure we start “doing” care.
Workshop #2: Caring for Staff (The Practical and Impractical)
Staff who deliver youth development experiences like camp counselors, educators, and youth program facilitators face frequent, diverse, and intense emotional demands. Staff need a host of social and emotional intelligence abilities to meet these as well as benefit from workforce strategies that support wellness and flourishing. This workshop will explore the nature of the emotional demands staff face and how to anticipate, reduce, and address these. We will also explore necessary strategies, both intangible and practical, that proactively strengthen and protect staff from work stressors.
Workshop #3: Fostering a Culture of Care, Community, and Citizenship
The culture you generate amongst your staff, participants, and community can make or break the experience for everyone. Camp cultures are especially known for being positive and inclusive, where people feel valued and safe to be silly and test out new aspects of identity. This is no mistake! And is usually done with a high level of intentionality however, not everyone thinks about how this unique cultural experience can drain and put unusual demands on those who create, maintain, and deliver it. In this workshop, we will look at how the cultural and community aspects of care and demand (i.e., gossip) effect employee experiences.
Workshop #4: Embedding Care Into Policy Practice, and Artifacts
Space speaks! The structures, routines, and texts in a work environment shape what people come to expect from it and how staff are expected to behave. These messages are delivered in diverse forms. Camps, for example, are represented in a range of movies, social media posts, and advertising efforts. Additionally, expectations of camp staff are delivered via policies, practices, and artifacts (i.e., position descriptions, staff manuals, and daily routines). This workshop will explore the dominant messages and how these shape the behavior and psycho-social expectations of people in these spaces.
Bonus Session #5: Drop-in Q&A/ Consultation
Do you have a burnout dilemma that you don’t know how to tackle? Do you have a workforce problem that you haven’t untangled (yet)? Want to know more about how to put what you’ve learned into practice? Want to hear live problem-solving of real issues? Bring all your ‘curly’ questions to this drop-in style Q&A/consultation session.
Please Note: This session is a bonus for participants who purchase all 4 workshops.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: DR. MANDI BAKER
Join Dr. Mandi Baker in this online workshop series that addresses the unique aspects of camp staff burnout. Drawing on her extensive research on seasonal camp counselors and year-round outdoor recreation leaders, Mandi will offer insights into the specific pressures and supports that can sustain your workforce. Mandi will guide you through a handful of activities, so you are empowered to deliver, keep well during, and recover from an amazing summer season.
ACA ILLINOIS VISITOR INCENTIVE
ACA Illinois Visitors will receive a $15 Rebate for an individual webinar or $60 for the package of all four webinars.*
*Folks eligible for the ACA Illinois Visitor Rebate program must be currently active Visitors for ACA Illinois during the current year. Participants must attend to receive the rebate. This is not transferable to other persons.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS WORKSHOP SERIES?
This workshop series is to inform and equip executives, directors, and managers about how burnout happens and how to beat it. The first workshop is perfect for seasonal staff and front-line employees. This workshop series draws on research across many fields of study including health, sociology, leisure, and youth development. It has been tailored specifically for leaders in youth development programs like camp.
WHY ATTEND WORKSHOP SERIES?
The reduction of burnout causing threats and improvement of work conditions has been shown to not only improve the functioning, efficacy, and effectiveness of your staff but also support and improve their (holistic) well-being and resilience in and outside of the immediate work context. Proactive approaches to employee wellbeing and flourishing have also been shown to improve workforce and knowledge retention.
Create a legacy of being the place to work because you, and your leadership team, know how to infuse (radical) care in all ‘layers’ of the work experience for your staff (and you). Cultivate a culture of care, service, and flourishing for all that ‘step into’ your space.
To see information on the full series look here.
To see details about the full series, look here.
