History of Camping in New York

NYSCDA Fifty Years and Counting…

In 1955, when New York State convened a hearing to study the issue of minimum wage for camp counselors, a call to arms went out to directors for volunteers to represent and safeguard the interests of children's camps. From the response to this issue camp a realization that children's camps in New York State needed an organization that would serve this function on an ongoing basis…the New York State Camp Directors Association was born.

Through the years, the breadth and vitality of NYSCDA's work has probably gone beyond whatever expectations the "founding fathers" might have imagined: opposing legislation promoting year-round schools and mandating staff fingerprinting; working with the Department of Health to guide camps through several revisions of the health code; and successfully creating initiates that led to the creation of the Children's Camp Safety Group (drastically reducing worker's compensation costs) as well as an exemption for camp counselors from New York State's unemployment tax. There have been more than 30 years of annual guidelines (covering legislation and regulation affecting children's camps); two Economic Impact Studies (to stress to legislators the importance of the children's camp industry in New York State); and regular education seminars at camp conferences. …and all of this just scratches the surface.

Fifty years is quite an achievement, yet there is no time to rest on our backpacks (uh, laurels). As we take time to remember the many active NYSCDA members who have donated their time and energies through the years to make the children's camp industry in New York State stronger, we also look forward to the many challenges still to come.