Survival Scouts Summer Camp & Retreat

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Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

The current political moment of worldwide climate crisis and rising fascism is putting a particular strain on queer and trans Black, Indigenous and people of color (QTBIPOC), who face multiple forms of marginalization. Immunocompromised and disabled people are also lacking safe in-person social spaces in an environment that is increasingly hostile toward efforts to protect public health. These factors, alongside the constructed scarcity of late-stage capitalism, increases the social isolation that QTBIPOC face.
At the same time, as people organizing from the margins, QTBIPOC cultural workers and organizers are uniquely poised to bring their experiences to bear in dreaming and creating alternative futures. Individuals who are well-versed in artistic and creative practices – including facilitation work – are well-positioned to heal as individuals, then share the impacts of their learning outward to support the transformation of their communities.

Survival Scouts is an accessible retreat and play-based summer camp designed by and for queer and trans people of color, offered as a free resource for cultural workers and movement organizers as a place for rest, respite, exploration, and experiential learning. During a week-long retreat hosted in a natural environment, participants will have opportunities to build their skills and comfort with outdoors activities, including optional skills-based workshops on wilderness navigation, camping, hiking, building fire, cooking outdoors, first aid, and rock climbing. Participants are also welcome to rest, tend to their own spiritual care, or work on solo or collaborative art projects.
Camp counselors and guides, will be present to support nature-based healing opportunities, including listening circles, solo hikes, and conversations about connecting to ritual and spiritual practices. Grant funding from LA2050 would fully fund the participation of the first full cohort of Survival Scouts, aimed to serve 12 to 15 QTBIPOC engaged in cultural or movement work directed toward collective liberation. Prior to the retreat, participants will be offered two 30-minute coaching sessions to identify goals and values. After the retreat, group and individual coaching will support campers in integrating newly discovered and refined practices into their cultural and organizing work, as well as finding ways to create reciprocity by creating a “capstone” learning offering for their communities.

Freedom Verses supports organizations in identifying shared values, as well as developing strategies, structures, and cultural practices that allow individuals and organizations to operate with integrity and alignment. Again and again, we witness the impacts of conflict and imbalanced power dynamics impacting staff internally, and those impacts spreading outward into our broader communities. Survival Scouts will offer a landing place and ongoing resources to support movement workers in deeping their relationships with themselves, in turn creating greater accountability practices.
In addition, the development of a cohort of artists and leaders will create a community of shared learning and practice, as these leaders continue to experiment and world-build beyond the confines of camp. All programming will be grounded in principles of healing justice, transformative justice, disability justice, and experiential learning, with the goal of seeding our broader movements with these frameworks.

This program grows out of many different experiences led by the two lead guides, through developing youth programming, leading workshops for community members of diverse audiences, transformative justice practices, and outdoor education, among other collective learning environments. Success in those programs was measured through a variety of metrics, including pre- and post-surveys, participatory research, quantitative feedback offered in focus groups, and in-person coaching and assessment dialogues.
For Survival Scouts, success would be measured as a mix of personal goals identified by campers regarding their personal healing and transformation work, as well as their community-facing learning offering. Data will be gathered in a way that supports community autonomy and confidentiality, alongside some anonymized quantitative data. With consent, coaching highlights will also be aggregated and anonymized to support future cohorts and the ongoing learning of guides and facilitators.