By: Barbara Archer, City of Davis
Building on the success of last year’s “Inclusive Parks, Inclusive Hearts: United Communities Through Recreation!” series, the Davis Parks and Community Services (PCS) Department and Yolo County Housing partnered once again this year to bring recreational summer programming to the children at the Davis Migrant Center with “Campamento Alegre” or “Happy Camp” with five-days of educational and fun activities.
The Davis Migrant Center, operated by Yolo County Housing, is home to approximately 55 children for nearly seven months out of the year. A number of these children have come every year since birth and have not participated in the City’s recreational programming.
In August, Parks and Community Services staff provided five days of activities that included: soccer, line dancing, art, painting, origami, a career day, fun with food that included smores making, a charcuterie class and an ice cream celebration. The burden of cost, transportation and enrollment were eliminated by hosting the activities on site and in Spanish.
Staffing and programming for this series was provided by and paid for by the City of Davis (American Rescue Plan funds) allocated by the City Council, in addition to multiple donations from the local faith-based community.
Last year, the City partnered with Yolo County Housing to provide a three-day, onsite soccer program with over 25 children participants. The program ended with a special visit from a snow cone food truck and a pizza party.
“Last season’s three-day, onsite soccer program brought so much fun to the kids who live at our Davis center,” said Yolo County Housing Executive Director Ian Evans. “As soon as it was over, Director Machado and I immediately began brainstorming how we could build on the success of this innovative program for the following year. We have so many wonderful partners that support our families at the center, I’m thankful to my staff who care deeply about our residents, and we’re incredibly grateful to the City of Davis team for being creative and expanding the activities this year.”
“We are proud and grateful for the opportunity to have brought forward another, expanded round of recreational programming to our local Migrant Center this summer,” said City of Davis Parks and Community Services Director Deanne Machado. “Since recreation is relational at its core, it was fulfilling to reconnect with all of the children at the Center and to continue the important work of resiliency-building through play in addition to being dependable community partners.”
“This is a great program that helps children have a good summer and to recharge their energy for the start the school year,” said Maria Pena, Yolo Count Housing Specialist. “It is very difficult for children at the migrant center to participate in fun activities other than the activities provided by the childcare since the center is located a long distance from the City of Davis, and in most families, both parents work, so they cannot be taken to do activities outside the center. This program brings the activities to the children.”
The PCS Department has made a number of changes to improve access to programming, including access to scholarship funds, enrollment and information sharing between the City and underserved populations. The department plans to release a larger report on those details this fall.
