SPRINGFIELD, MA — Although this is Isaac Galas’ last year attending the Youth Leadership Academy camp, there is no chance that he’s going away.
“I like the new experiences, the adventure and how we learn new things every day,” he said. “Next year, I’m going to be a CIT.”
That’s a “counselor in training” and a way the 12-year-old student at STEM Middle Academy can keep connected with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office summer camp that he has been attending for the past four years. It also might help him graduate to a summer job as he hits his teen years.
“We learn a lot of life skills, how to do things when we grow up,” Isaac said.
Sheriff Nick Cocchi and his staff started the camp in 2019 for children who have a parent in jail. It has expanded from 35 students in its first year to more than 200 youths now and also includes some children who have other close family members behind bars.
The program comes from the heart, Cocchi said, adding he doesn’t want kids deprived of summer fun because of their parents’ problems.
“I hope here kids will make memories and friendships they will never forget,” he said.
Every summer, jail staff visit all their housing units and ask inmates if they have children who are between 7 and 12 who might want to go to camp. The children hail from all over the region, but the largest number of campers live in Springfield, he said.
As a child, Cocchi’s family scraped along, but they would go on much-anticipated day trips in the summer that he will never forget. He said he wanted these kids to have the same experiences.
For Aaliyah Grimes-Taylor, the field trips are the best part of the camp. This year, her favorite was a day at the Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield, while her friend Eli Ramirez, 11, talked up Lupa Zoo, in Ludlow, as a top choice.
Aaliyah said her mother pushed her to go to the camp to make sure she stays active. While she does go outdoors and plays with friends at home, she doesn’t do it as much as she could.
Eli added, “My parents work over the summer, and they don’t want me to be home alone.”
The two listed playing on the playground and foosball, competing in basketball and simply talking with friends as other favorite activities in camp.
On Tuesday, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Tina Quagliato Sullivan, the city’s deputy director of housing, community services and sustainability, visited the camp to present a $10,000 award from the federal Community Development Block Grant money that the city receives.
The funds are expected to be used mainly for field trips to take students bowling, to the beach and other trips still to be named, said Sal DeMaio, a Sheriff’s Office employee who serves as the camp director.
“These kids didn’t do anything wrong. Why should they suffer?” Sarno said. “We want to show them there are opportunities.”
As parents are going through the jail’s rehabilitation programs, including drug and alcohol addiction treatment and job training, the camp helps the children who are the unintended victims, he said.
The funding is part of Sarno’s long-term efforts to prevent crime by keeping kids busy, out of trouble and providing them with mentors and positive experiences.
“Unhappy kids act out, and that can escalate into potential negative situations,” he said. “They are at risk when they have a parent incarcerated, and families can’t afford a camp like this.”
The free camp operates 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily for six weeks. As kids are aging out of the age 7-to-12 program, the Sheriff’s Office is creating the training program for older teens who want to stay, DeMaio said.
Eventually, he is hoping to be able to hire those students as counselors, which could even translate into working full-time for the Sheriff’s Office after they graduate from high school, DeMaio said.
The camp is paid for with donations and proceeds from Sheriff’s Office events and fundraisers. The city allows it to operate out of the Brightwood Lincoln School at no cost, and children are also provided free breakfast and lunch in conjunction with summer school programs, Cocchi said.
And even if a parent is released from jail, the student can stay in the camp. It’s part of the agency’s All Inclusive Support Services that are available to all former inmates any time they need help to get a job or job training, find counseling or solve an issue, he said.
DeMaio said he doesn’t want to have a “lazy camp,” so this one is focused on having fun and being physically active. They teach kids life skills and do some academic lessons, but in a fun way, DeMaio said.
On one afternoon, there was a magician visiting to do a show, while other children were outside playing soccer and basketball. A public safety day is planned next week, when the agency will bring its horses, and police and firefighters will demonstrate their equipment, he said.
Recently, the counselors cobbled together different equipment they have purchased for the camp to create an obstacle course. Children started by running through a foam pool, followed by a slide through a slime tunnel and passing through a bubble tent. It ended with them washing off in a water slide, DeMaio said.
This year, they also are teaching skills that some kids don’t get at home or school, such as writing in cursive and reading an analog clock. The camp also has a science lab where they have built rockets and done chemistry experiments, he said.
“A lot of these kids are super smart. It blows my mind what they can do,” DeMaio said.
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