It's the question I hear most in every room I walk into in Washington.

Camp professionals want to know. Legislative aides ask it in the first five minutes. Think tank people ask it over lunch. Lobbyists that I meet are deeply curious.

“What will this caucus actually do?”

Turns out there's a short answer and a longer one. The short version is that the Camp Caucus will educate legislators and their staff about camp and build a group to advocate for the issues that are important to us. The longer answer looks like something much bigger and even more exciting.

For camps, there are very real issues on the table right now:

• J-1 visa programs bringing international exchange visitors to camps every summer need consistent protection.
• A federal background check law passed in 2017 still hasn't been implemented to give camps access to affordable and timely comprehensive checks.
• Tax issues are consistently cropping up that affect camp operations in ways that have never been properly addressed in Washington.

Let’s call those the boots-on-the-ground items. They are practical and incredibly urgent. The caucus gives us more people on the Hill thinking about camp when these conversations and rule changes happen.

But these things are far from the whole picture.

The Bigger Moment

Something bigger is coming in our world, and the timeline is shorter than most people realize.

Namely, artificial intelligence is reshaping the global workforce faster than almost any institution has been able to respond.

Last year, the World Economic Forum put out a report on the future of work, and it was clear about the skills that will matter most:

• Analytical and creative thinking
• Resilience
• Flexibility
• Curiosity
• Lifelong learning
• Leadership
• Social influence

Unfortunately, the institutions responsible for prepping young people for this ever-changing world (think large educational agencies and school systems built for a different era) are not known for their ability to innovate and pivot.

The need to rethink them will be evident in the next three to five years. The conversations are already starting, and being in DC, I’m sitting in some of them.

What Camps Already Do

But look back at that list of future-critical skills.

We already deliver them as a natural byproduct of how camp works.

Three mindsets define what the research says young people need most right now:

• Growth mindset. Believing abilities can be developed through effort and experience.
• Belonging mindset. Believing you are genuinely accepted and valued in your community.
• Mentor mindset. The combination of high expectations and high support, where the target keeps moving and the relationship is dynamic.

Carol Dweck and David Yeager have spent their careers researching and documenting why these mindsets matter and how tough they are to build in our current educational settings.

The reason is straightforward: you cannot teach these things didactically.

A lecture about resilience does not build resilience. A worksheet about belonging does not create belonging. These have to be internalized. Young people have to reach these conclusions about themselves on their own, through experience, through challenge, through genuine relationship.

Camp's immersive model is built for exactly this. And it’s really not entirely by design. It is just what happens when you put young people in a high-expectation, high-support environment for an extended period and let them live it.

The Hack

So here is the honest argument for why the Camp Caucus matters beyond the legislative calendar.

The institutions that need to evolve will take years to change. The urgency is immediate. The skills young people need are not waiting for federal or state departments of education to catch up.

Camp is the hack to a problem that is otherwise unsolvable on a realistic timeline. The infrastructure already exists. The delivery model already works. The outcomes are already happening every summer across 21,000 camps serving 26 million kids.

The only question is whether the people making the biggest decisions about the future of childhood and education know that camp is already part of the answer.

That is what the caucus does. It makes sure camp is in the room when those conversations happen. Not as a footnote. As a model worth paying attention to.

So, what will this caucus actually do?

The short answer and the long answer turn out to be the same.

Camp is ready. The caucus makes sure Washington knows it.

Join the movement. Get updates on the Camp Caucus and learn how you can support camp advocacy in DC.

Scott Brody is ACA’s Government Affairs co-chair and leads the association’s advocacy efforts in Washington, DC. He served as ACA National Board Chair during the COVID-19 crisis, helping guide camps nationwide through safe reopening while securing unprecedented federal support. A camp director for more than 30 years, Scott is Director Emeritus of Camps Kenwood & Evergreen and owner of Everwood Day Camp and Camp Sewataro. He has dedicated his career to advancing the life-changing impact of camp and championing its value on a national stage.