A couple of summers ago, we sat across a table at the White House walking administration staff through the math on a federal rule they were about to enforce.

They came in with their labor hats on. By the time we got to the middle numbers, those hats came off.

Nobody had meant for the rule to do what it was about to do to camps. It was an unintended consequence in the making, and it was about to affect hundreds of camps.

A Rule To Break Camps

The new rule was written for defense contractors and other large federal contractors. Reasonable intent: pay real wages on federal contracts.

But read the wrong way, it (accidentally) applied to 100s of camps operating on federal land. Lots of nonprofits serving low-income kids and kids with special needs. Camps with outfitter guide permits going back decades. Camps that ran multiday trips through national parks and on federal lands.

The practical result would have been simple: camps gone for 1000s of American kids who needed them most. Other camps making the only choice they could — to cancel their wilderness trips due to unsustainable staffing costs at the very moment the federal government was trying to increase the number of kids visiting national parks.

ACA had seen this coming. We formally commented on the proposed rule, warning about the interpretation. But as sometimes happens in DC, the comment was ignored.

How It Got Fixed

ACA went to the White House, requested a meeting, got one, and brought the numbers and the stories of camps and kids that would be devastated by this rule.

The staff came in ready to defend the rule. They left understanding it was not what they had meant to do.

The off-ramp we proposed was the simplest one available: don’t enforce it against camps while working on a longer-term solution. From there we were routed to a senior policy official who happened to be a camp parent, and things moved quickly.

They decided to delay enforcing this rule against camps for the summer. Camps that had been about to close their gates on federal land or forego sending kids on wilderness trips to national parks were able to do what they always had done. Kids in nature. Nothing better.

Why We’re Inside

This is not the first time an unintended consequence has landed on camp. It won’t be the last.

When J-1 shut down at the start of COVID, camps got squeezed.

When federal contracting rules shift, camps get squeezed.

It happens whenever the federal government moves without knowing what it does to a niche sector like ours.

Camp has not had a natural constituency in Washington. Nobody at the White House wakes up thinking about what a new federal rule might do to summer camp.

That job belongs to us.

That is why we built the caucus. It exists for the moments a rule takes a bad turn between the intent and the enforcement. It exists so that when a rule is being written, someone in the room is thinking about what happens to a camp operating on federal land, a camp trying to host exchange visitors from around the world, or a nonprofit serving kids with special needs.

Most of this work is invisible. Its biggest wins are the crises that never happen.

The Camp Caucus sits outside partisan politics. Every administration writes rules. Every administration has lawyers interpreting them. Every administration has moments where the intent and the impact don’t match. Camp needs someone in the room every time.

The rooms we earn now and the relationships we tend now are for the moments no one can predict. That is why we keep building. That is what the caucus is for.

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.