Children’s Board funding expands summer camp access in Hillsborough County

From nighttime sports camps to art classes, museum visits, and play groups, kids can find plenty of free antidotes to boredom this summer, courtesy of the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County.

“We have multiple programs that we are funding for summer services,’’ says Rebecca Bacon, Executive Director of the Children’s Board, a special taxing district that provides funds to nonprofits serving children and families.

Bacon says the Children’s Board, in partnership with the Hillsborough County Commission, provided enhancement grants to six organizations’ summer programs to fund “additional instruction in science, technology, engineering, math, physical activity or sports, literacy, art, and certainly (offer) that social, emotional connection.”

The Family Enrichment Center, Gentlemen’s Quest of Tampa, Tampa Housing Authority, ReDefiners World Languages, Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association, and Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA received the grants.

The enhancement grants continue the Children’s Board’s efforts to expand access to camps so kids avoid the dreaded summer slide during the break from school and have positive activities to keep them occupied. Last year, the Children’s Board funded more than 400 additional slots at Boys & Girls Club of Greater Tampa Bay camps for kids whose families are not able to afford camp costs. This summer, the Children’s Board is funding approximately 850 slots across five organizations: the YMCA, the Boys & Girls Club, The Skills Center, and two smaller nonprofits, Serving Hands CDC, Inc., and Miss Latina Corp.

Those programs also focus on fitness, literacy, the arts, safety education, and leadership. Bacon says many of them provide meals and field trips to keep the kids engaged. She says The Skills Center “provides teens with a positive outlet in the evening” by offering a sports camp for 9th- to 12th-graders from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on weeknights.

The Children’s Board Family Resource Centers, which Hillsborough County families with children can join for free, also have a lot going on this summer.

“They provide classes, play groups, arts and crafts, family activities, and the location in Plant City has the MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) exhibit, ‘Be the Dinosaur,’” Bacon says. “There really are a lot of activities for families at no cost.”

The Family Resource Centers’ Summer Passport program, which Bacon says fills up early, provides children one week of camp at the Glazer Children’s Museum, the Straz Center, Tampa Theatre, Zoo Tampa, MOSI, the Lightning Foundation, and the Tampa Museum of Art.

“That provides those kids an opportunity for really high-quality summer experiences, for learning, for exploration, hands-on activities, and science, art, and cultural enrichment,’’  Bacon says.

She says the Children’s Board continues to spread the word about the Family Resource Centers.

“They’re very welcoming places for families,’’ she says. “It’s a great connection for the parents as well.’’

Hillsborough County voters created the Children’s Board in a 1988 referendum.  Only 13 of Florida’s 67 counties have a similar funding source and agency.

“We have a dedicated source of revenue through property taxes to fund services for children and families to really make it a better place to raise kids,” Bacon says.

For more information on programs, go to 2026 Family Resource Guide or call the Children’s Board at (813) 229-2884. Hard copies of the Family Resource Guide are also available at the seven Family Resource Centers