Change Summer

Change Summer offers a two-week overnight camp experience that follows a traditional summer camp program while campers live on a college campus. The program serves students entering grades 4 through 9 from under-resourced communities. Campers build a tight-knit community in a setting that allows for exploration, learning, and fun.

• Ages: 9–15 years old
• Schedule: two-week overnight camp experience

Change Summer partners with leading school organizations and school networks to create high-quality, customized summer opportunities that align with and complement academic year learning for elementary and middle school students. Its university partner facilities host campers on college campuses. Change Summer was founded with the intention of providing the summer camp experience to children in the community who may otherwise not have the opportunity to attend.

Change Summer’s mission is to partner with leading school organizations to provide students from under-resourced communities with a two-week overnight camp experience that increases their confidence, curiosity, independence, and responsibility. The organization states that its ultimate goal is to provide a summer experience that supports campers in developing social and emotional skills to better prepare for high school, college, and beyond.

Change Summer camps are led by diverse, competent, and conscious teams that promote inclusivity and create a safe, fun environment for campers. The leadership team includes Founder and CEO Josh Phillips; President of Strategy and Operations Briana Michele Mitchell; Managing Director Sunita Vazifdar; Head of Advancement and Director of Program Design Destany Arnold; Director of Camp Uncommon and Director of Impact & Innovation Mike Callahan; Director of Camp Canopy Ijeoma Duru; Head of Marketing & Communications TeErra Johnson; Camp Director Ebony Joseph; Director of Operations Paige Moffett; Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Sony Morel-Baker; Director of AF Camp Lauren Pitcairn; and Director of Camp Ironwood Tony Wong.

In 2016, Uncommon Schools launched Camp Uncommon. In 2018, Josh Phillips decided to scale the model to serve other schools and students, launching Change Summer. In 2019, during its first year as a Change Summer camp in the community, Camp Uncommon served 1,000 campers. In 2021, Change Summer launched its second camp, AF Camp, in partnership with Achievement First Schools. In 2022, it launched its third camp, Camp KIPP DC, in partnership with KIPP DC Public Schools, and its fourth camp, Camp Beyond, in collaboration with several charter school partners, serving approximately 2,500 campers. In 2023, Change Summer launched its fifth camp, Camp Canopy, in partnership with several charter school partners, launched S’more Summer as a consulting initiative, and served over 2,500 campers across all camps. In 2023, three of the eligible camps achieved American Camp Association (ACA) Accreditation.

Change Summer reports that campers demonstrate improvements in confidence, curiosity, independence, and responsibility by the end of summer. It also reports that campers have better academic averages and annual attendance rates than a control group of non-campers, as well as higher SAT scores and better college matriculation averages than a control group of non-campers. Change Summer also offers S’more Summer, a consulting initiative to help leaders and teams bring more equity, belonging, and the joy of summer to youth experiences, and provides an option to text SUMMER to 53-555 to donate and support its work.

Last updated March 14, 2026.