“The kids know more about the camp than you do when you first go,” Garcia says.

While all of the programs work with local kids, the Mission Hill Summer Program and Chinatown Adventure, or CHAD, are the only two that house counselors in the community.

“It means that for the time we’re working with children in Mission Hill, we’re not just outsiders coming in, but community residents working in solidarity,” Jenkins writes.

Building community occurs between the SUP camps as well. The directors and counselors plan joint field trips, called Operation Together, for camps in communities that historically have had tension between them, Garcia says.

Coming together is also difficult, at times, for the PBHA summer planners. Making sure that all voices are heard is a central aspect of the SUP program, but allowing everyone to take part in the decision-making process is a challenging and time-consuming endeavor, says Jenkins.

“A core value of community service and social work is that everyone involved is an end in themselves—each person’s positive development, happiness, and well-being is essential to the program. That’s why for SUP it’s really important to take into account the voices of everyone involved,” Jenkins writes.

“Since this process is difficult and time-consuming,” he continues, “it can be hard to put those values into practice...but we do.”

—Staff writer Sara E. Polsky can be reached at polsky@fas.harvard.edu.