Free Summer Camp For More Kids? Connecticut Sen. Murphy Pitches $4B Investment

This article was originally published in CT Mirror.

U.S. Sen Chris Murphy visited Camp Courant Friday to announce newly proposed federal legislation that would invest billions of dollars into free summer programs for kids across the country.

The Hartford camp, which bills itself as the largest and oldest free summer day camp in the country, serves hundreds of children each year. It would be among those that could benefit should the Summer for All Act were to become law.

The measure proposes the creation of two grant programs that would be funded by $4 billion of federal money over the course of four years.

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Murphy said that if passed, Connecticut could see about $10 million in funding each year from the legislation.

“The bill will have two different grant programs, one that will go directly to camps and camps can apply directly to the federal government for dollars to help expand the slots that they have for low-income families,” Murphy said. “The second grant would go directly to states … which they could use in any way they saw fit.”

Murphy called the proposed bill “absolutely critical,” especially coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic where schools saw high levels of learning loss , mental health challenges and disruptions to socialization .

“Outside experiences, adventure experiences, summer experiences, where you get to improve and enhance your socialization skills, where you get to have your mind opened to new possibilities, new hobbies, new interests — it’s necessary. It’s life changing and often it’s life saving,” Murphy said. “It’s a tough time to be a kid. It’s a tough time to be a parent. So, we have to make sure that when our kids leave school for the summer, they don’t lose access to learning and socialization.”

Murphy was joined by Gov. Ned Lamont at the news conference, who gathered a group of Camp Courant children and asked if they loved their camp and whether “camps like this should be available to everyone.”

The children erupted in screams and nodded their heads.

“What I love about Senator Murphy is that he takes the very best ideas from Connecticut — what we’ve done on gun safety, what we’re doing in our summer learning camps — and makes sure it’s available across this state and hopefully across this country,” Lamont said.

This story was originally published in CT Mirror .