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Heart Center continues Camp Cawley operations under two‑year contract; served 265 campers in 2024
Summary
Parks staff updated the board on Camp Cawley operations with the Heart Center as operator under a two‑year initial contract (with three one‑year options). Staff and the Heart Center reported 265 participants served in 2024, secured scholarship funds, and plans to expand weeks and counselor training in 2025.
The Parks Department and Heart Center on Thursday updated the Parks Board on programming and operations at Camp Cawley, the city‑owned 30‑acre overnight camp north of Phoenix that the department last year contracted to the Heart and Education and Recreation Therapy Foundation (the Heart Center).
Deputy Director Jared Rogers said the city purchased the 30‑acre site in 2001 for just over $1 million and that city staff and a series of operators have run the camp since the early 2000s. “Our current camp operator is the Heart Center. Their contract is a two‑year initial period… We have options to extend for three years,” Rogers said.
Chelsea Harden, founder and executive director of the Heart Center, described the organization as a recreational‑therapy program and year‑round micro high school serving students with neurodiversities that uses equine‑assisted activities. Harden said the Heart Center handles programming, staffing and transportation for youth camps and follows American Camp Association guidance as a member organization.
Harden said scholarship rates for 2025 are set between about $100 and $275 per camper; she contrasted those rates with the typical cost of overnight camps without scholarships. The Heart Center reported serving 265 camp participants in 2024 and securing more than $25,000 in scholarship funds that season; it has secured about $20,000 in scholarship funding so far for 2025 and has a $15,000 contribution from a private donor named Red Panda for the coming summer.
Rogers and Harden described capacity and staffing: the Heart Center prefers 40–50 campers per week for program quality, can expand above 60, and expects youth program totals in 2025 (including partner group visits) in the roughly 400–450 range if current trends hold. Rogers noted Camp Cawley operates largely off‑grid with a solar array and a backup generator and described routine maintenance work and wildfire‑mitigation activities the department performs to keep the site operational.
Board members asked about accreditation and certifications. Harden said the Heart Center is an American Camp Association member and is pursuing options to become accredited; equine staff hold certifications from professional therapeutic horsemanship and certified horsemanship associations. Board members also requested a donor list and follow‑up reports to the board; Harden and staff said they would provide these.
