FAQs

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Q. How do I come work for you?

Every year, Project AVARY looks for dedicated youth workers, teachers, and professional artists to be a part of our seasonal staff.  Summer Camp staff must be at least 21 years old, and have previous experience working with youth.

For more information or to request an application, please contact us.

Q. How do I volunteer my time?

Many people contact our office, interested in volunteering on one of our outings, or events.  While we appreciate the enthusiasm for our program, we ask potential volunteers to be sensitive to the fact that our kids are often let down and disappointed by adults around them. 

For this reason, we heavily screen all staff, and ask that volunteers work with us as we get to know each individual's strengths and skills, before they begin working with children. 

If you are interested in volunteering your time for occasional jobs in our offices, or other support roles, please feel free to contact us.

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Q. How do I donate goods or services?

If you have an item you would like to donate, please call our office to see if we can use it. 

We're always happy to receive arts and craft supplies in good working order, toiletries for the kids at camp, children's and teen books, blank journals, and stationary to write home.

Q. What are Project AVARY's main sources of support?

Project AVARY draws support for its programs and services from several community and family foundations, individuals donations, a small number of corporations, and from the Department of Justice – Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

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Q. How does Project AVARY determine the effectiveness of its services?

With the aid of a consulting firm, we created an evaluation tool that marks children's progress through the program. 

Observations by counselors and self-assessments by children and youth are collected and tracked while a child is in Project AVARY.  This data is enriched periodically with interviews of children and their caregivers.

One of our best sources indicators of AVARY's effectiveness is that more and more children are making a commitment to remain involved with the organization into their teen years.

Q. Are there other programs like this?

We're proud to be on the forefront of programs serving youth with parents in prison.  To the best of our knowledge, when AVARY was founded in 1999, we were the only program in the country specifically serving the needs of children with incarcerated parents. 

In the past decade, a number of other programs have come to serve this population, with several different approaches.  For a list of some of these programs please visit our Resources page. 

We believe our long-term commitment to individual children, as well as our focus on building community and leadership among the youth we serve makes us unique.

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Q. How is Project AVARY expected to change in the near future?

In the few years since AVARY was founded, we've been able to grow the organization to more than 150 kids.

Our biggest challenge is to ensure that the teens who remain involved with AVARY in ever larger numbers are prepared to make a successful transition to young adulthood.