2020 © The Harold Robinson Foundation
About the
Harold Robinson Foundation
Our Mission
Our mission at HRF is to improve young lives and create a positive impact across South LA. We invest in students, their families, schools, and communities. We bring youth and parents from Watts and Compton out for a safe, nurturing, and enriching experience at no cost to them, and use that experience to foster positive discourse, provide tools for reflection, and help young men and women set goals to rewrite the future of their schools and communities. To further anchor our presence and impact in the community, we offer a free, six-week summer program directly in Watts. Camp Ubuntu Watts allows us to build on the success of the weekend retreats and provide much-needed enrichment directly where our youth and their families live, specifically during the summer months when crime rates are highest.
About HRF
The Harold Robinson Foundation (HRF) was founded in 2009 with a mission to provide access to nature, creative activities, and social emotional learning experiences for our most under-resourced students and families in South Los Angeles. We recognized the profound impact that sleep away camps have had on youth around the world, specifically those from financially disadvantaged backgrounds, and wanted to make an impact. Our foundation gives these underserved communities an opportunity to travel outside of their community and explore unique places such as the beach or the mountains.
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Children Impacted
Our Influence In The Watts Community
We leverage the camp experience as a vehicle for personal empowerment and social change, helping to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline by providing an environment and programs that utilize proven social-emotional learning fundamentals. We provide a diverse set of recreational programs to give campers powerful lessons in community, character-building, and leadership development.
Impact of Donations
A Journey of Each $1 Donated
Sustainability
Every dollar donated to HRF helps to support our capacity to provide critical supportive programming for our Watts students both in the community and in remote camp environments. Our programs are funded almost entirely through peer-to-peer fundraising efforts, creating a deep bond with our community at large but also creating severe challenges to sustainability during crises like the current pandemic.
Growth
Rooted in our belief that every child deserves to be seen and valued, we are developing plans to increase the number of schools and students for whom we can provide programming, as well as scaling our programs to more cities throughout the country. Within the next 5 years we plan to increase the number of weekend retreats to 15, the number of schools with whom we partner to 30, and the number of students to 3,000.
Our History
Daryl and Nathalie Moss established the Harold Robinson Scholarship Fund in 2003 as a wedding gift for Joyce and Jeff Robinson and their family, bringing them a step closer to fulfilling Jeff’s life-long dream of providing kids from disinvested communities the same opportunities to attend a summer camp that he had as a kid. The private scholarship fund provided kids from South Los Angeles the opportunity to attend 1 & 2-week summer camp sessions at Canyon Creek Summer Camp in the Angeles National Forest. In 2008 Jeff Robinson, Joyce Hyser Robinson, and David Moss expanded the mission of the fund. By April 2009, the Harold Robinson Foundation was incorporated and received full 501(c)(3) status with the help of our founding CFO and first board member, Bill Thorington. Their new mission was to provide more kids access to nature, creative activities, and social-emotional learning experiences.
Black Lives Matter
Racial Injustice Must End
In this moment of confusion, unrest, and uncertainty, we at the Harold Robinson Foundation (HRF) stand staunchly and unapologetically alongside black communities that, for far too long, have been the most oppressed, most overlooked, and most affected by the despicable specter of injustice. Being viewed and treated as a human being at ALL times, no matter the circumstances, no matter the color, no matter the religion, is a natural law under the terms of the social contract that we all MUST uphold if we are to ever live appreciatively and harmoniously amongst one another.
We are disheartened by the recent violent actions generated by members of the various law enforcement entities nationwide. We stand in unity with those who are demanding the long-overdue change of the antiquated policies and laws that jeopardize Black citizens’ fundamental rights. It is time for our nation to address the racial divide impacting our most vulnerable communities.
HRF was formed to help counter social and economic disparities in South LA and build bridges between diverse student groups through the transformative power of camp. We are vested in being a part of the solution. Our work is rooted in the South African philosophy of “Ubuntu,” which means that we rise and fall together as a community.
HRF is an anti-racist organization that teaches critical lessons to the youth of today and especially supports black lives. To the Black community, as the collective of beauty and magic that you have always been and will continue to be, we hear you… we love you… we stand with you… we pledge to NEVER stay silent.
Please feel free to contact Cheryl@haroldrobinsonfoundation.org with any questions.
A 501 (C) (3) CHARITY ORGANIZATION
FEDERAL TAX ID # 26-4807035
Mailing Address:
c/o Edward Charles Foundation
269 S. Beverly Dr., #338
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Our Most Popular Campfire Song
Curious about the funny looking characters all over our site? We're glad you noticed! They happen to be some of the little creatures from Camp Ubuntu's most popular campfire song, "Moose, Alpaca."
Not all campfire songs make much sense, and this one might be the king of nonsense! A 'repeat after me' song, Moose Alpaca, is sung in crazy, frantic unison of moose, alpacas, and unicorns. Throw in some mustaches, ninjas, and pufferfish, and you have yourself one of our all-time favorite camp songs performed at nearly every campfire and every school visit.
