Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program

PBHA's Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program, or CYEP, began in 1982 through the joint efforts of Harvard students and parents from Roosevelt Towers, a public housing development in East Cambridge. The program was an expansion of a student-run summer program that had operated out of Roosevelt Towers since 1964. CYEP quickly grew to include children from the nearby Washington Elms and Newtowne Court housing developments. Later, a site at Jefferson Park in North Cambridge was added to meet growing demand. Today, CYEP serves 160 low-income children at three sites across Cambridge for seven weeks each summer. Like all of our Summer Urban Program camps, CYEP engages campers in mornings of academic enrichment, afternoons of educational field trips, and artistic, cultural, and service-learning workshops throughout the week, along with two overnight camping trips and a day-long final trip. CYEP works to prevent summer learning loss, providing an academic foundation from which students may actively and enthusiastically follow their own curiosity. CYEP hopes to inspire creativity and ambition within each and every camper; foster cooperation between campers, staff, and the community; and forge strong ties between youth, parents, and community members.