DC Backyard Bound Program a Success

SYTA Youth Foundation partners with the American Experience Foundation to invest in youth with an inaugural one-day field trip to experience some of the city's iconic sites and attractions.

With the help from the SYTA Youth Foundation and other partners, Destination DC hosted its inaugural DC Backyard Bound Program, June 13, 2014. Forty students from Kelly Miller Middle School in the Washington, D.C., metro area were selected as the first recipients of the DC Backyard Bound program and granted a one-day field trip to experience some of D.C.'s iconic sites and attractions.

SYTA Youth Foundation partnered with the American Experience Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Destination DC, the official tourism and marketing office for Washington, D.C., Gerber Tours, and several other local businesses to make this field trip possible. The itinerary included tours of the National Mall, Newseum, Ben's Chili Bowl, African American Civil War Museum, and the U.S. Capitol.

Frenchie Davis, program coordinator of Kelly Miller Middle School said, "The SYTA Youth Foundation does an amazing job at broadening the horizons of young D.C. residents. Too many students remain stuck in their residential quadrants, unaware of what the District has to offer in spirit, experience, and exhibitionism. Our students at Kelly Miller were so impressed to see and learn about D.C.'s great history and landmarks. This was such a fun adventure for them—not a dull moment. Thank you SYTA Youth Foundation, for brightening the lens of our students."

The SYTA Youth Foundation (SYF), the philanthropic division of the Student & Youth Travel Association (SYTA), provides access to travel opportunities for young people that would otherwise be unavailable due to family economic hardship, budget cuts in school systems or simply lack of access to or education about travel as a learning experience. The SYTA Youth Foundation is focused on changing young lives through travel.