Chiles shared the story of two boys who met on a backpacking trip many summers ago. Eric showed up to the trip with new hiking boots and his own backpack. His mom had planned out much of his summer; after this week with BOLD & GOLD, he would participate in a climbing program and several other camps. Josiah carried his belongings for the trip in a black trash bag and arrived in worn out sneakers. Josiah’s mom had agoraphobia, which is an anxiety of leaving one’s home, so Chiles planned to stand with him during the opening and closing circles.
Many BOLD & GOLD trips culminate in a closing circle, during which the participants reflect on their trip with parents and guardians. After their week-long adventure, Josiah and Eric’s group shared what they appreciated about one another. Chiles remembers that for both boys, the most meaningful parts of the trip were the conversations they had while hiking or at camp in the evenings. Josiah thanked Eric for the connection they shared, saying that it meant a lot to him; Eric said their conversations made him think differently about the world and gave him different possibilities of what could be.
This connection between Josiah and Eric is not an accident. On every BOLD & GOLD trip, our goal is to enroll young people who represent a range of economic diversity. Our unique pricing structure offers three different tiers that families can choose from, based on what is appropriate for them, in addition to scholarships. “There’s so many barriers already existing to getting young people participating in programs like BOLD & GOLD,” says Chiles. To reduce the burden, no application is required for families to choose the middle or lowest pricing tier.
We aim for each group to consist of roughly a third of participants paying full price, a third with a very substantial subsidy, and third in the middle (the bottom and middle tiers). Because we don’t require financial information to choose between the tiers, there’s sometimes a concern that people would take advantage of the system. “I don’t think they will,” says Chiles, “and I never did.” For some families, the middle price is too high, but they may be able to pay more than the lowest tier. In her former role, Chiles would work with individual families to determine their appropriate payment amount, even if it fell between the levels.
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