Access to Adventure for People with Disabilities

I heard someone refer to August as the 'Sunday of the Summer' and that's definitely what it feels like. We're starting to wind down our summer kyaking programs and get ready for the fall ahead - but what a year has it been!

So how have we been doing? Waypoint made it through the last two years of the pandemic without having to furlough or let go any staff members. In fact, it was quite the opposite; we brought on three new part time program staff, and two full time program staff members. We also created a team of 10 Per Diem program staff from our volunteer community allowing us to increase the number of people served. As a result, in 2021 we ran the greatest number of programs and served the largest number of people in the organization’s 12-year history, and the demand for programming now far surpasses capacity. To quantify that, in 2021 we ran 269 programs, serving 1,606 participants (for reference, in 2020 we ran 148 programs and served 549 participants).

Moving to this year, demand has not slowed down. Waypoint offers programs in two formats: ‘open enrollment’ for individuals from the general public, and ‘custom’ for groups from schools, group homes or social service agencies. This summer when we opened our ‘open enrollment’ summer kayaking program on June 17^th, 2022, two days later we already had a wait list, and we had 240 seats in boats to offer. Participants for these open enrollment programs are only charged a $20 registration fee, though the actual cost to Waypoint is closer to $150 - $200 per participant and is subsidized by our foundations, sponsors, and individual donors.

Not only has demand not slowed down, but requests for financial aid to participate in our programs have doubled since the pandemic – and they aren’t subsiding. Waypoint Adventure’s clients are primarily low- and moderate-income families, with 60% receiving financial aid to attend Waypoint Programs (again, subsidized by Waypoint donors and foundations). No one is ever turned away, regardless of what they can pay.

Waypoint Adventure effectively removes the physical barriers to adventure – but a financial barrier still exists. Participants on programs are asked to pay ~20% of what it costs to run a Waypoint adventure, as we strongly believe that someone with a disability should not have to pay more than someone without a disability experiencing the same activity. This is Waypoint policy, even though the equipment costs and preparation/program customization time needed for our participants are significantly higher. This increase has forced us to lean more heavily on our foundations and donors to help subsidize the additional cost – and so far, – we are on track to hit our 2022 budgeted income and expense targets.

The pandemic affected us all. When many places shut down or went virtual, Waypoint remained open. Now that we’re two years into the pandemic, it is clear that there are lasting changes. The demand for programming and financial aid is not slowing down. To help meet demand, Waypoint is looking for program support to help us increase the number of ‘open enrollment’ programs that we run.