WHAT IS LÊN ÐƯỜNG CAMP?

With the rising Vietnamese-American population in the US, there is a growing demand among the young to have an environment where they can get involved, develop their cultural identity awareness and learn about their cultural heritage. To develop such an environment, there is a need to build a strong group of young community activists who are equipped with good leadership skills and great enthusiasm to bring about positive changes for the community.

Although there have been many youth-led community organizations, there has not been an effort to bring them together in a unique opportunity where they can network, share their experiences and the difficulties over years of community involvement, and develop their leadership skills together.

With that in mind, the Vietnamese Culture and Science Association (VCSA) has organized the Youth Leadership Development “Len Duong” Camp. “Len Duong”, which can be interpreted as “Embark on a Journey”, is the official name of this national youth leadership development camp. It has been available to all young community activists from across the nation for the last four years (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002).

During that time, over 1300 students and/or young community activists have sharpened their community skills and realized their potential as future leaders. They return each year more motivated, more equipped for and committed to community involvement. Based on the feedback we have received from campers from across the country in the last four years, and on tracking actual community involvement, the impact of these camps has been one of the biggest success stories in the Vietnamese-American community.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES

The goal of VCSA’s National Youth Leadership development camp is to develop future leaders for Asian-American communities, specially focusing on Vietnamese-Americans.

Objectives
The objectives of the camp are to:

• Increase by 10 percent the number of campers who will be taking active leadership role after the camp (as measured by the number of youths who will become officers of their respective organizations after attending the camp);
• Increase volunteerism by 20 percent (as measured by the number of youths involved in community activities after the camp);
• Build a network where young people can share experiences and ideas;
• Encourage friendship and open possibilities for the future collaboration of Vietnamese-American youth-led organizations across the nation in community projects; and
• Build cultural heritage awareness to bridge the generation gap in the Vietnamese-American community; increase by 15 percent the number of campers who become more committed to learn about their roots and their cultural heritage.

TARGET GROUPS

Vietnamese-American Student Association officers for all U.S. universities, especially Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, College Station, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, and Georgia.
Leaders of other youth-led organizations with a strong interest in community involvement.
Young community leaders already involved in community projects.

MEASURE SUCCESS
To measure our success, we will:

• Request evaluations from campers and post the results on our Web site.
• Count the number of campers who become officers in their local community organizations after the camp.
• Track the number of campers involved with community work and see an increased by 15 percent (i.e. 15 percent of campers after the camp are inspired to become leaders or active members in an organization); gather first-hand accounts.
• Encourage campers to help organize the next camp Len Duong.