What is Big City Mountaineers (BCM)?The mission of Big City Mountaineers is to provide urban teenage youth in need of positive adult mentoring with challenging and safe wilderness experiences led by qualified adult volunteer guides. We combine many of the elements of a mentoring program with an outdoor wilderness expedition designed specifically for under-resourced urban youth. The BCM program is a weeklong trip, the center of which is a five-day wilderness backpacking trip during which 5 teens are matched with 5 adult mentors or a weeklong canoeing experience which matches 4 adults and 4 youth. Where are your trips?BCM uses a hub-based model to deliver our program in different areas of the country. Currently, our largest program areas in terms of volunteers and youth organizations are the San Francisco Bay Area in California, the Denver Metro area in Colorado and the Seattle Metro area in Washington. These locations are our backpacking hubs and have ready access to mountainous Wilderness areas where our trips take place. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota supports our canoeing program with youth and volunteers from Chicago, Madison and Minneapolis.
On occasion, BCM will consider running programming in other areas of the country where there is strong need, enthusiasm and support. Please contact us directly if you would like to learn more about our operating areas. When are your trips?The focus of the BCM experience is a weeklong trip that takes place in the month of July or August. We are also piloting some shorter excursions in a select few locations.
Who goes on bcm trips?The uniqueness of our program is our equal ratio of adults to teens. The youth organization provides either four or five teens and one adult staff member, while BCM provides one Team Leader and two or three additional adult volunteers. Teens chosen for the BCM trip are typically between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. Other aged teens will be addressed on a case by case basis. Adults typically range in age from 21 to 65. Are BCM trips co-ed?No. BCM believes that teens are more likely to open up around adult role models they have something in common with and are less likely to display attitude without the audience of the other gender.
Where do the volunteers & Team leaders come from?The BCM program is designed to send teens and adults from the same area out into the backcountry near where they live. This model allows for the most pre and post trip interaction, and the possibility of an ongoing relationship between the teens and volunteer role models. While our goal is to keep the trips regional, it is not always possible. Some of our trips also involve volunteers flying to different locations to take part in the experience.
What kind of backgrounds do your volunteers have?Our adult volunteers come from every walk of life and are dedicated individuals who have a vested interest in helping urban youth gain a new perspective. Volunteers contribute their time, knowledge, and also pay a fee to participate in our program. Each member of the team is evaluated and assigned to a trip where their particular skills will be best utilized and complimented by the other volunteers.
How are BCM volunteers screened?After completing a comprehensive questionnaire and interview process, all adult Team Members are specifically chosen for their combination of youth and outdoor skills. We also conduct criminal background checks with all of our volunteers.
What types of youth agencies does BCM serve?BCM targets youth organizations that serve low income, urban teens. The specific type of organization (mentoring organization, after school program, residential facility or group home, educational institution, or court ordered placement, etc) is not as important to BCM as many other factors. These factors include profile of the youth served and geographical location, in addition to the youth organization’s; ability to provide an appropriate staff member to attend the trip, follow through and willingness to meet deadlines and ability to monetarily contribute to the cost of the trip.
How are teens selected to go on a trip?The teens are identified by the staff of the participating organization as meeting the criteria of BCM. These criteria are explained in detail in the Youth Organization Agreement, but include the teens being: between the ages of 14 and 18; desirous of attending the trip; deserving of such an opportunity by showing responsibility and respect for themselves and others; financially unable to participate in similar activities on their own; free from health problems that would complicate their participation in rigorous outdoor activities; emotionally, behaviorally and psychologically stable enough not to pose a threat to themselves or others while on the trip.
Why does the youth organization have to send a staff member?BCM has found that having an adult who the teens know, respect and can look to for guidance, particularly in the first couple of days of the trip, is one of the greatest factors in the success of the experience. When the teens come into an unfamiliar situation with adults they don't know, the staff member is able to step in and help open the lines of communication between the entire team. S/he serves as the link between the adult and teen perspectives as well as provides discipline, structure and accountability to those teens who may try to use the trip as an opportunity to act out. Having a staff member on the trip also allows for continued teaching and reinforcement of the lessons learned on the trail once teens return to their communities.
Why send teens on such a trip?A BCM experience combines the innate teaching ability of the natural world, with caring adults to provide a potentially life-changing experience for teens who may not have had access to either ever before. By providing outdoor team mentoring experiences in partnership with existing youth development organizations, our programs positively impact the development of personal, social and community values in the teens we serve. Perhaps more than anything, BCM trips provide teens with opportunities to achieve success by drawing on resources they might never have known they had.
"Natalie" -A Kidz Hope trip 2004: "Life is like these hills. You hit your high point and your low but you look into yourself to draw strength and carry on. If I ever hit another really low point in my life I can draw on my confidence to bring myself up again." Do you have a set Curriculum?Yes. BCM has created a curriculum based on the acronym T.E.A.M. (Trust, Endure, Achieve, Meaning). This curriculum provides a framework for the BCM experience by supporting the natural emotional journey that teens typically go through with games, activities and team building exercises. In the beginning, undertaking a new experience in the company of adult strangers can be intimidating and often sees the teens relying heavily on the one adult they do know (Trust) while beginning to develop relationships with other adult Team Members. The next few days mark the start to the wilderness journey and are generally the most physically and emotionally challenging for the youth. The teens usually discover that the trip is not as easy as they anticipated and it is common for them to consider quitting (Endure). This is where the real value of the BCM experience comes into play. The role of the adults on the trip is to help the teens create a sense of accomplishment that eventually overcomes the doubt and frustration they feel (Achieve). This involves reinforcing the physical and emotional journey of the trip as a metaphor for the challenges and circumstances that these teens will continue to face in their daily lives (Meaning). Are the trips safe?BCM has an exemplary safety record—during our 18 years of operations we have never had a participant suffer a significant injury. With our 1:1 ratio of adults to teens, our trips are designed to afford high levels of supervision. BCM Team Leaders are experienced outdoorspeople who have demonstrated the ability to appropriately manage risks inherent in wilderness activities, and each adult team includes at least one member with current wilderness medicine and CPR certification. 24 hour emergency support is provided to every trip and each adult team is equipped in advance with information about emergency procedures and resources for their particular trip area. Still, because BCM trips take place in remote settings, immediate communication and consultation with BCM administrative and program staff is not always possible. In order to provide for the physical and emotional well-being of trip participants, TEAM Leaders are prepared to make decisions affecting all aspects of their trips including: itinerary and/or route changes, behavior management, transportation, etc. Special care is taken to ensure that every trip participant receives appropriate clothing, equipment, and training to allow them to live and learn safely in the outdoors. How hard will it be?BCM experiences are physically and emotionally challenging for both teens and adults. Each day provides new situations and obstacles ranging from weather to elevation, to being away from everything familiar. BCM activities are designed to challenge pre-conceived limits and provide participants with opportunities to achieve success beyond what they thought they were capable of.
Does this experience cost anything?Yes, it does. Because BCM is dedicated to making this type of experience available to as many youth as possible, we raise over 80% of the funds necessary to cover the costs of our program. We ask each Youth Organization to pay a program fee which covers less than 18% of the direct costs for their adult and teen participants. Full payment of this program fee will significantly increase the likelihood of your organization participating in our program.
BCM realizes that in some instances, our program fees still represent a financial burden to our youth organization partners. Under certain circumstances, BCM is willing to help defray some of these costs through a fee assistance program. Assistance is intended to partially subsidize the cost of participation for your organization, but will NOT entirely eliminate all fees. In order to qualify for fee assistance from BCM, your organization will need to contact BCM directly. What about gear?A complete packing list will be sent to you when your youth organization's participation in a BCM trip is confirmed, but in general BCM will provide each teen and the youth leader with: a new pair of appropriate footwear to keep; all cold and extreme weather gear; backpacking or canoeing equipment, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and tent. We will also provide group gear including: a full kitchen kit containing a stove, fuel, pots, utensils and cleaning supplies; water filters or iodine; and a first aid kit. In addition BCM will provide all meals for trip participants before, during and after the trip.
Each teen and the adult from the youth organization is responsible only for bringing their own personal care items, as well as a basic set of clothing for hiking and travel days.
What about food?In the days immediately before and after the trip, meals will be purchased by BCM at restaurants or cooked at the lodging facility or campground. While in the backcountry, each trip's menu varies according to the tastes of the individuals involved, but generally include a combination of freeze dried food and fresh items provided by BCM. Does Big City Mountaineers have any religious or political affiliations?We often work with faith based youth programs, but do not have specific religious or political affiliations. We encourage all trip participants to adhere to certain behavioral guidelines which are based on the principal of treating others as they would like to be treated, though ask that structured prayers and activities are only incorporated into our trips if all teen and adult participants are open to it. We do our best to honor requests from adults who prefer not to be on trips with religious organizations, but as this is not always possible, we ask for discretion in practicing faith based activities without every participant's consent.
Download Youth Organization FAQ as a PDF
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