10/4/2018
While chasing down ice cream trucks, playing basketball on outside courts, and seeking air conditioning where ever it can be found are common summer pastimes just about anywhere in D.C., there’s another tradition kids in the Jubilee Housing community look forward to each summer: a trip down the Shenandoah river.
In its 26th year, the tradition is a vital part of Jubilee Youth Services’ Activity Zone summer program and includes swimming lessons and practice in paddling on the Potomac. The captain of this enterprise is Dickson Carroll.
“Dickson is an essential part of our community,” said Jim Knight, executive director of Jubilee Housing. “The work he’s undertaken and the amount of effort he’s put into creating a life-shaping opportunity for our young people—and maintaining it over such a long time—speaks to his commitment to the youth of this community.”
Carroll, a native of New Haven, Conn., moved to D.C. for work in 1966. He’s nurtured a love for the outdoors for most of his life. “I enjoyed the outdoors so much, I decided I would start a volunteer activity and give back in some way,” Carroll said.
He brought his idea to Barbara Moore, co-founder of Jubilee Housing and a coordinator for the Church of the Good Shepherd’s youth services ministry. “In those days, we tried to encourage the kids to connect to experiences that would get them out of the city, so Dickson’s idea fit into what we were trying to do,” said Moore.
Carroll organized the first summer swim program in 1992. At the end of the summer, he and Moore paddled down the Shenandoah with six children in three canoes.
“It was a drastic change in scale when Jubilee Youth Services took over the afterschool program in 2008,” Carroll said. “Jubilee saw the program as a valuable service they could offer to resident children, so the group got much bigger after that.” Today’s river expeditions usually include 20 kids, several volunteers, parents, and staff in 10 or more canoes.
As the program has grown, so too have the challenges of sustaining it. Swimming lessons had to be moved to a larger facility and a river outfitter lined up to handle logistics. Carroll also must recruit more volunteers and raise more money for pool fees and canoe rentals. He considers the effort a labor of love.
“The adventure of going into a beautiful natural setting, the spirit of the experience, the thoroughgoing attitude of Jubilee Youth Services staff all make the kids feel valued and create an esprit de corps,” he said.
Jumoke Patterson, a staff member with Activity Zone, said, “I’ve seen many students start the summer with little to no knowledge of how to swim, move forward through the summer, and pass the basic skills test at the end of the program. This accomplishment is very exciting for them, like a badge of honor.”
