Thank you for the positive feedback on our Monthly Members Meeting: Updates from the ACA Illinois Leadership! Members have reported that these monthly touchpoints allow them to hear directly from the Association’s leadership about current initiatives, projects, updates, and news in real-time. We invite you to attend our meeting on May 20, 2021, which will serve as our final meeting of the fiscal year. 

You’ll see that we have added next year’s dates to the current meeting event in our registration system. This means if you are already registered, you won’t need to register again as we’ve already taken care of that for you! If you haven’t registered, click here to do so. 

Next year’s dates can be found here. Mark your calendar so you don’t miss the most current and important updates from your favorite Association!

On March 12, 2021, ACA Illinois hosted our Annual Meeting. After having to cancel our Annual Meeting around this time in 2020, we were excited to be able to get our Membership together to share the service ACA Illinois was able to provide over the last year, highlight some incredible people in the community, and celebrate what is ahead for our Association.


To start the meeting we acknowledged our wish to celebrate the life of Marcy Brower by dedicating this annual meeting to her memory. Marcy was pivotal in creating change within ACA related to desegregation and LGBTQ inclusion; she was also the powerhouse behind the Mid States Camp Conference. Marcy made the world a better place in all that she did and we hope to continue her legacy by continuing to create change through our work in camp. 


Thank you to all who were able to attend; we appreciate your presence! And if you weren’t able to make it, check out the main highlights below:

• In 2020, ACA Illinois served 7,475 camp professionals throughout our various professional development, accreditation and membership programs, resulting in over 14,500 learning hours collectively. We hosted pros from more than 35 states, as well as internationally, including: Belgium, China, Nigeria, Turkey, Spain and more.
• The Standards Committee shared updates on visits for the upcoming year (2021) and shared a thanks to all the volunteers who make the accreditation program possible. The Standards Program has been directly impacted by COVID and the flexibility and resilience of the Accreditation community has been incredible!
• The Membership Committee was excited to share the launch of the Young Professionals Board, which has begun engaging new members and in the beginning stages of leadership structure and development.
• The Government Relations Committee, which was activated in 2020, were able to secure informative meetings with both state leadership and legislators. They distributed an Economic Impact Survey to Illinois camps to capture the impact of the pandemic on camps. The information gathered in the survey formed the basis for our Camp is Essential Campaign that helped share the message of how critical camp is to the economy, Illinois parents and families, and to the larger Illinois community overall.

We were also able to recognize some incredible people with organizational awards who have served ACA Illinois with a generous heart, including: 

• Special Recognition Award, Margy Moore, former Conference Director for the former Pheasant Run Resort.
• Distinguished Service Award, Michael Brandwein, Speaker/Author/Educator/Volunteer.
• Emerging Professional Awards, Shauna Guglielmo, Lincoln Park Zoo Camp; and Stacy Harper, American Camp Association, Illinois.
• Honor Award, Hanna O’Toole, YMCA Barry County Camp Algonquin.

We were also fortunate to be joined by Speaker/Author/Educator/Volunteer extraordinaire, Michael Brandwein, who shared some incredibly thoughtful encouragement during our meeting closing to send us into another year.



As always, check out our upcoming events on our Upcoming Events & Trainings Calendar, or other Event Recaps at our blog In the Loop. Interested in joining the Young Professionals Board? Contact Kim Steiner or Gwyn Emigh for more information.

In February we welcomed Candace Doby as she presented the workshop: “Understanding, Developing and Leveraging Courage to Effect Organizational Change”. During this presentation Candace encouraged participants to confront both social and racial inequity in their organizations through the lens of courage. Over the three workshop sessions Candice gave attention to the very concept and process of courage, including how courage is understood, developed and most importantly, how it can be leveraged.


Walking us through the process of courage mentioned above, Candace created a safe space for us to have open and honest dialogue about race and inclusion. One of the many challenges attendees expressed was the role our positions play in “holding us back”; several mentioned feeling like the positions they held “didn't allow them to make change when it comes to policy and procedures”. However, as Candace discussed, when digging deeper we can discover many ways in which we can advocate for our peers, campers, families and work. Strategies of digging deeper can often make us feel overwhelmed like there’s just too much to do, but if we start small and get specific - such as making a plan with identifying actionable steps - it helps us to narrow our focus and makes progress feel more attainable. One thing that really stuck with me was Candace’s encouragement to us to “shed the fear of getting it wrong”. Because we will get things wrong and we will make mistakes, but we must push past that and face the shortcomings that can help us persist in this work.


We also talked at length about the risks that come with making change and how fear can affect the progress we make. Candace offered insight and illustration of how with risk can come great benefits. She shared the example of the company Nike, and discussed how they took a risk by putting former NFL player Colin Kaepernick into their advertisement in 2018; although there was initial pushback from people due to his 2016 kneeling during the U.S. National Anthem, Nike stood by their choice for the ad. With that risk came the financial benefit of $163 million in earned media income, a $6 billion increase in brand value, and a 31% boost in sales.
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These conversations inspired me to think about how I am able to make change. There are times as a non executive level employee, you don’t have the ability to facilitate the big changes, but as Candace shared with us, the little things can make a big impact. So setting my eyes on establishing more diverse committees is where we can start and focus on what I can do in that space to make change. As a staff member of ACA Illinois we are excited to be able to provide spaces and incredible speakers like Candace Doby to help guide and facilitate these critical and challenging conversations. We are grateful to camp professionals who are committing to do the work to make camp a more inclusive space and equitable space for all our beloved members from all walks of life. And the final takeaway for me? To continue reading, researching, asking questions and engaging in discussions with my staff and peers. To tap into others' experiences and truly listen to them, because that will help us focus our work and encourage others to get on board.


Let’s hear it for all the risk takers!



Continue to check out our calendar of upcoming events and trainings for you and your team at ACA Illinois Events Calendar.

We want to take a moment to welcome new ACA Illinois Members who have joined our community this month. We’re glad you’re here! 

As a new member, we want to encourage you to take advantage of our membership benefits by keeping an eye out for IlliNOISE, our local member e-newsletter, and Camping Magazine published by ACA Inc. We also invite you to like and follow our Facebook page and check out our ACA Illinois Services Portal for updates on events and trainings. We can’t wait to connect with you!

Welcome New Members!

​Sarah Bielecki
Camiya Crittle
Stacey DePluzer
Josie Epstein
Linsey Friedman
Ross Friedman
Crystal Haben
Amanda Hanson
Brian Heider
Perry Hollins
Sophie Marwil

​Culinary Consultants Purchasing Alliance