The wonderful program we deliver today has evolved continually since it was conceived by John Alm in 1998. Formerly the CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, John had a vision of helping underserved youth from inner-city neighborhoods of Los Angeles. After many years of sending his own children to summer camp, John Alm began to see the impact it had on their lives. The camp experience was an amazing lesson in life for all that were fortunate enough to attend. Unfortunately, those children who could benefit the most from these programs were unable to afford such an experience.
With this in mind, John began his mission with the idea of providing a camp experience to those who did not have access to such life changing experiences. In order to truly achieve the life impacting experiences that he felt would be necessary to affect students’ future behavior, John Alm and his wife, Carolyn, purchased a ranch in Hyattville, Wyoming, built a camp on the land, and hired a staff to create the Paintrock Canyon Program. In 2000 he brought 36 LA teens to Paintrock for the inaugural summer, where the youth spent one month at camp, far away from their everyday lives in Los Angeles.
After many years of developing this idea, the program grew in scope, not only involving a summer camp, but also creating an educational program that would help children grow into successful young adults. The program would not only offer the wonderful adventure programs teaching the skills necessary for success, but would also offer assistance and support the youth might otherwise never receive.
Extremely proud of the initial success the program was experiencing, John brought his idea to The Coca-Cola system. They were truly inspired by it. With a century-long tradition of supporting youth and an appetite for tackling big challenges, a program like this was a natural fit for Coke. The Camp Coca-Cola Foundation was formed and work began to develop the most comprehensive and effective youth leadership development program possible. Over the next six years we opened programs serving young people in five cities. In 2006 we came full circle and the flagship, Paintrock Canyon Program, officially became part of the Camp Coca-Cola family.
Knowing that the long-term success of a program like this requires local ownership, in 2005-6 we began the process of building a regional board of directors for each program site. Shortly thereafter, we changed our name to the C5 Youth Foundation, reducing the emphasis on the “camp” program within the curriculum as well as Coca-Cola’s role as our founding sponsor, and focusing instead on the characteristics we desire for our youth.
With C5’s development work complete, the role of governance and fundraising has transitioned to the local governing bodies. Each of our program sites, managed by a highly qualified executive director and led by a board of prominent business and civic leaders, is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity. The four independent sites (Los Angeles, Texas, Georgia and New England) work together to maintain program quality and provide mutual support as the Association of C5 Youth Foundations.