Kids play flag football.

Jenny Gathright / DCist/WAMU

D.C. is moving to a lottery-based system for its summer camp sign-ups, ending a free-for-all that had left many kids without a spot.

The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation announced today that placement in its summer camps will now be determined via a lottery instead of a first-come, first-served process.

“The new lottery will allow the summer camp registration process to be more inclusive and equitable,” a press release from Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office reads. “In recent years, without a lottery system, camp slots were filled within minutes of opening.”

Parents can start registering their kids next week, Monday, March 13. Registration will remain open until April 5, providing more than three weeks for sign-ups. When registration closes, the system will randomly select participants and notify parents on April 18. Payment will be due at that time. If the kid isn’t chosen via the lottery to attend camp, they’ll be placed on a waitlist in case a spot opens up.

For years, D.C. summer camp placement has been determined by which parents could click fast enough on the registration site. Also, it was reliant on a parent being available and having access to the internet in the middle of the day. Demand often exceeded supply, DPR director Delano Hunter added. At Turkey Thicket’s summer camps, for example, 600 applicants competed for about 40 spots.

“It can’t be the Hunger Games,” At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson quipped at a press conference on Thursday announcing the new system. “There has to be a better way to deliver access to families.”

Bowser acknowledged this difficulty, saying that”it won’t be a frantic scramble to sign-up.” 

In order to open more spots, DPR will also shift some of the specialty offerings that take up a lot of space — like dance and culinary arts — into the camps’ core curriculum.

This will add about 5,000 more camp slots, a DPR spokesperson tells DCist/WAMU, bringing the total of camp slots in 2023 to about 15,000.

The city offers six different camp options for kids ages 3 through 16, most of which will be offered through this new lottery-based system.  That includes two week-long sessions for elementary school-aged kids and week-long, more specialized camps for older kids, including eSports camp, journalism camp, and robotics camp.

For the first time, DPR will also offer “sibling preference” that will prioritize allowing siblings to attend the same camp at the same location.

Meanwhile, DPR is expanding the hours of 45 recreation centers over the next two months. Starting March 27, eight centers, including Columbia Heights, Barry Farm, and Kenilworth, will stay open for 15 hours a day on weekdays as opposed to 8. In April, 35 more recreation centers will start to remain open longer as well. That also includes Sunday hours at four aquatic centers, which started in February.

Near the end of the press conference, Bowser was asked about how turning to a lottery-based system for summer camp sign-ups and expanding recreation center hours might help stop crime.

“You always hear me talk about our approach to everyone having a great life in the city includes providing lots of opportunities,” Bowser said. “If [families] have safe, enriching, and affordable options, that improves … and adds to the quality of life.”

This story has been updated to include statistics about how many camp slots will be open this year. 

Filed Under: christina henderson, d.c. department of parks and recreation, dpr, general assignment, summer camp,