BCM, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, combines 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 back- packing trip during which 5 teens are matched with 5 adult mentors or a weeklong canoeing experience which matches 4 adults and 4 youth. A BCM experience combines the innate teaching ability of the natural world, with caring adults, to provide a potentially life-changing experience for teens that may not otherwise have had access to either. By providing outdoor team mentoring experiences in partnership with existing youth development organizations, our program has been shown to 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.

The core of BCM's program remains an extended wilderness summer trip for at-risk teens. While similar in to other outdoor education programs, BCM conducts its outings in a 5:5 ratio of adult volunteers to teens, a format unique nationally, that transforms our program into an intense and meaningful mentoring experience. Although BCM uses an unconventional setting for its program, our goals are similar to those of traditional youth development agencies. Specifically, the BCM program positively impacts our teen's beliefs with regard to age/ethnic diversity, self-esteem, environmental awareness, and interpersonal relationships. As a result of the exposure and relationships formed with adult volunteer role models, these teens become better equipped to make critical career, educational and healthy lifestyle decisions. Additionally, because the BCM experience is provided within the scope of a larger program (that of the youth agency partner), these agencies also bring important goals to BCM that we seek to reinforce through our program activities.