CAMPANDO is a program for sustainability leaders from LA County focused on wellness and caretaking. It addresses the problem of leadership burnout by offering the opportunity to recharge – with nature and each other, in the community of those who have spent their lives on the front lines of societal change. It’s an oasis of intergenerational nourishment and reflection.
Campando launched as a prototype in 2017 and was conceived, like everything else we do, in a brainstorming Blitz.
What would it take, we asked, to provide a place of rejuvenation for Southland leaders at the forefront of social and environmental work?
With this ambition in mind, Campando was prototyped and then implemented as a series of weekend retreats at the campus of the Maryknoll Sisters in Monrovia, CA, nestled at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Our goals:
To help social and environmental leaders from LA County deal with burnout and recharge their batteries in an environment that fosters wholeness and caretaking.
To offer the opportunity for emotional and intellectual grounding.
To help thicken the connective tissue among the leaders of the County’s changemaking institutions.
The Campando program is light with a focus on rejuvination. Cellphones are put into a box upon arrival. Friday night typically begins with a meet-and-greet happy hour. Sunday concludes with brunch, perhaps a hike, and a ritual of support for LA County’s environmental and justice leadership.
Campando Maryknoll
We launched Campando in collaboration with the Maryknoll Sisters, who for 100 years have served the needs of the County and locations around the world – including in some of its most dangerous areas.
Their seven-acre Monrovia compound houses a number of sisters in retirement and is home to birds, deer, bear, raccoons, and coyote.
Campando Maryknoll’s impact extended in the prototype period to 28 diverse individuals from 24 social, environmental, and educational institutions.
Watch the Campando Maryknoll Story
Campando 2023
Developed over a prototype period of 2017-18, we are now looking to underwrite what was a highly successful program and regularize it at a new location beginning 2023.