Campland on the Bay Free Camping Program

This Campland on the Bay® Free Camping Program is provided in cooperation with the California Coastal Commission and is limited to underserved youth and families. In order to receive free camping, the California individual or organization sponsoring California participants MUST meet one or more of the following requirements:

Underserved youth and families – means individuals or groups that have been historically excluded from accessing the benefits of coastal opportunities and/or disproportionately impacted by environmental burdens and includes low-income households; Black, Indigenous, and people of color; people with disabilities; youth who attend Title 1 schools (and their caregiver/s); and foster and transition age youth.
Low Income individuals and families – “low income” is calculated using standards such as the Area Median Household Income for the county income limits as published by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, the Federal Poverty Level, and housing burden calculations published by the CalEPA Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessment.
Organizations – means a school, nonprofit organization, or government agency that organizes, coordinates, supervises or refers groups or program Participants who are eligible underserved youth and/or families.

Please DO NOT complete the form below if you do not meet the above stated qualifications.

Note: We are taking applications for camping during 2025 only.

A printable version of the form can be downloaded here.

Click here to download a printable form to be completed and emailed to freecampingprogram@campland.com or printed, completed and turned into or mailed to;

Campland on the Bay
Attention: Kendra Walton,
2211 Pacific Beach Drive, San Diego, 92109

Eligibility

The manner in which I/we meet the qualifications of “underserved youth and families” in order to participate in the Free Camping Program is as follows. The definitions of the categories are set forth in Exhibit A, attached.)

Low-income household (as defined below)
Black or African American
Person of color
Disability
Youth attending Title 1 School
Caregiver for the youth attending Title 1 School referenced above
Foster youth (under 18 years old)
Transition Youth (18 – 24 years old)

This program is for California residents only. Proof of residency is required.

Campland on the Bay’s Free Camping Program is provided in cooperation with the California Coastal Commission and any information provided for the program may be shared with the California Coastal Commission.

Exhibit A

Title 1 School: A school that receives funds under the Title 1 federal entitlement program that provides funds to schools in need based on student enrollment, the free and reduced lunch percentage for that school, and other informative data. Any school that is eligible for and accepts funds under any programs authorized by Title 1 of No Child Left Behind is a “Title 1 school”. Anyone can determine if a child’s school is a “Title 1 school” by searching the Public Schools database supplied by the National Center for Education Statistics at Search For Schools and Colleges (ed.gov) (https://nces.ed.gov/globallocator).

Disability: In California, disabilities are broadly defined as conditions that limit a major life activity, including physical and mental disabilities, as well as medical conditions such as cancer or HIV/AIDS.

Transition age youth are usually aged 16 -24 and transitioning out of foster care or juvenile detention facilities, youth who have run away from home or dropped out of school, and youth with disabilities (www.youth.gov).

Low-Income individuals and: The phrase “low income” can be calculated by any of three methods:

using the Area Median Household Income for your county income limits as published by the California Department of Housing and Community Development income-limits-2021.pdf (ca.gov) (https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/income-limits/state-and-federal-income-limits/docs/income-limits-2021.pdf). For example, a family of four living in San Diego, with a household income of less than $97,000, would qualify as low income to participate in the Free Camping Program.

Family Size	60% Income	65% Income	70% income	80% Income
One	$50,940	$55,150	$59,400	$67,900
Two	$58,200	$63,050	$67,900	$77,600
Three	$65,460	$70,900	$76,350	$87,300
Four	$72,720	$78,800	$84,850	$97,000
Five	$78,540	$85,100	$91,650	$104,800
Six	$84,360	$91,400	$98,450	$112,550
Seven	$90,180	$97,700	$105,200	$120,300
Eight	$96,000	$104,000	$112,000	$128,050

using the United States Health and Human Services poverty guidelines for the number of persons in a family/household, which can be found here Poverty Guidelines | ASPE (hhs.gov)( https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines). For example, under the 2022 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, the Poverty Guideline for a family of 5 is $32,470.
using the housing burden analysis to determine if the persons/household in a census tract is both low income (making less than 80% of their county’s median family income) and severely burdened by housing costs (paying greater than 50% of their income for housing costs). This information can be found at Housing Burden | OEHHA (ca.gov)( https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/indicator/housing-burden. For example, census tract 6073015801 in El Cajon has 3,544 people, and 34 percent of people in this census tract are housing burdened low-income households.

using the United States Health and Human Services poverty guidelines for the number of persons in a family/household, which can be found here Poverty Guidelines | ASPE (hhs.gov)( https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines). For example, under the 2022 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, the Poverty Guideline for a family of 5 is $32,470.
using the housing burden analysis to determine if the persons/household in a census tract is both low income (making less than 80% of their county’s median family income) and severely burdened by housing costs (paying greater than 50% of their income for housing costs). This information can be found at Housing Burden | OEHHA (ca.gov)( https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/indicator/housing-burden. For example, census tract 6073015801 in El Cajon has 3,544 people, and 34 percent of people in this census tract are housing burdened low-income households.

free camping Program

Camping Experiences for Underserved Youth and Families

Campland on the Bay Free Camping Program