Since the 1980s, the Diakon Wilderness Center—located on 169 mountainous acres near Boiling Springs, Pa.—has been a leader in providing specialized services for children and youth from across Pennsylvania, primarily those adjudicated delinquent or dependent by county juvenile courts or children and youth services.

That success stems from our commitment to create innovative programs, such as the 30-day Wilderness Challenge Program and the Weekend Alternative Program, which consistently graduate young people better prepared to be productive, contributing members of society.

The Foundations program changes lives in a challenging and supportive outdoor environment by engaging youths and their families to achieve accountability, build assets, develop competencies, and learn to invest in the value of positive community life.

About the Foundations Residential Program

Foundations is an innovative 120-day residential program incorporating the features of the successful Wilderness Challenge and Weekend Alternative programs—including experiential learning and a strength-based approach to service—offered as an alternative to boot camps or longer residential programming.

This program’s mission—to change lives within a challenging and supportive outdoor environment by engaging youths and their families to embrace accountability, build strengths, develop new competencies, and invest in the value of positive community life—defines the ways in which we work with youths and incorporate the family involvement so crucial to success.

Our strong emphasis on self-respect and personal accountability helps youths to construct a
foundation for success both in the program and in their communities. This foundation is built on relationships developed with program staff beginning on Day One.

Like the image our name evokes, Foundations provides all the elements necessary for youths to build a solid future based on their positive experiences in the program. Our goal is to help them understand for themselves the Diakon Wilderness Center’s motto: Plus Est en Vos—“You are capable of more than you think.”

To learn more about the Foundations Residential Program, click any of the following links:

• How does Foundations work?
• Program components
• Those we serve
• Referrals