Committed to the Well-being of Our Bay Area Youth
MeWater Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization run by surfers and mental health professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area. We provide day and overnight surf camps to youth, families, and groups, with a mental health approach to mindfulness, empowerment, and exposure to the ocean and the great outdoors.
MeWater welcomes all, ensuring that everyone feels valued and part of our community.
What We Do
MeWater Foundation works to address adjustments of trauma and stress in young people from backgrounds of poverty and violence by providing a different way of relating to the world and communities they live in, all through the power of nature and the ocean.
MeWater connects vulnerable young people to positive community members and creates opportunities for youth to develop new skills, practice new coping mechanisms, and form positive, reciprocal relationships with trusted peers.
MeWater, a beacon of inclusivity, hosts a variety of programs throughout the Bay Area all year round. These include day and overnight camps for youth, designed with a mental health approach to mindfulness, empowerment, and exposure to the ocean and outdoors. We welcome all, ensuring that everyone feels valued and part of our community.
MeWater Foundation is more than surfing. It is about increasing one's self-reliance and purpose. It is about leveraging people's strengths and reducing social isolation by growing positive connections within the community, with the ocean as a conduit for improving physical and mental well-being.
Who We Serve
MeWater focuses on serving youth who experience trauma and stress due to complex family dynamics and low-income communities' social pressures.
Most youth served by MeWater camps are ages 5-20, African American or Latinx, and come from low-income areas of San Francisco, including Bayview, Hunters Point, and Visitacion Valley.
Most youth attending a MeWater camp have never visited their local beaches. MeWater camps are free, and transportation is coordinated with our local community partners to bring the youth to the camps. MeWater removes the financial, physical, and societal barriers and brings the youth to their local beaches and parks.
A core focus of MeWater Foundation is helping Transition Age Youth (TAY) learn and develop skills that support their move toward independence and well-being into adulthood. TAY youth face significant challenges during an already difficult stage of development- TAY youth are often isolated from both familial and kinship connections, have experienced inconsistency in both living and educational environments, and are at risk for transitioning into adulthood without the necessary skills to obtain consistent work, build consistent community supports, and develop permanent supportive relationships. The negative adaptations to these significant challenges often are increased anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, and puts the TAY youth at increased risk of incarceration and further dependence on the system of care they are trying to transition out of.
MeWater seeks to directly address the challenges by helping TAY develop emotional skills and tools as well as improve confidence that builds and strengthens an individual's agency to navigate the challenges that come with being an adolescent. Mindfulness, stress reduction, resilience building, relationship development, and importantly access to a positive environment that is within reach of youth served are important tools for any young person to learn and develop.
A successful transition for a TAY youth into adulthood requires an intersection where people, place, and opportunity come together and this is exactly where MeWater seeks to intervene with these youth during such an important time of development.