Safety Town camp empowers kids with vital life skills

I have two children. One of them attended Evanston Safety Town, and the other missed it, due to the pandemic. One son knows his parents’ phone numbers very well, and the other one … is still working on it. Which one do you think is which?

Safety Town, for those who have missed the distinctive seasonal signs with the signature red firetruck, is a short summer camp where little kids learn how to navigate life with better knowledge of things like traffic rules, first aid, stranger danger, physical health and fire and poison prevention. One of Safety Town’s primary appeals is the actual town; kids stroll and ride bikes around a miniature city painted on concrete, following traffic rules and maneuvering around little stage set buildings.

But one of the unsung qualities of Safety Town is how it raises generations of kids to not only care for themselves but for each other. Each Safety Town session is staffed by teen volunteers, many of whom are also alumni of the camp. One such teen/former camper is Jacob Potter, a rising senior at Evanston Township High School who’s working at Safety Town this summer and has fond memories of attending camp.

“You learned about phone numbers, who to call and who’s safe and not, but it also incorporated a fun camp, like going to the park and taking walks,” he said.

Potter decided to return to Safety Town as a leader to get experience in his possible future.

“I really liked the idea of incorporating learning into fun, as all teachers do, because I want to be a teacher or a psychologist maybe,” he said.

Safety Town’s lessons haven’t changed much since Potter was a kid, and from our conversation, it sounds like it hasn’t changed that much even since I was a child in the 1980s (like Potter, I am also a former Safety Town camper/counselor). Kids still enjoy a vintage Disney animated safety series featuring Jiminy Cricket instead of more complex lessons about online safety, but that’s appropriate for children ages 4-7. “We don’t want to introduce them to technology that their parents aren’t okay with,” Potter said.

Evanston Safety Town was founded in 1977 as a standing committee of the District 65 PTA Council, although Safety Town is also a national organization founded in 1937 by Ohio police officer Fred Boals as a traffic safety education program for very young kids. Nursery school teacher Dorothy Chlad expanded and updated the program in 1964 as a comprehensive safety education organization with locations in cities around the country.

“It’s evolved so much, but it’s also not [evolved] at the same time,” said Potter. “It’s cool to see how Safety Town is still a thing. It’s definitely nostalgic for me to watch those kids have fun because I was in their shoes once.”

Emily Guthrie, Evanston Safety Town director, said that teens revisiting Safety Town get a secret refresher on taking care of themselves, too.

“The teens are reminded of safety concerns at a critical age, but because it isn’t directed at them, they are less likely to resist,” she said. “They are in charge of the information for the campers, and that gives them a sense of agency. The teens benefit from the program, too.”

Potter agreed, also noting that he recently got a new job where his employer was impressed by his experience as a Safety Town volunteer. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is such a big thing,’” he said. “I think everyone should have the chance to do it.”

He also emphasized the “once a Safety Town kid, always a Safety Town kid” message that the camp tries to impart on participants.

“I ride my bike everywhere, and I always wear my helmet,” Potter said. “I always ride in the bike lane or in the street, and I always stop at stop signs.”