The City of San Antonio will offer several youth programs and heat mitigation strategies to help residents stay cool during what’s expected to be a hotter summer than usual.
Most students marked their last day of school this week, but San Antonio experienced its first week of triple digit weather mid-May. On average, the city’s temperature doesn’t reach 100 degrees until the end of June.
During a city council session on Wednesday, 10 public facing city departments — including Parks and Recreation, Human Services, San Antonio Police and San Antonio Fire — outlined the kind of activities that would be offered to students on school break and how city officials are preparing for the sweltering heat.
Summer youth programs
The Parks and Recreation Department will offer eight-week summer programs for children ages 6 to 14 across 20 parks and 23 school locations. These programs will focus on developing youth in different areas like math, art, science and different sports.
The department also offers teen camps for ages 13 to 18 from June through August.
“These include youth development, promoting health and safety, being physically and mentally active and passion discovery,” assistant city manager David McCary said. “These are safe and fun spaces for our children.”
New this year, the city will offer a dance camp and a pickleball camp at Berta Alma Guerra Dance Studio and Community Center.
The parks department will also extend its free movie program to the city’s pools and will offer free group swimming lessons. The two-week sessions are offered for residents six months and older.
The department is currently hiring lifeguards and program staff. San Antonio has 24 pools and a natatorium that is open year round.
San Antonio Public Libraries will also take part in the summer fun with reading programs for children and a Teen Lead program for high school aged participants to learn about “music production, book exploration, tech discovery, art creation, video gaming, cooking and a lot more,” McCary said.
The teen library program will be offered at the Central Library downtown with virtual options available.
Under the Department of Human Services, four different agencies — Boys and Girls Club, Girls Inc., Good Samaritan Services and the YWCA — will offer seven different programs, including college, career and military readiness programs, girl empowerment and programs for at risk youth.
Most programs are not free, but city officials said tuition assistance is available and registration fees are offered on a sliding scale.
Both the San Antonio Fire Department and the San Antonio Police Department offer free summer camps for teenagers.
All camp sign ups for SAFD are at capacity. To sign up for an SAPD camp, participants must be between the ages of 14 and 17. SAPD’s high school camps run from June 23 through June 25 and again from June 30 to July 2.
“Our children continue to learn art, math, reading and science throughout the summer,” McCary said. “But please don’t tell them that they’re learning all year round, because that may affect their impression of an amazing summer.”
Heat resources and resilience
The city reported 65 incidents of heat-related illness in May, most occurring during the days when the temperatures reached 100 degrees or more.
To mitigate the hot weather, the city released a new website as a “one-stop shop” for residents to find resources on anything and everything having to do with heat, said Deputy Fire Chief Brian O’Neill.
The website shares tips on how to stay cool, tips on staying hydrated and strategies on how to keep homes resilient to the heat. It also has a map of places to stay cool, including community centers, libraries, pools and splash pads.
O’Neill said that hours would be extended if necessary at cooling locations and people are welcome to bring their pets too.
“We know this is a barrier for people. Pets are like our family and people tend to not want to leave their pets and so they don’t take care of themselves,” O’Neill said.
The city also has six resilience hubs or temporary shelters for residents to escape high temperatures in case of power outages. Four of the hubs have new power generators, and the last two will have new generators installed later this summer.
Resilience hub locations:
- Normoyle Community & Senior Center
- Northeast Senior Center
- Southside Lions Senior Center
- Garza Community Center
- Copernicus Community Center
- Miller’s Pond Community Center
To make community members more comfortable with using the hubs, the city plans on offering a summer learning series from June through September for residents to learn about heat preparedness and resources.
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