CAMP Rehoboth

CAMP Rehoboth — Creating A More Positive Rehoboth — is one of the most effective and widely cited LGBTQ+ community organisations in the United States, founded in 1991 by Steve Elkins and Murray Archibald as a response to the tension between the growing gay community in Rehoboth Beach and the existing year-round population. The organisation's approach — building genuine relationships with the broader community rather than operating in parallel with it — has produced results that are frequently cited as a model for LGBTQ+ community organisations in smaller cities and towns. CAMP Rehoboth operates a community centre at 37 Baltimore Avenue that houses offices, meeting rooms, and the organisation's programming; it produces the Letters from CAMP Rehoboth newsletter, one of the longest-running LGBTQ+ publications in the mid-Atlantic region; it operates health and wellness programming; it coordinates volunteer activities; and it produces the annual Rehoboth Beach Pride festival in September. The organisation's political work has been credited with making Rehoboth Beach one of the most genuinely gay-welcoming municipalities in the Mid-Atlantic. CAMP Rehoboth is not just a service organisation; it is the institutional expression of the Rehoboth gay community's investment in its relationship with the city. The Baltimore Avenue community centre is open to visitors and is worth stopping by for information about the full range of gay Rehoboth resources.