Corps Story: GEM Women in STEM

In August, we are highlighting “Next Steps and Reflections” as Corpsmembers move on to their next adventure. We interviewed Abby Ruby, a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the University of Alabama, who finished her AmeriCorps service term with GEM Environmental in June. Abby shared how her experience with GEM shaped her and prepared her for her next steps.

 

Q: How did you learn about this position with GEM Environmental and what interested you in joining?

Abby: In my senior year of college, I realized I wanted to find a way to combine my passion for STEM with giving back to the community before I got into my engineering career.

First, I looked at teaching through Peace Corps; I got offered a position in Tanzania as a middle and high school physics teacher. That was really cool, but then COVID came, and all Peace Corps assignments were cancelled so I started looking into AmeriCorps. That’s when I found the position as a STEM Education Outreach |Specialist with GEM, which seemed like the absolute perfect opportunity.

I really wanted to find a way to support my community while also using my passion for STEM. I also wanted to gain experience outside of just engineering. It was a great way to gain that professional development and do something that was relevant to engineering and to STEM. It was only a year-long, so it was easy to transition back into engineering.

 

Q: What were you doing before you joined?

Abby: It was my senior year of college; I had already done two engineering internships and I realized I wanted to do something different before going back to engineering and sitting on the computer all day. I was also doing things around my community, like volunteering and working as a camp counselor.

 

Service Term with GEM:

Q: Can you give us a general overview of your responsibilities as the STEM Education Outreach Specialist?

Abby: The position is called STEM Education Outreach Specialist which hits the nail on the head for primary responsibilities: doing outreach to local schools and organizations, providing STEM education. This included teaching lessons or creating curriculums to support teachers.

With COVID and virtual learning, it was huge that we started doing childcare. We would do outdoor educational lessons to provide a safe environment for kids who didn’t have somewhere to engage in school… whether they had extra needs that couldn’t be met at home, or they didn’t have wi-fi or computers, they would come in and we would provide education.

Beyond that, I did a lot of volunteer recruitment, [helped with] fundraising a lot of grant writing. I helped lead a lot of local fundraisers. The other big part was supporting [my] supervisor in meeting facilitation and planning out the future of GEM and trying to create sustainability in our programs.

 

Q: Why is STEM – and particularly STEM Education — important to you?

Abby: Very early in high school I realized that I have a knack for math and science. Not only did I excel in those subjects, I also really enjoyed them – the step-by-step procedure of solving a problem, or doing experiments really spoke to me.

Because of my grades, I was able to get a full ride in college. That STEM background provided so many opportunities and now I’m going into an engineering career. [STEM] provides the safety net of a good income, but beyond that, I see STEM everywhere – I think [it’s beneficial] to learn the logic behind things…it’s a good field to get into because you can apply STEM to anything and use that background to get so far in life.

That’s something that I want to do: inspire other kids with the fact that STEM isn’t just math and science; it’s what you can [do with STEM]. You can do computers or building or stuff like that.

 

Q: Tell us about a highlight of your service. Are there any particularly memorable projects you worked on or people with whom you interacted? Any accomplishments you’re especially proud of?

Abby: I think the biggest highlight – it was mostly the whole first half of my term – was supporting the COVID childcare program run through the Prescott Community Nature Center. I had experience as a camp counselor and a tutor but not really teaching a whole class, leading a whole lesson, or building curriculums.

This was a great way to develop my communication skills. I feel like I didn’t get those communication skills from my previous internships. [This helped me learn] how to communicate with people of diverse backgrounds and kids. If you can communicate a complex STEM subject to a kid, you can communicate that to anybody.

Being able to diversify my communication skills was a highlight of my term with AmeriCorps and being able to learn from people of different backgrounds is so incredibly helpful to me. Being able to learn how to run a non-profit from other organizations that I worked with, and how to be an effective educator from the teachers that I worked with. I know one specific person taught me almost everything that I knew about educating and environmental education and that was Ellen Bashor who works at the Community Nature Center and is also a Professor at Prescott College. She would do education workshops and I learned a lot from that, but also, I learned a lot from watching people. Seeing what styles, they use to work with kids and then adapting that to my own style was just so helpful.

 

Q: What was your favorite aspect of this program? What were some of the challenges?

Abby: My favorite aspect would probably be the flexibility that I had to come up with my own projects. It was a great way to create leadership on my own. At first it was kind of difficult. It was like, “Where do I start? I’m in this brand-new position that I don’t have much background in and I don’t have many connections in the community,” but, as I went on, this turned out to be a huge benefit. It helped so much with learning how to make connections, recruit people, get people on board with ideas.

Another highlight was learning how to talk to people from different backgrounds because I’m used to just working with engineers who talk in engineering terms. Being able to work with teachers, with non-profit leaders, college students, volunteers – that was awesome. The other side of that, which was a challenge at first, was figuring out how to deal with that, how to stylize it, how to alter my style of communication.

Another challenge I had early on was not knowing what the expectations are for [the program]. In AmeriCorps I feel like you have your list of responsibilities that don’t really encompass everything that you are supposed to be doing that year…so I think [I had to realize] what I could do is more than what was outlined.

 

Reflection and Looking Ahead:

Q: What do you feel you learned or gained from your service term? What do you think you’ll take away from your service experience?

Abby:  I think that communication styles was huge. I talked about how, before, I had that engineering style of communication. Good communication is such a marketable talent and soft skill to have.

And beyond that, taking initiative and being accountable is something that I learned from AmeriCorps. Especially during COVID you must be responsible. Also, leadership, I developed a lot [of leadership skills], which is a unique opportunity straight out of college, to facilitate meetings and recruit people and lead groups of people for different projects and programs.

 

Q: Tell us about the next step on your career journey –– we hear you’re taking a position as an engineer?

Abby: I’m going to be working for a company called GEON Performance Solutions up in the Midwest. It’s called the G-force Technical Rotation Program. It’s a three-year program where every year I go to a different branch of engineering or engineering-adjacent field, which is what I’m excited about because I have that strong technical background, but then also, through AmeriCorps, I learned how much I love to meet groups of people, how much I love planning projects and creating programing. I’ll do two engineering rotations and then do a rotation in project management, which is kind of like managing people and meeting project deadlines so it will be a great way to combine my passion for STEM with my communication and leadership talents that I really want to mold.

 

Q: How do you plan to use your AmeriCorps Education Award(s)?

Abby: I will be using the [AmeriCorps Education Award] to pay back my loans. Even though I had a full ride to college, I had to take out loans to pay for housing.

 

Q: What advice would you give to other young people interested in AmeriCorps?

Abby: I would say to not be afraid. To just jump in and take ownership of your program right away. But to do that, just constantly ask questions and make connections with as many people as you can. The more people you can talk to, and the more perspectives you can get, the more you can see where the need really is. I know that we wouldn’t have developed the COVID childcare program if we hadn’t recognized that need in the community and kind of altered our organization’s focus from older kids to K-6 where the need was.

I would also say to constantly do professional development. I started applying to jobs in October and every single interview that I did, I got better and better at showing how to market the skills that I was learning from AmeriCorps. The webinars that I watched about how to do interviews and how to move on from my AmeriCorps service helped infinitely.

 

Q: What advice would you give to other young women interested in STEM?

Abby: I think it’s difficult for a lot of women because they are constantly not being heard by their supervisors and by their professors. I would say just make sure that your voice is heard. Learn how to communicate in a firm way, but also stand true to who you are. Don’t try to tone down your personality to fit in with the men, but be firm in your beliefs, firm in your personality. Something that I was always told by my supervisors, whether they be men or women, was that as a woman in STEM you must know twice as much as everyone around you, so just never stop learning, never stop growing professionally, use the disadvantages you might face to your advantage, see yourself as the underdog that is going to succeed and be the most successful person out there.

 

Corps Story: Conserving Water and Energy in Larimer County

For the month of July, The Corps Network is highlighting Corps across the country working to conserve water and energy. In Colorado, the Larimer County Conservation Corps (LCCC), engages AmeriCorps members in installing water and energy saving solutions in homes.

Founded in 2009, the LCCC’s Water and Energy Program is a full-time, winter/spring service program for people ages 18-25. The program partners with Fort Collins Utilities and Loveland Water and Power, two utility and energy providers in Larimer County. The Corps has been working with them to achieve Fort Collin’s climate goal of being carbon neutral by 2035. AmeriCorps members serve directly in the community, assisting lower income homes by assessing their efficiency and retrofitting them with more sustainable solutions that are friendlier for the environment and the homeowners’ bills.

 

 

Home Efficiency Assessments:

There are eight AmeriCorps members on the LCCC Water and Energy crew. Every day, the crew splits into four teams; each two-person team has a daily goal to complete three home assessments. Each assessment takes about two hours.

The service is free and involves a tour of the client’s home, an assessment of the energy being used and purchased, and an evaluation of how the cost and energy usage can be decreased through more sustainable solutions. The AmeriCorps members offer everything from LED lightbulbs to high efficiency toilets. They also offer safety items, such as smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

 

Education:

Whether or not clients choose to have sustainable products installed, a major component of the Water and Energy program is education and awareness.

“We are not trying to tell people how to live, we are trying to educate them and encourage them to save as much as possible,” said Tayler DeBrosse, LCCC Program Coordinator and an alum of the LCCC.

AmeriCorps members provide homeowners general education, from explaining kilowatts to how to read their energy bills. They also share information on local rebate programs and other regional conservation efforts.

AmeriCorps members undergo a thorough home science training; when clients have specific questions about say, moisture problems caused by insulation, they can better inform and meet the needs of the clients. Additionally, AmeriCorps’ emphasis on education ensures that AmeriCorps members have many opportunities to learn throughout their tenure with the Corps. Experiential learning at the Corps includes tours of the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins to hear about their sustainability goals, and going to the Rawhide Power Plant to see how the county’s energy is produced. This not only helps AmeriCorps members have a better understanding of sustainability but also helps integrate them into the community and helps them relate to customers.

Among themselves, AmeriCorps members bolster one another’s education by sharing their own unique educational backgrounds and areas of expertise with morning presentations on everything from watersheds to forest health.

 

Home Assessment Clients:

To find clients for the program, DeBrosse notes that word of mouth is the biggest way they get people to sign up. The only qualification is that clients receive their utilities from one of the Corps’ partners, though their priority is clients from lower income communities. To reach potential clients, the Water and Energy Program presents at Fort Collins Utilities Income Qualified Assistance Program meetings, and over social media. They have also done radio ads and reached out to landlords to spread their program to tenants.

 

COVID-19:

COVID-19 posed a problem to the in-home assessments at the start but didn’t stop the sustainability mission. When the 2020/21 season rolled around, the Water and Energy Program created a back-up plan of virtual assessments that could be done without in-person interaction. Virtual assessments take place on Zoom and work much like an in-person assessment. AmeriCorps members ask the homeowner general questions, gather data, and assess their needs. From there, depending on the homeowners wants, the AmeriCorps members could build a kit of lightbulbs, low flow shower heads, faucet aerators, etc. and drop them off at the homeowner’s doorstep.

 

Impact on AmeriCorps Members:

AmeriCorps members come to LCCC’s Water and Energy Program from across the country. Unlike many other Corps programs, which are typically more nature based, the Water and Energy Program offers a different approach to implement sustainability into the community. DeBrosse says:

“I think this program offers a really unique skillset…it helps form the bigger picture of how these natural resources relate into how we directly use them in our homes and in our communities.”

The program attracts many young people interested in pursuing a career in conservation, and the Corps makes sure to help them on their journey by giving them opportunities to network, shadow professionals, and participate in professional development workshops.

Since 2011, the LCCC’s Water and Energy Program has assessed 5,919 homes. They plan to continue expanding their program to reach more homes and potentially even commercial buildings in the future.
 
 
 

Corps Story: Watershed Restoration Work in Arizona with GEM Corps

Arizona is one of the driest states in the country. Water is precious here. This makes the watershed improvement projects completed by GEM Environmental Corps all the more important.

Based in Prescott, AZ, the GEM Corps team was introduced to watershed restoration work in the spring of 2021 when they participated in the annual Granite Creek cleanup hosted by Prescott Creeks, a local nonprofit. The GEM Corps AmeriCorps members contributed to pulling upwards of three tons of waste from Granite Creek and surrounding lands. Since then, GEM Corps has partnered with Prescott Creeks on subsequent projects at Watson Woods Riparian Preserve, a critical habitat area managed by Prescott Creeks.

 

 

The team has focused on removing invasive species from the preserve, including common teasel, vinca, and Siberian elm. According to Jake Morris, an AmeriCorps member and the GEM Corps Crew Leader, Siberian elm is of particular concern.

“Back in the Dust Bowl era, they planted it to retain the soil because it does really well in droughts. Because of that, however, it’s spread rapidly throughout the Southwest and it’s out-competing local vegetation…It’s destroying habitat that the local wildlife is used to,” said Jake.

AmeriCorps member Steph Garcia-Hernandez expanded on the need for this work.

“This work is important because the more we learn about riparian ecosystems and all the factors necessary to have a healthy riparian area, the better equipped we are with this information to advocate for these areas and educate others.”

 

 

Along with fellow GEM Corps AmeriCorps members Steph and Tenzin Choeden, Jake has helped lead the removal of many undesirable trees from the preserve. This can be a challenge for a small crew.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh we’ll be able to cut down tons of trees! It’ll be great!’ – but one tree is a project in itself,” said Jake.

In addition to their work with Prescott Creeks, GEM Corps also does watershed restoration projects in partnership with Yavapai County Public Works. Among other efforts, this work involves removing Siberian elms and helping create a more diverse, native plant population within Prescott’s green infrastructure.

 

 

“The green infrastructure includes vegetated areas within an urban environment. These spaces are really important not just in the urban environment, but outside it, too; there’s a lot of runoff that comes from the urban environment. These spaces are a barrier between what’s being produced by the urban environment and the local ecosystem,” said Jake.

The GEM Corps team has visited healthy green infrastructure sites to collect seed samples from numerous plants, including cattail, vine mesquite, and Apache plume. They then spread the seeds throughout more barren spots. While the ground is extremely dry now (the region is experiencing a multi-year drought), the team tries to envision where water will flow when the rain comes in the late summer and early fall.

“It’s really cathartic spreading seeds,” said Jake. “You’re digging and putting your hands in the soil and putting these seeds in the soil and covering them up. That’s really nice.”

In addition, the team has worked with the county to create one rock dams in channels to help slow waterflow, control erosion and flooding, and promote sedimentation.

These projects have an important effect downstream. Watson Lake, a manmade reservoir in Prescott, has experienced spikes in nutrient levels and E. Coli due to runoff. Granite Creek also leads to the critical Verde River, one of the few still existing perennial waterways in Arizona. The AmeriCorps members’ service is rewarding, but it’s not without its challenges.

“We were in New Mexico, and we saw tons of Siberian elms – and not only Siberian elms growing like weeds out of the cement. They had been intentionally planted in court squares,” said Jake. “We’re trying to eradicate them in one space, but then they’re being used as ornamental pieces in other spaces. That’s a thing to struggle with.”

AmeriCorps member Steph Garcia-Hernandez expressed the same frustration.

“I enjoy using the chainsaw to remove Siberian elms, but it is also challenging work because this species seems to be out of control and out of our reach no matter our efforts to remove it.”

Through their service terms, the GEM Corps participants have undergone chainsaw training and they each earned a watershed management certificate. They have also learned a lot about teamwork.

“Some of the skills I have used throughout this experience are problem-solving, interpersonal skills, attention to detail, and time management,” said AmeriCorps member Tenzin Choeden. “I learned the importance of building professional relationships with different organizations that we work with and staying connected for future collaborations…[I have enjoyed] working with different organizations and getting in-depth exposure to different management roles.”

Looking to the future, the GEM Corps team is helping lead a fuel mitigation and wildfire prevention discussion for children in collaboration with the Yavapai Apache Nation and Prescott Creeks. They also hope to get involved in water quality testing and potentially more intensive green infrastructure planning and construction. As Tenzin said, all of this work is part of a bigger picture.

“We need more young leaders to work with different environmental organizations throughout the country to achieve equal access to outdoor recreation for everyone, regardless of race, sex, gender, and socio-economic background.”

 

Corps Story: Celebrating 20 Years of Service, Utah Conservation Corps Reflects On Its Journey

By Sydni Dobson
It’s been 20 years since Utah Conservation Corps (UCC) created its program under Utah State University. In honor of their 20 year anniversary, we spoke with UCC Director Sean Damitz to reflect on the history of the Corps and their future plans.

 

Could you tell us about the history of the Utah Conservation Corps (UCC) and what were some of the first projects that you all completed?

Sean: I was an AmeriCorps VISTA member serving at the Utah State University Val R. Christensen Service Center over 20 years ago and got with a bunch of folks that wanted to see a statewide Conservation Corps program, and I thought that it might be a fun idea if we got one started here in Utah. We’ve got a lot of young folks that really want to be involved in managing natural resources and we’ve got a lot of public land managers that have a lot of projects and increasing visitation.

That’s kind of a snippet of how we got started. We got some good support from Conservation Corps, making sure we didn’t reinvent the wheel and we had support from our umbrella organization at The Corps Network, which represents all the Conservation Corps throughout the country.

Since that time, we’ve been doing a lot of projects in terms of trail maintenance, habitat restoration, fuels reduction and other stuff like ADA surveys with Utah’s national forests. Most recently, we’ve been doing a lot more disaster response work as an AmeriCorps program all throughout the country.

The Corps Network actually gave a lot of support to the little working group that I led in the creation of the UCC. They gave us some technical support and sent me on a little road trip for a couple of weeks one summer to go out and visit a couple of Conservation Corps from Montana, Washington, and Oregon. They gave me gas and food money and I got to hang out and see how other people do it. It was a little blueprint of how to get the Conservation Corps off the ground. They were a wonderful service to our Corps.

 

Q: When you first started out, how did you recruit Corpsmembers?

Sean: I think that was in our initial first years of using the Internet to kind of grab folks. That first year we probably got 50 percent of folks who were local or heard of us through friends at Utah State University. Some folks found us by cruising the Internet looking for something interesting to do with their lives for six months to a year and wanted to do AmeriCorps and signed up for our program.

 

Q: Can you talk about the switch you all made from focusing on local to nation-wide recruiting?

Sean: I think we’ve always had a combination of local and national recruiting. With national recruiting, we’re trying to cast a really wide net in terms of trying to get good applicants and letting a diverse audience know that we have good opportunities here in Utah. We have tons of good projects with tons of good land managers. We’re just trying to fill all of our positions, especially in light of the Civilian Climate Corps legislation that’s coming through. We’re looking at our project partners that might have additional funding for us; that will make us see a significant bump in the number of project partners that we recruit well into 2022. We’re trying to be pretty cognizant on getting a diverse pool of applicants into those positions and have that good experience for all of our Corpsmembers.

 

Q: When you initially launched UCC, did you think that the program would be where it is today? Or did you see it forming in another way?

Sean: With the funding from The Corps Network right off the bat, and being able to see these different programs – like Montana Conservation Corps, Northwest Youth Corps and Washington Conservation Corps – they’re still bigger than we are today. It was eye opening to see that, but in the compounds of Utah State University, we wanted to do things a little differently. I think we’ve been given the luxury to do that, since we’ve had the university as a financial sponsor. We didn’t have the huge pressure to grow quickly at the cost of the quality of experience for Corpsmembers.

Thinking back to our 20 years when we did our first project, and I was out there with Corpsmembers, I was just ecstatic that it was actually happening and that we got this program off the ground. I still feel giddy, and I feel like I got away with one here. When I go out and visit members doing projects and think about how 20 years passed, a lot of things have changed with folks in this demographic range. I think a lot has changed for young people and it is different than the late 90s/early 2000s when we started.

I think the reassuring thing for me is that a lot of young folks want to do this and be a part of the Conservation Corps movement. That’s really inspiring to me.

 

Q: We know that UCC does a significant amount of work on public lands that were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Could you talk about some of those projects that you all are still working on and the significance of working on these sites?

Sean: Habitat restoration projects are the big ones that we’re involved in right now. We’re working on whole watersheds and want to cooperate with a number of Conservation Corps on different river watersheds. We’re starting to get into the meat of working on the White River, which is coincidentally now in my back yard and goes into Utah. Those are really good to show off because they demonstrate the collaboration between different land agencies and a number of Corps and nonprofit organizations all getting in to look at the watershed as a whole.

The other thing that has our attention is the fuels reduction piece that we do with the state and federal agencies. It’s super critical. We have this pressing need of trying to manage fire the best way we can in the age of climate change. It is good experience for our Corpsmembers, especially if they’re getting into more land management work.

 

How does UCC continue the legacy of the original CCC program and how are you different?

Sean: When the CCC started, folks were ecstatic that young people were getting in and doing those type of projects, whether that was maintaining trails or doing other types of soil conservation. I think that is really inspiring to have our members make that connection. We’re really trying to broaden that scope of what the CCC did in terms of projects. That’s where I see the Utah Conservation Corps and a lot of Conservation Corps in The Corps Network. We broadcast it to a wide, diverse audience, so that it can keep going in the future.

 

What makes your program unique from all other conservation programs?

Sean: We’ve had a staff who’s willing to try and support different initiatives. In 2005, we helped a student at Utah State University with a bicycle lending program. We’ve also done a lot with nonprofits that deal with environmental education. I think the benefits from my perspective are that it gives those young folks a really eye-opening experience of natural resource management into the national service role. It kind of gets their feet wet.

In my opinion we’re achieving our goal of the mission, which is to develop conservation leaders. It doesn’t matter if our folks are going to be public land managers, a nurse, doctor, lawyer, or schoolteacher or what not. I think at the end of the day, we’re happy with the experience that they have. That’s what I’m looking for, if we’ve done a great job with our program once, they’ve finished their service.

Heading into your third decade of conservation work, are there any unique projects that your Corps has currently in the works?

Sean: We’re trying to look at our carbon footprint as an organization and figuring out not only how to go carbon neutral, but also measure our impact as an organization towards our goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. I think it’s important as a Conservation Corps that we walk the walk and talk the talk in terms of our carbon footprint.

If we don’t recruit diverse audiences and make it a welcoming for people of all backgrounds, I don’t see us as a Corps or as a movement being able to stay relevant to young folks into the future. That’s what we need to do to: stay relevant in the future. In order to give our Corpsmembers good experiences, they have to know that we’re on our toes and doing the right things in terms of the future of this planet as an organization and the future of our organization and our community. We want to make sure that these experiences are open to a wide range of folks from all different backgrounds.

 

How does the UCC project portfolio help improve access to outdoor recreation?

Sean: When I think of access, Utah is such a great state for public lands access. In Utah, most places you can get on your bike and pedal for a few minutes and be in a pretty wild place or semi-wild place. In my opinion, recreational access is an equation of how we mitigate impacts from visitation and how those places can hold up to a lot of visitors and access doesn’t get limited. Land managers have to put certain areas off-limits, or they have to put quotas down because there are way too many people having an impact in an area. I think those are one of the major problems we have as a program, working on land management impact and mitigating the success of our own popularity and campaigns. We see a lot of visitors, which is a good thing because it brings a lot of revenue to the state and these small gateway communities that really benefit from having these visitors. We’re trying to figure out how to play a better partnering role.

 

With funding from the Great American Outdoors Act, what kind of programs does your Corps anticipate to take on the future?

Sean: We haven’t seen too much with Great American Outdoors Act funding. But I’m hoping that it goes back to a lot of what I was talking about in my previous question with mitigating acts of visitation with more popular public land management sites. In my mind, it’s one of the most critical needs that would serve the spirit of that legislation in getting to do projects that are well loved by the American taxpayer. If we can get other Corps to do that and really show the impact of how federal funding is an efficient way to partner with federal land management agencies to get those critical land management projects done, that will be big.

 

What does the next chapter look like for UCC?

Sean: We’re currently in the midst of our five-year strategic plan. I think the last year gave us a different perspective of where we’re going for the next five years. We’re trying to be carbon neutral by 2030. That’s a good goal of ours. If we can get other Corps excited about that and work with The Corps Network to kind of push that, we want all Corps to have the tools to manage their carbon footprint and to publicize that they’re part of this movement to minimize carbon impact and work with land management agencies on that.

The other thing that I think we’re really focusing on is that disaster response piece. Hurricane and flooding seasons aren’t going away. We want to be as nimble and flexible as we can as an organization to give folks the opportunity to serve on those disaster response crews and to serve fellow Americans in that time of need. I think that’s definitely something that we’ve been putting a lot of energy into. We love being part of that multiple Corps/AmeriCorps effort to go out and be ready for hurricane season or when floods get bad. We want to be part of that effort and play a vital role in it.

Overall, as a program we want to make sure that we’re a sound organization. We want to make sure with our mission, that at the end of the day we are giving Corpsmembers a really good experience in terms of developing their conservation skills whether they’re doing those vital fuel reduction projects, habitat restoration, or if they’re out in the middle of the wilderness

 

Corps Story: AmeriCorps Members Teach Outdoor Recreation Skills in Minnesota

For Great Outdoors Month, we’re highlighting stories of how Service and Conservation Corps help expand access to public lands and outdoor recreation opportunities.

 

In 2020 alone, Service and Conservation Corps built or restored over 12,000 miles of trail and improved more than 1,200 community spaces. It is common for Corps to partner with land management agencies to maintain outdoor recreation infrastructure. In the Midwest, Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa not only partners with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR) to maintain parks, but to teach outdoor recreation skills.

Launched by MNDNR over a decade ago, I Can! is an outdoor skills training program for beginners. Through free or low-cost summer workshops hosted at state parks across Minnesota, families have the opportunity to borrow gear and learn the basics of activities like mountain biking, fishing, hiking and archery. Since the launch of the I Can! program, AmeriCorps members from Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa have led I Can Camp! and I Can Paddle! classes.

A central part of the Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa vision is “A world where everyone has equitable access to nature.” This aligns closely with the purpose of the I Can! workshops. When surveys found that state park visitors in Minnesota were primarily white and older, MNDNR launched the I Can! program to address barriers to the outdoors and introduce a broader audience to park activities.

“These surveys asked people what their barriers were. There was a lot of fear of the unknown, not having access to equipment, not knowing where to start, not knowing where to go,” said Nick Cox, Youth Outdoors Program Manager at Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa. “I think there’s a recognition that these spaces are pretty exclusionary in a lot of ways. The I Can Camp! program in particular seems to open up state parks to groups that have not been out there as much. We think that working towards making the outdoors more welcoming, more inclusive, and more accessible is important.”

There are eight AmeriCorps members leading I Can Camp! and I Can Paddle! programs this summer. The members will rotate and work in pairs to lead four concurrent workshops across the state on any given weekend.

In previous summers, the AmeriCorps members have engaged with around 1,000 participants through I Can Camp! and 500 participants through the I Can Paddle! workshops. The camping workshops last for one or two nights, while the paddling workshops are two hours long. The AmeriCorps members will also teach 90-minute “mini workshops” in camping skills.

“Working as a recreation instructor is an incredibly rewarding experience and has allowed me to do what I love most: showing people all that nature has to offer, while working outdoors,” said Sammy Borzick, a current AmeriCorps member with Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa’s Outdoor Recreation Crew. “Teaching camping to first-timers can be challenging at first, but by the end of workshops, I find that most participants feel more safe and comfortable camping and are inspired to go out and explore more Minnesota state parks. A big part of outdoor education is being flexible and open to learning new things from both my co-workers and participants.”

To teach the I Can! workshops, the AmeriCorps members undergo training with both Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa and MNDNR. They learn basic front-country camping skills – like how to set up a tent, start a fire, and cook outdoors – as well as water rescue skills and canoe and kayak strokes. Additionally, members learn how to provide environmental education and naturalist interpretative programming. This summer, the AmeriCorps members will also teach basic backpacking skills, like how to hang a bear bag and practice proper backcountry hygiene.

Perhaps more important than the outdoor skills the AmeriCorps members learn are the risk management and group dynamics lessons they receive. It’s also important that the members bring a passion for educating.

“We’ve had well over 100 AmeriCorps members teach the I Can! workshops at this point. There are some who have outdoor or formal leadership experience, but certainly a lot that don’t,” said Nick. “When we’re recruiting, we’re not filtering out for folks that have that experience. We are more interested in folks that are really interested in teaching and fostering these connections. We’re a firm believer that we can teach them the skills they need in order to teach [the workshops], but that passion to teach or the ability to work with groups is a little bit harder for us to train, so that’s what we’re looking for in candidates.”

Sammy Borzick, a Sustainability Science and Society major at Michigan Technological University, joined the Outdoor Recreation Crew to help spread her passion for the outdoors.

“I was inspired to join this program because it not only teaches camping skills to the public, but also helps grow an appreciation for the outdoors,” said Sammy. “As a recreation instructor I’ve learned to become a better environmental educator, and I hope that through this program, the public will be inspired to become stewards of nature.”

With COVID-19, the I Can! program has undergone changes. No workshops were held in 2020. For 2021, the camping groups are smaller and will be spaced out. The paddling workshops will only happen on lakes to avoid shuttling people to launch points for river paddling. With interest in outdoor activities on the rise during the pandemic, the Corps expects a busy summer for the I Can! program. They are excited to continue providing Minnesota families with welcoming and accessible outdoor experiences.

“There’s a deep-seated desire to protect the environment and not only have camping and paddling opportunities for all of us, but for generations to come,” said Nick. “[By providing] a way to get folks out to have positive experiences outside and build those connections in whatever way they want to make their own connections, there will be more people out enjoying and protecting these spaces.”

 

 

Let’s Talk About the Civilian Climate Corps


Over the past year, there’s been a lot of conversation about reviving the Civilian Conservation Corps: the New Deal Era program that put millions of unemployed young men to work building America’s outdoor infrastructure.

With the economic uncertainty of the pandemic and growing concern about climate change, many have suggested our country needs a “Civilian Climate Corps.” Various organizations have released policy papers; numerous CCC bills have been introduced in Congress; countless opinion pieces have been published; President Biden signed an executive order calling for a new CCC.

On May 25, Corpsmembers from Los Angeles Conservation Corps and San Francisco Conservation Corps joined Danielle Owen, Director of Government Relations at The Corps Network, for a virtual event to chat about what all of this Civilian Climate Corps talk means. The event was the latest installment in “Corps Conversations” – a web series in which California-based Corpsmembers discuss timely topics with experts and officials. “Corps Conversations” is led by the California Association of Local Conservation Corps (CALCC) and Story For All.

Watch the conversation to learn more about CCC proposals and hear ideas from Corpsmembers about how to expand and innovate within the Corps community.

Corps Story: From Weatherization to Trails Projects, The Sustainability Institute Serves Charleston in Different Ways

By Sydni Dobson
During the month of May, we highlighted how Corps provide training and experiences to prepare Corpsmembers for careers. We interviewed with Ashley Lavender, Director of Programs and Darien Parker, Program Coordinator from The Sustainability Institute(SI) to discuss the Corps transition from working mainly on weatherization projects to focusing on trail work in the city of Charleston, SC.

 

What kind of projects did The Sustainability Institute start working with?

Ashley: We started off in a very different form. For over 10 years, the Environmental Conservation Corps’ (ECC) training and service activities focused on weatherization and energy retrofit services in low-wealth communities in the South Carolina Lowcountry as the “Energy Conservation Corps.” The Corpsmembers gained in-demand industry certification while empowering local communities and mitigating anthropogenic climate change. To address some of the challenges associated with the pandemic, our program intentionally pivoted, expanded its offerings, and rebranded to better serve the community and subsequently encapsulate our work.

We were really focused on weatherization and eco-efficiency homes. We wanted to positively contribute to climate change and mitigation efforts, while at the same time empowering individuals in communities. One problem that we face here in South Carolina, like a lot of towns across the state is displacement of historically Black communities due to a host of factors, including an increase in cost of living, new development, and structural barriers to food access. The ECC strives to lower the cost of living by reducing energy leaks in private residences and increases access to fresh and nutritious foods by building and maintaining urban gardens. We also have an issue of high utility bills. These families were unable to pay their bills, largely because of energy leaks and relatively small issues with their homes. Our team came in and assisted with those various projects through AmeriCorps programs. We’ve managed a couple of different programs through AmeriCorps, not only Opportunity Youth Service Initiative (OYSI), but we’ve also had a Veterans Corps as well and we’re hoping in the near distant future that we’ll bring on the Veterans Corps again and hopefully complement our current team. We see the value in the potential mentorship opportunities such a complementary team would provide.

We really focused on the home improvement side of things for many years, working with a whole host of partners in both the city of Charleston, the county, and multiple county governments. We’ve also worked with some very influential local nonprofits that have a presence across the state. We’re really excited for our habitat stewardship efforts to move well beyond the welcome municipalities and to work with the national agency through their different parks program. Now, only about 25% of our time is dedicated to the weatherization and the home improvement side of what we do, and about 75% of what we do now is focused on land conservation efforts and we’re really happy about that. With the increase in COVID-19 vaccine availability, we will resume our participation with in-person community events to encourage residents to apply for our money-saving services.

 

Although your program has made the shift to focus more on land conservation efforts, will you all still continue to do a lot of weatherization projects?

Ashley: Yes! We are one of a few AmeriCorps programs that performs weatherization work, and we are aware the need for this service continues to grow in the communities we serve. We’re in the evaluation phase. We made this programmatic shift at the end of last year. One thing that’s been really exciting is that we have witnessed our Corpsmembers get recruited largely from highly urbanized areas. One of the challenges and also opportunities is helping the Corpsmembers become more comfortable with being outside. This new direction for the ECC exposes Corpsmembers to a diverse array of local and naturally occurring elements, including less familiar plants and animals, and even job opportunities involving their management.

So while we’re doing this work to support public lands and contributing to our communities, we’re at the same time exposing the Corpsmembers to different flora and fauna; which only increases the buy-in from them. Our Corpsmembers are critical in the success of these projects and even more critical in the success for large-scale conservation projects. We want everyone to be equally excited about this work. We strive to provide context as to why this work is important. It’s not just a matter of skill development; they’re actually contributing to something larger than themselves, which can be very powerful.

 

Who applies to be a part of your program?

Ashley: Being that we do work with OYSI programs, we typically recruit and enroll 17 to 24 year-olds. Every once in a while, we’ll have an older Corpsmember join us. We recruit from local neighborhoods, mostly around the North Charleston area. Recently, we recruited someone from Aiken, SC. An important component of our model is teaching skills in our workforce development program while offering Corpsmembers opportunities to become better acquainted with their community and learn how to identify and communicate community needs. Who would know this community better than the residents? By recruiting locally, the ECC provides a conduit for listening to the community and formulating action-oriented steps to address these needs. They are largely communities of color and as of right now, our team primarily comprised of Black males. The ECC Crew Leader is a Black female, who is eager to test her leadership skills and gain skills related to agricultural education, specifically focused on the agricultural contributions of the Gullah/Geechee people. We recruit in a lot of different ways and work with different partners, but we consistently get a lot of males in the door. By expanding and promoting our training and service offerings, we hope to…[increase the gender diversity of the ECC.] We’re really trying to diversify the gender representation of our team, and that’s happening, slowly but surely. We have several women on staff who are really passionate about this as well. Hopefully, we will continue to move in a positive direction this way.

 

How does your program work? How do you decide which Corpsmembers do what projects?

Ashley: We run Monday-Friday with occasional service opportunities on the weekends. Our dedicated staff work closely with the Corpsmembers to help them get the most out of the Program.

We typically engage in a service or training activity as a team. We do emphasize working as a cohesive unit. Currently, we have six Corpsmembers and are actively recruiting more. When possible, additional SI Staff lend a hand in the field to further cultivate camaraderie and increase the team’s capacity. The satisfaction of a job well done is enjoyed by all!

SI Staff routinely seeks feedback from the Corpsmembers about service and training opportunities in part to learn on which activities they are specifically keen. We incorporate their feedback by engaging identified partners and skill sets of interest into our program, whenever possible. If we receive a lot of negative feedback, including the Corpsmember feeling as though their work is not appreciated and/or respected, we work with our service partners to create a revised win-win arrangement.

Because our team is currently on the smaller side,  it’s really difficult to do a lot of break outs. But when it comes to training, we have been able to offer unique training opportunities, depending on the Corpsmember in question and what their individual interests, goals, and needs are.

 

How did you venture into working with Refuge Partnerships and Recreation Trails?

Ashley: Initially, it was in response to safety concerns surrounding performing weatherization work during the pandemic. Some of this work requires the temporary displacement of residents as a safety precaution. Then we thought about the needs of our community and other ways our program could align with AmeriCorps’ mission while safeguarding our team. Let’s venture outdoors, we said! Charleston, SC is a pretty unique place. We have a very strong conservation ethos here. We came to the table with different perspectives, interests, and expertise and took the time to consider the opportunities the landscape offered and identified top priorities. We’re known here for our beautiful landscapes, habitats and wildlife, but there is also the cultural significance to protecting these public lands and special places. The Sustainability Institute’s Leadership Team weighed the options presented by our community partners and zeroed in on who is most at risk of being impacted now and in the future, including the people of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, as they’re an indigenous group with ancestral ties to formerly enslaved persons of West African descent and are recognized as among the United States’ first climate refugees. Our work, including the oyster restoration project we are doing with South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’ SCORE Program, serves the Gullah/Geechee people, as oyster reefs are of great ecological, economic, and cultural importance. Oyster reefs are shoreline-protectors. By building reefs, we are positively contributing to coastal resiliency. The  flooding in our region affects everyone, to varying degrees, with some towns and cities more prone. Highly disruptive flooding events are happening with greater intensity and frequency as a result of anthropogenic climate change. Our work combats both the root cause (through carbon footprint reduction) of human-induced climate change and its downstream effects (flooding).

We thought that by giving the Corpsmembers this opportunity to learn habitat restoration skills, they would learn how they could be a part of the solution and would open up career pathways for them. Throughout the program, we help them connect to different partners who are well-positioned help them evaluate and achieve their goals.

 

How did the transition from working on weatherization projects to habitat stewardship work?

Ashley: Government agencies, non-profit organizations, and businesses were consulted about their needs for skilled labor. We kept our ears to the ground. After months of info-gathering, we created a revised plan to pivot to mostly habitat restoration type work. Our current team was recruited after the SI committed to making the transition. When the Corpsmembers were initially interviewed, they were asked about their comfort level with different types of activities. Even still, we recognize our role in offering a young adult a place on the team also means helping individuals push past their comfort zones, plan ahead, build confidence, learn how to communicate their thoughts and ideas, and enhance their organizational skills. It’s thrilling to witness individual and team growth.

 

What does an average day look like?

Darien: Every day feels a little different. The typical day starts with a body temperature check and hand washing, briefing about the day’s activities and related expectations, a rundown of the list of PPE and specialized equipment required to carry out the work, and packing up for the day. From there, we typically depart by van to the service or training site. Some days are spent entirely in the field. Late afternoon, we return to the SI, debrief, perform housekeeping and miscellaneous tasks, complete timesheets, and the Corpsmembers head out.

This week, they spent time at the Sewee Visitor and Environmental Education Center at the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge near Awendaw, SC. They go there about once a week and usually spend the whole day out there clearing trails, planting native species, removing invasive species, and learning from the Refuge’s long-term volunteers. Other days have been spent harvesting native cordgrass seeds as part of the From Seeds to Shoreline Program with the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. ECC members have fixed bicycles for kids with Second Chance Bikes, built raised garden beds with Lowcountry Veterans and The Green Heart Project to increase food access and promote self-sufficiency and healthy lifestyles, reduced utility bills by weatherizing homes in low-wealth communities, and painted walls to beautify buildings for Habitat for Humanity and Lowcountry Orphan Relief.

On other days, Corpsmembers volunteer at food distribution events, such as the one coordinated and hosted by the North Charleston Community Resource Center, packaging and handing out boxes of food to hundreds of families experiencing food insecurity. Last week, Origin SC facilitated a financial literacy workshop (one of three workshops in a series) that addressed how to save money and budget.  Other training activities focused on employment dossier preparation, including effective resume writing, and how to create a LinkedIn profile.

 

Your organization is currently working on a project with Cape Romain. Could you tell us what your Corpsmembers are doing?

Ashley: Cape Romain is a really unique protected place in that it encompasses over 60,000 acres of land and waterways on the coast of South Carolina, including an array of habitat types which provide refuge to a diversity of plants and animals, including the endangered red wolf and the threatened loggerhead sea turtle. Cape Romain  has one of the largest nesting populations of loggerhead sea turtles, the state reptile of South Carolina, in the southeastern United States. One of the first projects we worked on at Cape Romain was removing invasive species and planting native plants around the Sewee Visitor Center – a large building with indoor classrooms and restrooms, where interactive educational opportunities are offered to the public. Our work at Sewee has afforded Corpsmembers the opportunity to learn more about local flora and fauna and the safe and effective use of tools, such as chainsaws, pole saws, and conventional landscaping tools. We’ve cleared some land and boardwalks, too, to increase trail accessibility. To switch things up, our members enjoy pressure washing the Refuge Headquarters. Although there aren’t many visitors at the Center right now due to COVID, our efforts are helping the Refuge staff and volunteers prepare for their welcome back initiative.

 

You mentioned that Corpsmembers received different certifications, can you elaborate more on the ones that are offered through your program?

Ashley: The one that we completed most recently that was really exciting was recreational trails certification. We actually brought in a world-renowned trainer who had experience working on trails across the globe to come in and provide a week-long training that was technically based, that included soft skills with leadership and development modules. We covered a range of topics that were really focused on how to design, build, and maintain recreational trails, which historically have also presented a lot of social exclusions.

One of the trails that we completed at a county park was an ADA compliant trail to allow access to the archery range. It was really exciting to work with the county park system to achieve that and watch the Corpsmembers go from this pile of rubble to a trail. Having those actual tangible results was exciting to our Corpsmembers.

Other certifications that our members have received:

 

So far, what is your most memorable accomplishment while working on Cape Romain?

Darien: One of the first projects we did at the Sewee Welcome Center focused on landscape management, as there was extensive overgrown brush on the property. The Corpsmembers first learned how to mark trees as a protected/native species to avoid removing, while also identifying invasive plant species to be removed. They were excited to get in some chainsaw practice and ended up removing enough natural debris to fill six pickup trucks!! It was a memorable experience to hear the Corpsmembers share their newly acquired knowledge with each other, including which trees are native, such as the longleaf pine.

 

What is the overall goal with this project?

Ashley: Our main objective is to learn and hone new skills while providing service to the Refuge and connecting interested Corpsmembers with post-service employment opportunities. By demonstrating our skills and commitment, we strive to be given the opportunity to have full ownership over a specific project from design to implementation to assessment at the Refuge. We seek to help the Sewee Center be as welcoming, effective, and accessible as possible. So, whatever we can do to contribute to their mission, including to make the Center as visitor-friendly as possible, is really important.

Many of the trails within these systems, including Cape Romain NWR, aren’t useable right now for a host of reasons, including natural debris obstructions and limited staff and volunteer availability to clear the trails. One of the major goals is to make sure that these buildings, trails, etc. are ready to rock and roll after COVID. We’re getting the site ready and filling in the gaps as they’re identified, focusing on outdoor spaces at the Refuge. Skilled and reliable teams of volunteers are high in demand, as park managers typically contend with small staff sizes. The ECC is up to the challenge!

 

What are your plans after Cape Romain? Do you have other partnerships in the works?

Ashley: Yes – many! We work with multiple partners each week. Some of our partnerships were cultivated by individual team members who already had an existing relationship and in other cases, we strengthened our community ties as a team  We’re really passionate about community connectivity as a key ingredient to sustainable communities. We ask: “How can we leverage our knowledge, skills, and passions to increase community connectivity?” “Who is already working in this space?” “What is the best strategy for offering our assistance?” “How would this work fit the SI’s mission?”

In the future, we hope to expand our efforts in combatting food insecurity with the aid of additional AmeriCorps funding and a Corps specifically dedicated to this issue, as accessing healthy and nutritious food is a widespread challenge facing the SC Lowcountry, including for our current Corpsmembers, and directly relates to community connectivity. One of the projects we’re developing is cultivating a nearby food forest with several other partners. This multiple phase project will expand the capacity of our current Corps and prepare The Sustainability Institute Staff for forthcoming food security-related projects.

 

Is there anything else that you would like us to know about The Sustainability Institute?

Ashley: We seek a full-time Project Manager, preferably someone with experience serving as a site supervisor or in a similar capacity for a comparable AmeriCorps program, and a part-time Director of Development. Follow us on social media for details. We’re on LinkedIn, too!

We embrace a very holistic view of sustainability. One of our core tenets is adaptability. For us, a silver-lining of COVID is it encouraged us to pause and evaluate where we were as an organization and where we wanted to go. We carefully considered the challenges and opportunities the pandemic illuminated and started to devise strategies for increasing our impact in these areas. We’re going to continue to listen, observe, assess, and make the changes necessary to better serve our community and our Corpsmembers.

As vaccine availability continues to expand, we will resume coordinating energy conservation workshops by partnering with neighborhood association presidents and other community leaders in addition to local organizations to reach as many residents as possible. One of our goals with this ongoing effort is to minimize, if not eradicate, barriers to money-saving devices (e.g., programmable thermostats and LED bulbs), including the devices themselves and knowledge on their installation and operation. These community outreach events often lead to an increase in home weatherization requests from local residents, which our team is happy to review. We’re always learning and love what we’re doing. We aim to provide such services until they are no longer needed.

Corpsmember Profile: Starting a Career in Public Lands Management at Community Training Works

When we initially arranged to chat with Johnathan Phillips, he ended up needing to reschedule; he had been called away on a day-long assignment out in the field. There is no such thing as a dull workday for Johnathan, a laborer at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in Wakulla County, FL.

Johnathan started his position at the Refuge in April 2021, but he is not new to the outdoors. A native of Wakulla County, he grew up spending time at the refuge and other nearby public lands. After graduating high school and taking a job installing water meters at local homes, Johnathan followed in his brother’s footsteps in 2018 when he became an AmeriCorps member at Community Training Works – Young American Conservation Corps (CTW-YACC).

“[CTW-YACC] was looking for people to bring on to help with new projects they were working on. My brother did one AmeriCorps term and he told me about it,” said Johnathan. “I was like, ‘that sounds like fun.’ I honestly didn’t plan on doing this kind of work in life, but once I started, I really enjoyed it and now I’m doing it at the refuge and I really, really enjoy it.”

During his time with CTW-YACC, Johnathan primarily served at Apalachicola National Forest. He and his crew assisted the Recreation Division with a range of projects to improve and maintain the visitor experience. Among other activities, this included clearing trails, removing downed or hazardous trees, building picnic tables, maintaining recreation sites, and managing the ATV and OHV trails. After Hurricane Michael in October 2018, Johnathan and fellow CTW-YACC AmeriCorps members played an important role in removing debris, clearing roads, and reopening damaged recreation sites.

Johnathan pictured at left.

Johnathan was promoted to a Crew Leader position after a year with CTW-YACC. In this role he learned to navigate team dynamics and motivate his crew. The daily tasks in the Corps are often physically demanding, but he didn’t mind.

“I’m an outdoorsy guy, so the work wasn’t a challenge for a me,” said Johnathan. “The most rewarding part was being able to be outside in the woods all day. I love that. I’ll never have a sad day – being out there makes me happy.”

Johnathan gained invaluable hands-on experience through his service. He also participated in numerous trainings: he earned his government driver’s license, OHV and ATV certifications, chainsaw certification, and wildfire-related certifications. It was these experiences and credentials that helped him land his current position.

Johnathan pictured at left with fellow CTW-YACC participants.

Johnathan’s role at St. Marks encompasses numerous responsibilities. He maintains visual aspects, including caring for the grass and signs. He participates in wildlife monitoring. He helps keep drinking water safe by traveling to sites throughout the refuge to test water sources and ensure their potability. He recently removed the steps from an old fire tower to prevent visitors from attempting to climb it.

“There’s always something to do,” said Johnathan.

In the future, Johnathan hopes to use his AmeriCorps Education Awards to potentially take a welding class and earn further certifications. He wants to continue working on public lands and perhaps gain experience working for a park in another part of the country. From his experience in the Corps, Johnathan has launched a career outdoors.

To other young adults considering a term in a Corps, Johnathan advises:

“Definitely stick it out and get the AmeriCorps Education Award. Some people get out there and start doing the hard work and decide it’s not for them ­– which is understandable ­– but for others who want to do it, I’d stick it out. Get the Education Award and get as many certifications as you can.”

Storytelling and Corps: A Discussion with National Geographic Explorer Katie Thornton

Katie Thornton is a storyteller. As a Fulbright–National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellow, Katie helped create an educational module about audio storytelling for National Geographic’s Storytelling for Impact program. Launched in October 2020, Storytelling for Impact is an initiative to “bring creative storytelling into the classroom” through a series of free, online courses on different mediums of storytelling, including audio, photography, video and graphics. The program is targeted at educators and learners ages 16 – 25.

For the audio storytelling module, Katie examined the history and legacy of segregation in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the Great Depression. In the story she developed for the class, Katie speaks with a historian, a descendent of a Black CCC enrollee, and with Capri St. Vil, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at The Corps Network. We encourage Corps, Corpsmembers, and our partners to learn more about this free, self-paced educational opportunity.

We chatted with Katie about the basics of audio storytelling, her interest in exploring racial equity in the CCC, and about the power of stories to transport us and change our perspectives. Learn more about Katie at itskatiethornton.com.

Banner Image: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Company 1728. Minnesota Historical Society.

 

1.   Some of our audience might see this conversation and wonder, “how do I become a ‘storyteller’?” Can you talk to us about your journey?

My experience comes from listening to the radio. To me, the first step in telling stories is listening to other people. I was lucky to grow up in Minneapolis, where we have a vibrant radio dial. I could tune to so many different public and commercial stations and hear a variety of experiences and interpretations.

I was drawn to community radio in particular because there are relatively few barriers to entry. It’s affordable and accessible to produce and consume. I was drawn to community radio for its potential to be a hub for very diverse stories.

When I was a teenager, I started volunteering at a community radio station that I later worked at after college here in Minneapolis. Slowly, after hearing people share their stories through community radio and audio, I started to do that myself. Part of why I love podcasting is because it has even less barriers to entry than a medium like radio.

 

 

Civilian Conservation Corps fire fighters, northern Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society. https://bit.ly/3vdTzwI

2.   Talk to us about what interested you in telling a story about the Civilian Conservation Corps. In particular, what interested you in exploring the topic of racial equity in the CCC?

In addition to being passionate about radio, I also love public history. I learned later in life that I love history. I didn’t enjoy it in high school. A lot of mainstream history we learn is narrow. The dominant narratives are one-sided, one-dimensional, white-washed. There is a lot more complexity, joy and pain within histories that are more complete. I grew to love history in college because I could learn about the variety of stories in my own state of Minnesota and beyond.

A number of years back, I was doing public history research and came across a resource of assembled headlines, spanning back into the late 1800s, from many of the Twin Cities’ Black newspapers.

I remember continuing to see headlines about Black CCC enrollees fighting to remain in Minnesota. There were stories about how all-Black CCC companies received vile pushback from white Minnesotans. It struck me because I had been passively aware of the CCC, but I had never heard about this history specifically.

I’ve wanted to cover this story for many years, but, as more people began to advocate for a modern federal Corps program, I thought it was especially important to share this history now. I wanted to look at how there was racism both on the books and off the books that led to this inequity. I wanted to show that a lot of the inequity of the original program was due to de facto racism and white backlash and the government’s willingness to cave to it.

That story was important to me because I had known about the CCC for a long time, but I had never heard that there were many white Minnesotans who protested virulently and were so upset that they pushed an all-Black camp out of our state. If we want to celebrate this program, we also need to be honest about the inequity. We still live with a lot of inequity and white backlash today. Just having racist laws off the books, at least explicitly, doesn’t mean a new CCC program will be extended equitably.

 

 

3.   How did you identify the subjects you interviewed for this project? 

When I start any project, I try to educate myself. I respect that I’m not the expert. When someone is willing to do an interview, I want to be sure I’m not taking their time and asking them to explain things I could’ve learned through what they’ve already made public.

For this story, I came across so many wonderful people I wanted to interview. With an audio story – especially one that’s historically focused – I like to find someone who’s a historical expert. I also love to talk to someone who has a direct personal connection to the story; otherwise, it’s another history that doesn’t have that personal representation. And then I also like to find someone in the present who’s looking to the future. And that’s where you came in, Capri.

I found a bunch of people who had written about CCC history, and specifically about Black and Indigenous enrollees and the institutional racism they faced. I ended up speaking with a Minnesotan historian. She was an oral historian who, decades prior, had the opportunity to speak with many, many enrollees of different races who had been active in Minnesota.

As mentioned, I also wanted to bring that personal story, which allows you to understand how big histories played out in the lives of individuals. I came across Dr. Cheryl Kirk-Duggan. She was researching her father’s time in the CCC and had posted on a history and genealogy blog. This was me deep in the internet scroll. I cold-emailed her and asked if she’d be willing to talk. Very generously, she got back to me. She had gotten her father’s records from the CCC and we were able to go through them over Zoom. It was just amazing – her father was an amazing person.

As an aside, this is how I contact most people I feature in a story. It’s just cold-calls, cold-emails. I am repeatedly surprised by peoples’ willingness to chat. Not everyone says yes, but if you take the time to educate yourself and demonstrate that you’re prepared and you want to be a steward of someone else’s story – I’ve been blown away by peoples’ generosity and willingness to share.

Lastly, I wanted to talk to someone who is working towards the future and can shed light not just on the history, but what the legacy is in the present and how current Corps programs can, and are, pushing back against that legacy. I came across The Corps Network and Capri’s work. To me, it was really important to show that not only did this happen in history, but there are people actively working to make this a more equitable space in the present. Especially as we look to expand Corps programs, we need to learn from those who are already doing the work.

 

 

Mechanics Class. CCC-Indian Division Camp, Red Lake Agency, Minnesota. National Archives. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/76048033

4.   The module provides an overview of how to build an audio story. For those who don’t know, could you briefly talk about the process of creating an audio story? Are there any special techniques you have to use?

To give a broad overview, always start with research and showing up prepared to talk to people.

Once I’ve done the research, I create a rough outline of how I think the story will go. I remind myself that what I think know, filtered through my lens, is going to change once I get into the interviews.

Then I identify people to talk to. At this point, I also identify other sound I can imagine bringing into the story. I can’t use historic images, so how do I set the scene and tell the story in sound? Can I get archival audio? In this piece, I have part of a speech that FDR gave about the Civilian Conservation Corps. There are also natural sounds. If I’m describing a place in Northern Minnesota, can I go there and capture what it sounds like today? (For the audio story created for this project, Katie visited the site of a former CCC camp in Northern Minnesota)

Then I conduct interviews. I prepare questions, but I also ensure I let the conversation flow based on where the interviewee and their expertise wants to bring it. I then transcribe those interviews and revise my outline with what I now know. I usually take the most powerful quotes from the interviews and slot them into the outline where I think they’ll fit. Then I begin to write the story around them. Ultimately, I want to be a guide: I want the voices of the people I interview to be the most prominent.

Then it’s a matter of recording narration and editing audio. You can find free or very cheap audio editing software online.

Then I give it a rest. I listen again. I get feedback and I make revisions. Something I talk about in the class, but that I want to reiterate here, is that there’s so much great work you can do with your phone. That’s a really powerful tool. If you have a smartphone and can even just go under a blanket, you can record decent-quality audio.

If someone is interested in getting a feel for how to put together an audio story, something I’d recommend is to listen really keenly. As you’re going about your day, start thinking, “if I couldn’t use visuals, how would I describe my surroundings right now? How would I bring it to life? Would there be cars going by? Would there be birds chirping? Would there be water boiling on the stove?” As you think of those things, record them into your phone.

Once you start to get a sense of how to bring stories to life with audio, you can do fun little experiments on your own. You can try to paint a landscape using only sound.

 

 

5.   Different generations seem to have different preferences for how they consume media. Many young people might listen to podcasts, but do not personally have experience producing audio content. Can you talk to us about why you believe audio storytelling is a medium that students should consider?

    • What is unique about audio storytelling? Where do you see it going in the future, particularly in relation to other forms of media, like print or video?

With social media we have a lot of practice sharing stories in visual and written formats. We have less experience putting together audio stories. That being said, I think the audio medium is very accessible to produce and consume.

Something about audio is that it can be longform – you can go really in-depth – but it doesn’t require you to sit down and watch a movie for an hour or two. It doesn’t require your full attention. It’s simultaneously very intimate – it’s in your ears, it’s in your living room – but it doesn’t demand all of your focus. What I think is special about audio is that it’s with you; it doesn’t consume you. We’re all busy – I think that’s why podcasting is really growing, both with people listening and producing.

I think people often think people of our generation or younger want things to be short and snappy. I think a lot of young people are longing for longform stories, but they have to be done in a way that’s engaging. Audio can be a simultaneously engaging and freeing medium.

 

 

Civilian Conservation Corps Camp No. 56 in Pennsylvania. From the Records of the U.S. Forest Service. National Archives. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7004946

6.   What would you to say to a young person who feels like they don’t have a story to share? What would you tell them about what makes a compelling story?

I think everybody has a compelling story to share. Nobody has made it through life without something that has challenged them or thrilled them. Those are what make good stories.

I think it’s also important to remember that you’re an expert in your own experience. That’s an important thing to remember when interviewing someone else, too.

I think that sometimes things that happen to us individually might seem mundane because we lived them or are living with them, but not everybody has the same experiences. Somebody else might find your experiences really fascinating. If you are somebody who has a story with degrees of struggle and you can share that, it might reach somebody who is in a similar situation.

One of the first audio stories I published on a radio station was about living with and managing chronic illness and chronic pain. I got a lot of feedback that I didn’t necessarily expect. People shared with me that hearing someone articulate about it publicly was really powerful for them. Don’t underestimate the stories that you have and the power for them to make a difference for someone else.

Also, if you’re not sharing a personal story, maybe there’s a story in history that you learned that changed a lot about what you thought you knew. Like with me, when I learned this inequitable history in the CCC, I thought it was important for other people in my position who had missed that history to know. If you look for more complex historical stories, you can help other people have that learning moment, too. Even if it’s not a personal story about you, maybe it’s an ah-ha moment and you’re able to share that with other people.

 

 

7.   These storytelling modules are targeted at educators and people ages 16 – 25. Why – particularly considering the challenges our society has faced over this past year – do you believe it’s important for our society to hear stories told by our young people?

Speaking from my own opinion, I think young people have always been on the forefront of social change. Storytelling can be a massive tool for change. I think it’s very true that a lot of hatred, violence and bigotry comes from not having a personal connection to people. When you know someone, it’s harder to misunderstand. Sometimes, especially if you’re in a geographically isolated area, you might only know these stories of other people if you hear them through a set of headphones or speakers. Storytelling is a really important tool for increasing understanding.

I also think it’s important to note the difference between being reported on and reporting from a community. There’s power in being able to share your own stories. When youth are able to share their own stories, it will give people a more accurate understanding of why social issues are so important to them, why we need to be out in the streets and fighting for change.

Again, I think there’s this wrong perception that young people aren’t interested in longform stories. It’s just that the tools we’ve been given through social media are short-form. To me, I think social media is evidence that young people are hungry to share their own stories. People are hungry to make clear just how things like institutional racism, or social isolation during a pandemic, hit them and drive their experiences. I think the more media young people can use to share their stories, the better.

 

 

Update from The Corps Network’s Government Relations Team – May 13, 2021

What’s the latest news about Corps from Washington?
Read this update from The Corps Network’s Government Relations Team. By Danielle Owen, Director of Government Relations, and Josh Tuohy, Government Relations Manager.
Navigate to:

 

 

Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad

  • What does it say? – Signed by President Biden on January 27, 2021, this Executive Order focuses on how our country can take action against climate change. Of interest to us is Section 215, which calls for the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, along with the heads of other relevant agencies, to submit a strategy for a Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) Initiative within 90 days of this Executive Order. Section 215 requires that this strategy operate through existing appropriations. As stated in the order, the goal of the Civilian Climate Corps is to “mobilize the next generation of conservation and resilience workers and maximize the creation of accessible training opportunities and good jobs.”
  • What does it mean? – There is little detail in Section 215, but it means the Biden Administration could look at existing partnerships that are funded through existing appropriations. In essence, they could look to build off the current model of public-private partnerships between Service and Conservation Corps and land management agencies.
  • What are the next steps? – The strategy was expected to be submitted to the White House Climate Taskforce by April 27, 2021. As of the writing of this post, we understand that the final strategy has not been submitted to the Taskforce. The Corps Network has been working vigorously with the Biden Administration and the U.S. Congress on developing the CCC Initiative. We are advocating for the CCC to be built off the existing network of Service and Conservation Corps. We expect the strategy to be written at a high level, but we are confident that it has been informed by documents that The Corps Network shared with the Department of Interior and the White House.

 

 

The American Jobs Plan

  • What does it say? – On March 31, 2021, President Biden released his American Jobs Plan. This eight-year plan would invest $2 trillion, largely in repairing and upgrading our nation’s infrastructure. Within this plan, President Biden calls for $10 billion to “put a new, diverse generation of Americans to work conserving our public lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, and advancing environmental justice through a new Civilian Climate Corps, all while placing good-paying union jobs within reach for more Americans.”
  • What does it mean? – The Biden Administration sees a role for a CCC-style effort in our country’s response to climate change and has elevated the idea as a priority worthy of dedicated funding. The January 27 Executive Order called for the creation of a strategy for a CCC Initiative; the American Jobs Plan now calls for funding of a CCC.
  • What are the next steps? – The Corps Network continues its outreach with the Biden Administration and the U.S. Congress to develop legislation and proposals on how to build this new CCC. We will continue to advocate for the existing network of Corps to be used as the basis of the new CCC. In establishing a new CCC, The Corps Network proposes a model in which projects will be completed through public-private partnerships between various agencies and existing and new community-based Corps, many of which receive support from AmeriCorps. Also, existing Corps can provide expertise to assist with establishing new Corps.The Corps Network emphasizes that investments in expanding Corps should be equitable, with a focus on intentionally enrolling and supporting women, young people of color, urban and rural youth, and others from historically disenfranchised communities. The Corps Network also emphasizes the importance of not only investing in projects for Corps to complete, but investing in workforce development and career pathways, such that service in Corps can lead to well-paying jobs.

 

 

President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2022 Discretionary Funding Budget

  • What does it say? – This is essentially the first look at President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget. It is $1.52 trillion in discretionary spending. The President’s full budget is expected in late spring. The Presidential budget informs the U.S. Congress of the President’s priorities; it is normally submitted to Congress before they begin the yearly appropriations process. Of note to us, the CCC is called out in two sections.
      • Partners with Rural America to Grow Rural Economies and Tackle Rural Poverty. The discretionary request includes a number of proposals to invest in rural communities. This includes more than $300 million in new investments in the next generation of agriculture and conservation, including support for private lands conservation, renewable energy grants and loans, and the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps to create a new pathway to good-paying jobs in rural America. The discretionary request also supports $6.5 billion in lending to support additional clean energy, energy storage, and transmission projects in rural communities, including communities of color.
      • Supports Bold, Locally Supported Conservation Actions, including Creation of a Civilian Climate Corps. The discretionary request provides an additional $200 million for science-driven conservation to align management of the nation’s natural resources with our climate, biodiversity, and clean energy needs. This investment would support the Administration’s “30 by 30” goal of conserving 30 percent of land and water by 2030, including through voluntary actions and incentives that support the stewardship efforts of farmers, ranchers and other private landowners. This discretionary request would also support the Civilian Climate Corps to develop the next generation of conservation workers and create a new pathway to good-paying jobs.
  • What does it mean? – The inclusion of the CCC in the President’s budget for discretionary funding is excellent news. Congress will take note of this when they develop their budget for Fiscal Year 2022. The Corps Network met recently with the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee staff and were told that if we could get the CCC in the President’s budget, we would be “75 percent there” in getting actual funding for it in Fiscal Year 2022.
  • What are the next steps? – We need to continue to advocate with Congress on the inclusion of funding for the CCC in the Fiscal Year 2022 budget and try to learn more about how the requested funding will be allocated/dedicated to the CCC.

 

 

21st Century Conservation Corps Act

  • What does it say? – In February 2021, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-OR), reintroduced their CCC legislation. They previously introduced this legislation in 2020 and have reintroduced it with minimal changes. The legislation would provide a significant investment in wildfire prevention and resiliency efforts and $9 billion for the Department of Labor to establish a Civilian Conservation Corps program. These funds would be used by “qualified land and conservation corps” to increase job training and hiring for jobs in the woods, helping restore public lands and watersheds, and provide Corpsmembers the workforce development skills needed to thrive in their careers.
  • What happens next? – The legislation has been receiving media attention and The Corps Network is helping the sponsoring offices respond to questions they are receiving. We will continue to advocate for the inclusion of project work and workforce development in the new CCC.

 

 

Civilian Climate Corps Act of 2021

  • What does it say? – In April 2021, Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), along with Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) and Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), introduced the Civilian Climate Corps Act of 2021. This legislation would essentially authorize the CCC called for in President Biden’s January 27 Executive Order. The Corps Network worked with Senator Coons’ staff on developing the language in the legislation. It is different from the Executive Order in that it calls for the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to work in coordination with the Secretaries of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Energy, Commerce, Labor, and Health and Human Services, as well as the CEO of AmeriCorps, the Director of OMB, the Administrator of the EPA, and the heads of other relevant agencies in establishing the CCC. It requires that a Corps service project carried out under this legislation prioritize efforts to assist disproportionately impacted communities or be carried out in partnership with a “qualified youth service or conservation corps.” There is also a matching funds waiver for funds made available under the legislation.
  • What does it mean? – This would legislatively authorize the Executive Order. The inclusion of the other departments and agencies also signals to the Biden Administration that Congress sees a role for these agencies in the CCC.
  • What happens next? – Again, we continue to advocate. We will continue to tell the Biden Administration and Congress that a new CCC needs to include projects, workforce development and national service. If the goal is to have the young adults of our nation on a pathway to a career that will sustain a family, then all of these aspects are needed.

 

 

Restore Employment in Natural and Environmental Work Conservation Corps (RENEW) Act

  • What does it say? – Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) previously introduced this legislation during the 116th Congress and reintroduced it on April 26, 2021. This legislation would create a new Conservation Corps run though the U.S. Departments of Interior and Agriculture and would authorize more than $55 billion over a five-year period to put 1 million Americans to work to address the backlog of deferred conservation projects.
  • What does it mean? – This legislation is different from the others in that it specifically directs funding to the states. Corps are defined as an eligible agency or organization and are given preference for the funding in a state administered grant program.
  • What happens next? – This is further legislation in which The Corps Network is working with the Senator’s office to make it as good as possible for the existing network of Corps. We will continue to advocate for the Civilian Climate Corps to start with the existing network of Corps and for it to include both project work and workforce development.

 

 

Rep. Neguse Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Civilian Climate Corps Line-Item Request

  • What it is? – The office of Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) submitted a letter to the House Committee on Appropriations Interior Subcommittee asking for the establishment of a line-item funding stream for the Civilian Climate Corps in Fiscal Year 2022.
  • What does it mean? – As discussed above, the Executive Order calls for the Civilian Climate Corps to be funded through existing appropriations and it is also called out in President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2022 discretionary budget. This request for specific funding for the Civilian Climate Corps follows along with the White House’s previous action on the Civilian Climate Corps.
  • What happens next? – We will continue to work with the office of Rep. Neguse on this request and will also begin to seek support for a similar request in the U.S. Senate.

 

 

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Interior Subcommittee Hearings on Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Requests

  • What is it? – Each appropriations cycle, the various Appropriations Subcommittees hold hearings where witnesses from the Executive Branch testify on their budget requests.
  • What happened? – During both the U.S. Forest Services’ hearing with Chief Vicki Christiansen and the Department of Interior’s hearing with Secretary Deb Haaland, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) asked questions around urban community involvement in the Civilian Climate Corps. Both witnesses responded affirmatively that there will be urban community involvement in the Civilian Climate Corps.
  • What happens next? – Rep. Kaptur has a CCC bill she has previously introduced several times. The Corps Network is in discussion with her office on suggested edits to the latest version of this legislation. We expect her to reintroduce the legislation in the coming weeks.

 

 

Banner Photo: Architect of the Capitol