West Virginia Courtesy Patrol Celebrates 16 Year Anniversary

Story provided by Citizens Conservation Corps of West Virginia

The West Virginia Courtesy Patrol (WVCP) program, operated by the Citizens Conservation Corps of West Virginia, is celebrating its sixteenth year of providing roadside assistance and services to citizens and tourists across the mountain state.  The friendly fleet of roving white trucks is designed to provide employment, training, and educational opportunities while also enhancing safety, rendering aid and assistance to disabled motorists, and addressing road related incidents or accidents.

The WVCP benefits the traveling public who use the state’s interstate highways and corridors for tourism, as well as local, and interstate commerce. Since the program’s inception on November 21, 1998, the overall statistics are as follows: 71.5 million miles logged; 2.9 million phone calls received; 291,050 vehicles assisted; 17,610 stops for debris removal; 8,455 deer, 178 bears and 3,988 other dead animals removed; 14,000 routine procedural checks; 77,533 abandoned vehicles checked; and administered first-aid 131 times and CPR 9 times.

The Courtesy Patrol program first put the state of West Virginia on the map as a result of the 1998 federal legislation known as “Welfare-to-Work”. The WVCP was recognized for its innovative approach to job creation by the United States Department of Labor and helped the state of West Virginia capture millions of dollars in high performance bonuses and matching funds due to its job placement and retention successes. 

The Courtesy Patrol plays a vital role in the state’s Homeland Security initiatives and AMBER Alert, which is a primary tool used in the search, aid and recovery of an abducted child.  Patrol operators are also trained in freeway incident management, defensive driving, First Aid and CPR.  Hours of operation are 16 hours a day (3 pm to 7 am), 7 days a week. 

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The Corps Network is on AmazonSmile!

 

Did you know that you can support The Corps Network just by shopping on Amazon? 

How does it work? 
AmazonSmile is a program through which Amazon will donate a percentage of your purchases to a charity of your choice. When you select The Corps Network to receive this donation, 0.5% of the cost of your Amazon purchases will automatically be disbursed to TCN.

 
How do I choose The Corps Network to receive this donation?
Next time you go to shop, you can do one of two things:
2. Instead of typing in www.amazon.com, type in smile.amazon.com. This will take you to the same Amazon you know and love, but before you begin shopping there will be a pop-up box asking which charity you’d like to donate to. Simply type in The Corps Network and you’re on your way. 
 
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Mary Ellen’s Blog: National Service and My Brother’s Keeper

This blog post also appeared on the Huffington Post – November 20, 2014

Recently released reports prove what many minority families have known for years: a school-to-prison pipeline exists for children of color. Statistics show that black and Latino young men and boys are, from a very young age, disproportionately affected by harsh suspension policies and zero-tolerance rules. For example, though black children represent 18 percent of American preschool students, they represent 42 percent of preschool students suspended once, and 48 percent of students suspended more than once. These students are more likely to fall behind in school because of a high-quality home theater projector 2019, drop out, and end up involved in the juvenile justice system.

Fortunately, uncovering the data behind this sobering reality has led lawmakers, educators and reformers to take steps to change the school-to-prison pipeline into a cradle-to-college pipeline. Earlier this year, President Obama announced the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative to improve life outcomes for all young people and address the persistent opportunity gap faced by boys and young men of color. Four of this initiative’s goals – to ensure all youth graduate from high school, complete post-secondary education or training, can find and hold employment, and remain safe from violent crime – are addressed by Service and Conservation Corps.

During a typical day in a Corps program, a young person might spend the morning out in his neighborhood participating in a service project that improves the community and simultaneously helps him gain hands-on job experience. In the afternoon, that young person might be in the classroom working toward a high school diploma or GED. Once that Corpsmember earns a diploma or high school equivalency, he can take advantage of the Corps’ partnership with a local community college to pursue a postsecondary degree. The Corpsmember can be sure that, with the guidance of the Corps’ counselors and the study skills he learned from the Corps’ more personalized and engaging classroom experience, he will persist in school and obtain a degree or industry-recognized credential. All throughout his term in the Corps, this young person will have Crewleaders, mentors and positive role models encouraging him and keeping him on track and out of trouble. 

The Corps model combines service and education in a way that not only prepares young people for work, but also connects them with their communities and gives them a sense of purpose. The service projects in which Corps engage their Corpsmembers are designed to encourage teamwork and provide training in useful hard skills and essential soft career skills, but they are also designed to make valuable improvements in the community. When a Corpsmember rebuilds a local playground and makes it safe for neighborhood children, or plants trees to beautify a forgotten lot, or retrofits a home to make it more comfortable and energy-efficient for a low-income family, that Corpsmember feels empowered and has made a difference in his own community. When a Corpsmember completes his term, he walks away from the Corps with an education, a résumé filled with tangible skills, and a sense of civic duty.

Corps and other similar national service programs give young people from traditionally marginalized communities the opportunity to discover their full potential and realize that they have the means and the ability to fix pervasive problems in their communities. During a recent Congressional Briefing in which the National Council of Young Leaders shared their Recommendations to Increase Opportunity and Decrease Poverty in America, Deon Jones, a council member from Washington, DC, talked about the role national service can play in alleviating poverty. As Deon said, when a generation of young people realize that, instead of being the recipients of service, they can be the “architects” of making healthier, stronger, and safer communities, there will be “an overflow of prosperity into generations to come.” Deon’s words could not be more true, and they speak to the need to expand national service, particularly for low-income and minority young people.

We are fortunate the current administration recognizes that national service can help close the opportunity gap. In response to President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Department of Justice jointly committed $10 million over three years to fund Youth Opportunity AmeriCorps and enroll more disconnected youth in national service. Through Youth Opportunity AmeriCorps, I am proud to say that The Corps Network will be able to enroll court-involved young men and women in green jobs training through our Opportunity Youth Service Initiative (OYSI). Corps have long engaged court-involved youth in national service; they pioneered a Civic Justice Corps model that is still used today. This new partnership between AmeriCorps and the Department of Justice will help Corps expand their innovative work with this population.

Youth who experience incarceration or detention have been removed from society and, with a record, often find it difficult to connect with education or employment following their release. For many such young people, national service is the bridge that reconnects them with the community and the skills and resources they need to be successful adults. The cost of expanding national service to engage more disconnected youth is far less than the cost of keeping them behind bars.

As anyone who has participated in even just one day of service can tell you, it feels good to give back. When a young person has the opportunity to serve through a Corps – a program that also provides stability, access to a good education, and positive role models – he has the tools he needs to succeed. It is up to us to support and “give back” to these important programs that give our youth so much.

A Tribute to Ladine Daniels, Jr.

This week we received the very sad news that our good friend Ladine “JR” Daniels had passed away during his sleep this past weekend. We, and everyone who loved JR, are extremely saddened by this loss.

For those of you who don’t know JR, he lived in Charleston, South Carolina and was an AmeriCorps Corpsmember in the Sustainability Institute’s Energy Conservation Corps (shown on left in photo above with Sustainability Institute staff members). We first came to know him at The Corps Network when he was selected as a Corpsmember of the Year in 2012. Since that time, JR has continued to work as a staff member for the Sustainability Institute. He has also worked with us and as a member of the National Council of Young Leaders to promote issues he cared deeply about, including the need for re-entry programs for young people who have been incarcerated.



A wake for JR will take place tomorrow evening at 6 pm, and his funeral will be on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Charity Missionary Baptist Church 1544 E. Montague N. Charleston, SC. Flowers may be sent to Hilton’s Mortuary, Inc., 1852 E Montague Ave., North Charleston, SC 29405-5158.

If you would like to send a donation in JR’s honor, please send it to The Sustainability Institute at 113 Calhoun Street, Charleston, SC 29401. Memorials and tributes are currently being discussed with JR’s family so that they appropriately honor his memory.

Bryan Cordell, Executive Director of The Sustainability Institute (TSI), wrote the following message about JR to TSI’s Board of Directors:

“Most of you had the privilege of getting to know J.R. at our board and staff retreat or other SI functions. J.R. overcame seemingly insurmountable challenges to become a stellar Corps member, program graduate and shining star of our ECC program. For his leadership and dedication to AmeriCorps he was recognized as a 2012 national Corps member of the year. He also served as a member of the National Council of Young Leaders. We celebrated those things that J.R. achieved, but he was so much more than that to all of us. We soon hired J.R. at SI as the ECC team leader and supervisor where he devoted each and every day to helping the young people in our program find renewed hope and success. J.R. didn’t see it as a job, he saw his work with us – and his work in the community – as his purpose. And, he was great at it. We had just made the decision last week to promote J.R. to lead and supervise our new Veterans Corps program, a challenge he was ready to take on and without a doubt would have succeeded at.”



We at The Corps Network definitely agree that JR would have excelled in this role, or any that he chose. He was a member of the Marine Corps, and had proven that he was an excellent motivator. One of his friends wrote the following on his Facebook page: “I served with Ladine Jr. Daniels in the Marine Corps. He was always uplifting and kept our little tight knit crew laughing. A phenomenal young man who has accomplished so much. Gone but not forgotten.”

Our friends at Spark Action in collaboration with The National Council of Young Leaders put together a moving tribute video to JR, that features him speaking.

One of the pleasures we have enjoyed at The Corps Network, is seeing how much JR had embraced his role as a spokesperson and become an even more compelling speaker over the past few years.

For instance, you can watch his speech at a recent Congressional Briefing with the National Council of Young Leaders. You can also read an updated “where is he now” story about JR from last year, with some fantastic quotes.

We will miss you JR! You are gone but will certainly not be forgotten.

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How to Protect America’s Public Lands


The Corps Network’s National Public Lands Day 2014 video

Protecting America’s Public Lands and supporting America’s Youth Service and Conservation Corps go hand-in-hand. Every year, Corps do an enormous amount of work to keep our natural spaces clean, healthy and accessible.

In national, state and local parks, Corps build and maintain trails and bridges, remove invasive species, stabilize stream banks, create habitats for native plants and animals, fight wildfires, remove trail hazards, and complete a wide range of other projects that keep our public lands useable and natural for generations to come.

Due to budget cutbacks and the growing number of employees entering retirement age, America’s federal land management agencies do not have the capacity to complete all of the maintenance projects our public lands require. Corps fill in the gaps by providing quality, cost-effective labor. Without Corps, many of our favorite parks and national monuments could fall into disrepair.

Service and Conservation Corps not only do a great service for America’s public lands; they also do a great service for our youth. Corps provide their members (generally people ages 16 – 25) hands-on work experience; leadership experience; hard and soft job skills training; and the valuable opportunity to spend time in some of our country’s most beautiful natural places. Today’s Corpsmembers are tomorrow’s land managers: they are the next generation of environmental stewards who will keep our public lands healthy.

One way to support these important programs and ensure we have a skilled conservation workforce in the future is to support the programs and laws that protect and expand our public lands. Click below to learn about some of America’s most important environmental conservation policies:
 

Antiquities Act

Synopsis: Gives the President of the United States the power to designate a national monument. Places currently under consideration to become national monuments include: Alpine Lakes – Washington; Berryessa Snow Mountain – California; Boulder-White Clouds – Idaho; Desolation Canyon – Utah; Greater Canyonlands – Utah; Rocky Mountain Front – Montana; San Rafael Swell – Utah; 

Clean Air Act

Synopsis: A law that established regulations and rules for monitoring and addressing air pollution.

Clean Water Act

Synopsis: A law that helps protect our nation’s water by preventing pollution and regulating the clean-up of polluted rivers, lakes, and groundwater.

Endangered Species Act

Synopsis: A law that protects endangered species of animals and plants from extinction, but also encourages their re-introduction into the wild and recovery.

Land & Water Conservation Fund

Synopsis: A federal program that supplies funding for conservation projects on public lands including national monuments. The money is mostly generated through revenues provided by companies drilling offshore for oil and gas as part of their agreements with the U.S. government.

National Environmental Policy Act

Synopsis: A law that mandates government agencies follow certain procedures when developing new construction projects. These procedures include conducting an environmental impact assessment, allowing for public comment, and releasing an environmental impact statement.

Wilderness Act

Synopsis: Created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States and established regulations for how wilderness areas can be used. 

Films about Engaging the Next Generation of Conservation Leaders


Civic Works Corpsmembers featured in Discovering the Boulder-White Clouds

Join The Corps Network at the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a film screening and discussion about getting youth outdoors

When: Friday, November 14, 2014
            2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (EST)

  RSVP required!
  Please respond to Tess Richey ([email protected]) by 12:00 p.m. (EST)
  on Tuesday, November 11, 2014
  Include your full name, title, and email address.  

Where: Jefferson Auditorium
             U.S. Department of Agriculture 
             1400 Independence Avenue, SW
             Washington, DC

Materials: 

Event details: 
The Corps Network is hosting a film screening and discussion focused on engaging youth in conservation and inspiring the next generation of environmental leaders. In addition to premiering our new documentary short, Discovering the Boulder-White Clouds, the event will feature speakers from numerous federal agencies, as well as 4 short films from friends and partners of The Corps Network. 

Speakers:

  • Robert Bonnie, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and the Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture
  • Bill Basl, Director of AmeriCorps, Corporation for National & Community Service
  • Carl Rountree, Assistant Director, National Landscape Conservation Systems and Community Partnerships, U.S. Department of Interior
  • U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva (AZ)
  • Mary Ellen Sprenkel, President & CEO, The Corps Network
  • Laura Herrin, Vice President, Mid-Atlantic/Southeast Region, Student Conservation Association
  • Davon Baynes, Real Food Farm Corpsmember, Civic Works

 

Film Lineup:

  • Discovering the Boulder-White Clouds – *PREMIERE* – The Corps Network

Description:  Discovering the Boulder-White Clouds follows eight young adults from Civic Works, a youth Service and Conservation Corps based in Baltimore, MD, as they camp and hike in the wilderness of the Boulder-White Cloud Mountains, a proposed national monument. The film focuses on the parallels between the urban environment in Baltimore and the wilderness of a place like the Boulder-White Clouds, emphasizing the value of preserving the environmental health of both settings. By exploring the pristine public lands of Idaho, the Corpsmembers, who in Baltimore grow healthy food on an urban farm and retrofit low-income homes to improve energy efficiency, gain a new perspective on the importance of conservation.
– Learn more about the video

 

  • The Colorado River: Our River, Our Story, Our Time – Nuestro Rio

Description: In the Summer of 2013, Latino youth from Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico joined Nuestro Rio Youth Leadership Program for an educational trip down the Colorado River. The trip participants learned about the river and its tributaries, history and importance. 
– Watch the video

 

Description: The American population is increasingly diverse, but the conservation movement remains largely white. Through Legacy Camp, the Children and Nature Network teaches “natural leaders” – diverse millennials who have demonstrated leadership in engaging their communities in the outdoors – skills and techniques to enhance their engagement efforts. The Legacy Camp trains the next, more diverse generation of conservation leaders how to effectively build capacity for, and interest in, outdoor activities in minority communities in a way that is meaningful and lasting.  
– Watch the video

 

  • NPS Academy in the Great Smoky Mountains – SCA

Description: Operated through a partnership between the Student Conservation Association (SCA) and the National Park Service, NPS Academy offers paid internships in a national park to undergraduate and graduate students of color from across the country. The Academy is designed to build a skilled, motivated, and ethnically diverse 21st Century Workforce for America’s national parks.  
– Watch the video

 

Description: In celebration of National Public Lands Day 2014 and the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, Southern California Mountains Foundation brought three busloads of children and families from the Inland Empire region of California, plus youth from Urban Conservation Corps, to experience the San Gorgonio wilderness in the San Bernardino National Forest. For many celebration participants, this was their first time exploring a wilderness area. 
– Watch the video

The North Face and My Morning Jacket Collaborate in Support of 21st Century Conservation Service Corps

Earlier this week, The North Face and the Department of Interior announced a partnership in support of the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps. 

According to the DOI press release, “The North Face committed $250,000 and also launched a campaign today as a key component of the initiative featuring a new recording of Woody Guthrie’s iconic anthem “This Land is Your Land” by two-time Grammy nominee My Morning Jacket. The song will be available on iTuneswith more than half of each download going to the 21CSC as My Morning Jacket donates their portion of proceeds to the initiative. Monies raised will create jobs for youth and returning veterans through 21CSC projects on public lands across the nation – from Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California to Everglades National Park in Florida.

We think this is very exciting and are also pleased to see all of the attention it has been getting from publications that run the gambit. Here’s a run-down of stories from well-known publications so far:

Telling Urbanites to Flee the Cities (The New York Times)

My Morning Jacket covers Woody Guthrie in epic new commercial (USA Today)

My Morning Jacket Records Woody Guthrie Classic For North Face Campaign To Benefit Public Lands (Fast Company)

The North Face and Dept. of Interior Partner to Protect Public Lands (Triple Pundit)

My Morning Jacket’s Jim James on ‘Magic’ of ‘This Land Is Your Land’ (Rolling Stone)

[Video] U.S. Secretary Of The Interior Sally Jewell (Huffington Post Live)

The advertisement below will debut on Sunday Night Football on November 9th. At the very end you can see the 21CSC logo for a split-second. 

We wish to thank the Department of Interior, The North Face, and My Morning Jacket for their support of getting more young people and veterans out working on America’s public lands through the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps!

Northwest Youth Corps Partners with 2015 American Trails International Trails Symposium

Next May, the 2015 American Trails International Trails Symposium will take place in Portland, Oregon. Northwest Youth Corps has been helping to work on the Symposium and will represent the Corps Movement at the Symposium as the trails world continues to focus on youth as an integral part of their efforts to build and maintain trail systems, and continue to make them a terrific resource for today’s Americans.

You can read more about the Symposium and “Ten Reasons to Attend” on pages 10-13 in the Fall edition of American Trails magazine. 

Sequoia Community Corps Helps Deliver Water to Drought Affected Households

Corpsmembers and Senior Center staff load water in East Porterville (photo originally published in The LA Times).

From Sequoia Community Corps’ Newsletter

Partnering with the Tulare County Fire Department, fourteen Corpsmembers and five CSET Senior Services staff helped deliver over 15,500 1-gallon water containers to approximately 300 drought aff ected households in East Porterville. The community is one of the hardest hit areas after declaration of the drought in Tulare County.

Approximately 500 homes reported being out of water after a survey was conducted in September. With dry wells and cost-prohibitive contracting fees, many families cannot a fford to dig deeper wells to compensate for the lack of water.

CSET and other local agencies are coordinating relief eff orts to ease the stress and provide support to the East Porterville community. The volunteer e fforts of Corpsmembers and Senior Center staff were greatly appreciated, and were highlighted in The LA Times. Visit this link to check out the article!

SCA Receives Environmental Award

Story provided by SCA

The Student Conservation Association (SCA) was recently presented with the Walden Woods Project’s Environmental Challenge Award by Don Henley, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist and founder of the Walden Woods Project and Thoreau Institute.  The presentation took place on stage at a packed Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston moments before a concert by Henley’s band, the Eagles.

“Today, more than ever,” said Henley, “we need to foster the next generation of concerned and committed environmental stewards of our planet.”

Actor Robert Redford, who accepted the Walden Woods Project’s Global Environmental Leadership Award, also pointed to young people as a solution in his keynote address.  “Our youth are our future.  And that’s why I’m here tonight in celebration of these honorees.”

SCA received the Environmental Challenge Award for engaging youth in hands-on conservation service and serving as a model for those who seek effective, constructive and sustainable outcomes.  The award was accepted by SCA Vice President Kevin Hamilton and SCA intern Sophia Bass Werner, who just completed a summer program of mammal and habitat conservation at Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.

The award sponsors noted that SCA had recently reached the milestone of 75,000 members, and in addition to their immediate impact in preserving parks, forests and refuges in all 50 states, seven out of ten SCA alumni are employed in a conservation-related field.

The Walden Woods Project is a nonprofit organization committed to preserving the land, literature, and legacy of Henry David Thoreau through conservation, education, research and advocacy.  Founded 25 years ago, the Project uses the land it has protected in Walden Woods to foster an ethic of environmental stewardship and social responsibility, both cornerstones of Thoreau’s philosophy.