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The San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps 10 Year Anniversary Celebration

Article, written by Carlos Puente and Vanessa Martinez, appears in the Mid Valley News. Published August 13, 2014. Photos courtesy of Devette Johnson.

On Saturday July 26 the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corp celebrated their 10 year anniversary with actor Mike Gomez as master of ceremonies. The day started with the VFW of Greater El Monte Post 10218 Color Guard leading the Pledge of Allegiance with city, county and state dignitaries in attendance. Those present were  Roger Hernandez, Assemblyman the 48th District; Hilda Solis, supervisor Elect 1st District and former US Secretary of Labor; Mike Eng, Congresswoman Judy Chu, Andre Quintero, Mayor of El Monte; Dr. Ed Hernandez, Senator 24th District; Susan Rubio, Baldwin Park City Council; Joseph Gonzalez,  So. El Monte Mayor Pro Term; Assembly member Ed Chau and Jerry Velasco, El Monte City Treasurer.

photos courtesy of Devette Johnson

The day was filled with emotions and celebration as alumni success stories from 2010 to 2014 told their stories of how the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corp picked them up and guided them into the right direction to achieve success. The event ended with dinner, raffles and a silent auction, as well as a tree planting ceremony to close the event. The San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corp history is a short but stellar one, full of triumph over adversity that reflects a tremendous power for social progress. This can be achieved when founded upon the strength of a partnership between a whole city and a non-profit organization, dedicated to serving the needs of the resident and business community and their common needs.

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Chairman Rogers Kicks-Off Job Corps’ 50th Anniversary Week at the Pine Knot Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center

On August 20, 1964, Congress passed “The Economic Opportunity Act” (EOA), which created the flagship Job Corps program. Across the nation, from Monday August 18 through Friday August 22, 2014, Congressional members, state and local officials, neighbors, and graduates gathered at 28 Forest Service Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Job Corps program.

The Pine Knot Job Corps Civilian Conversation Center, on the Daniel Boone National Forest, welcomed Hal Rogers (R-KY), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee as the Center’s key-note speaker for its 50th anniversary week kick-off celebration on Monday, August 18th.  The day began with tours of the center.  As their vehicle made its way up the road to Pine Knot’s gymnasium, Chairman Rogers and his staff were welcomed with an array of lawn signs celebrating the success of the program. Pine Knot Job Corps’ entire student body, campus staff, local elected officials, community and employer partners, and graduates and former staff erupted in a round of applause as Rogers walked into Pine Knot’s gymnasium.  Highlights of the celebration included a performance by the McCreary Central High School Choir and presentation of the national colors by the McCreary Central High School Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, U.S. Forest Service Job Corps National Director, Tina Terrell recognized Chairman Rogers for his long-time support and advocacy of both protecting America’s forest and its at-risk youth.  
 
Chairman Rogers posted this remark on his Facebook page, “Proud to join the Job Corps 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Pine Knot Job Corps Center in McCreary County. Thank you for all of the community service efforts you provide to our region and the life-changing skills and education you provide to students from across the country. Congratulations!” To view Chairman Rogers’ pictures and post, right click the link below: https://www.facebook.com/CongressmanHalRogers?ref=stream

 

Started in 1964 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, Job Corps provides career technical training and education for low-income young people ages 16 through 24.  The EOA assigned the U.S. Forest Service Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers a unique conservation mission to “provide academic education and practical training in work-based learning to conserve, develop and manage, and enhance public natural resources and recreation areas, or to develop community projects in the public interest.” In Program Year 2013, 1,993 Forest Service Job Corps students volunteered 210,549 hours towards restoration and conservation on the nation’s public lands.  These hours have an independent sector volunteer hour value of $4,661,555 million dollars.

 

Forest Service Job Corps Centers have the capacity to house, educate, and train over 5,200 students, allowing them the opportunity to obtain a high school diploma or a general equivalency diploma (GED) and receive vocational training in over 30 vocational trades, including Forestry, Urban Forestry, and Firefighting.  Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers graduate approximately 4,200 students each program year. 

Industry Support Grows for Restoration Private-Public Partnership

Corps Network Vice President Marie Walker (C) and NJYC Phillipsburg members participate in a Waders in the Water class. To view video, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnW0CWV1UCI
 
Washington, DC – August 28, 2014 – Aquatic restoration businesses continue to express excitement as Youth Corps nationwide are receiving training and certification for climate-ready aquatic restoration. Graduates of the Waders in the Water training program, created by The Corps Network and Trout Headwaters Inc., will be skilled in aquatic safety, knowledgeable about installation techniques, and ready to provide business and government reliable restoration on streams, rivers and wetlands across the U.S. This industry-recognized credential will build important bridges to enable youth to enter conservation careers by learning how to improve the health, productivity, and climate-resiliency of our streams, rivers, and wetlands.

Trout Headwaters President Mike Sprague said: “I’ve been impressed by the excitement from businesses and government alike who have long wished for such a trained and skilled national workforce. It’s very gratifying to see such widespread support for this important program.”

Doug Lashley, CEO of GreenVest LLC and immediate Past President of the National Mitigation Banking Association, the leading organization in the country engaged in ecological restoration and conservation banking says “this movement presents an incredible opportunity to engage the youth of America to help reverse trends and conditions that impact our waters, streams, rivers and all forms of biodiversity.” Lashley added “Educating youth at an early age on best management practices and an appreciation of the environment will equip them for future jobs in the outdoors, enhance local economies, and most importantly, encourage an appreciation of the restoration of water quality impacting all forms of life. Corporate America can help support this opportunity through Public Private Partnerships as a method of complying with their growing internal sustainability initiatives. It is an investment with no limit on the returns.”
 
Building on the great traditions of the Civilian Conservation Corps since 1933, the Waders in the Water training and certification was built to further the goals of the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps which aims to have 100,000 young people and veterans working to improve public lands and waters everywhere.
 
Youth Corps believe this training will enable their members to be hired for projects previously unavailable to them. Because Waders in the Water offers professional training from a third-party industry expert, clients can be confident in the quality of the workforce they are contracting.
 
Director of the New Jersey Youth Corps of Phillipsburg (NJYCP) Michael Muckle said “I see this program improving not just the quality of our environment, but the quality of the lives of the people in service”. Muckle went on to say “While implementing streamside restoration measures might seem like trying to control the chaos of the natural order of things, we hope to show the participants that by making substantive, small improvements, the ripple effect downstream – literally and figuratively – are sometimes exponential.”
 
Trout Headwaters, Inc.

Trout Headwaters Inc. is the industry leader in sustainable approaches to stream, river, and wetland renewal and repair. As one of the oldest firms in the industry, THI has pioneered approaches using natural materials and native vegetation that can reliably replace hard, invasive treatments that often damage our nation’s streams and rivers. Besides developing and refining new techniques, THI is a staunch advocate for greater sharing of information and more consistent use of assessment and monitoring tools, providing greater certainty of environmental benefits to restoration.
 

Contact:
Luke Frazza, Project Development, Trout Headwaters, Inc.
703-244-7460
New Jersey Youth Corps of Phillipsburg

Founded in 1998, New Jersey Youth Corps of Phillipsburg provides municipal support to the Town of Phillipsburg, NJ while offering hundreds of youth the opportunity to earn their GED as they serve their community. NJYC Phillipsburg’s conservation projects have included urban tree planting, Delaware River clean-ups, riparian buffer restorations, and assistance with the ecological maintenance of the White Lake Natural Resource Area and other Warren County properties.

Contact:
Michael Muckle, Director, New Jersey Youth Corps of Phillipsburg
(908) 859-2969

 

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Northwest Youth Corps Celebrates Its 30th Year Anniversary

Since 1984, Northwest Youth Corps has helped more than 18,000 youth and young adults from diverse backgrounds to learn, grow, and experience success.

 

NYC got its start during the depths of the recession hitting Oregon in the early 1980s. Finally, after two long years of lining up the necessary work sponsorships and grants for crew equipment, NYC’s founder was able to write on NYC’s very first day of operation,

 

“…this concept (the founding of NYC) is no longer a dream… We are starting to get work done. In a few more days we should be able to show the world that, with the right people — people willing to really give it their best — NYC is here, and it is here to stay!”

 

Although NYC has grown dramatically since then, our mission remains unchanged: helping young people to become stronger, more engaged with the world around them, and more confident of their abilities to meet their goals in life. 

 

In 2013, Northwest Youth Corps crews completed 113,636 hours of priority natural and/or cultural resource projects for 113 partners including three US Army Corps of Engineer units, eight BLM districts, three National Park Service sites, four Oregon State Parks and Recreation locations, and 19 USFS National Forests.  As one graduate put it, however, “…NYC is more about building people, character, and community than it is about building trails.” 

 

 “Northwest Youth Corps taught me much more than just how to build, fix and maintain trails; it taught me how to be a leader, how to take initiative and how to push myself.  I now can take the things NYC gave me and apply it to my life and what I have planned for my future.”

—    NYC 2013 Graduate

 

To celebrate our 30th year of service to youth, communities, and the outdoors, Northwest Youth Corps is hosting a 30th Year Celebration during the weekend of September 6-7, 2014, at the NYC campus, in Eugene, Oregon.  Planned activities include a festive dinner, NYC Share Your Adventure contest with cash prizes, family fun day, barbeque, service project, free tent camping, and more!  To learn more, visit www.nwyouthcorps.org/30Years.aspx. We also invite our alumni and others to “like” our Facebook alumni page, https://www.facebook.com/northwestyouthcorpsalumni?fref=ts  and get updates this way.

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California Conservation Corps Crews thin forest in bid to protect Jack London State Historic Park’s oaks

Article, written by Eloisa Ruano Gonzalez, appears in The Press Democrat. Published August 26, 2014.

To protect the majestic centuries-old oaks at Jack London State Historic Park, state workers have this week begun cutting down invasive vegetation and bay laurel trees known to harbor sudden oak death, which has killed millions of oaks and tanoaks throughout Northern California.

As oak trees have died and toppled from the disease, canopy openings have widened at the park in Glen Ellen. That has let more light seep through some areas of the forest, fueling the growth of dense and more flammable plants, according to environmental officials.

Chainsaws and shears in hand, nearly a dozen workers with the California Conservation Corps made their way Tuesday up a section of the park near the Wolf House ruins to tear out broom and other brush that could act as “ladders,” allowing flames to climb onto tree canopies during a fire. They navigated their way around dead oak trees and poison oak to get to young bay laurels that threaten tanoaks and black and coast live oaks, which are more “vulnerable” to sudden oak death, according to Cyndy Shafer, a senior environmental scientist with California State Parks.

“We’re definitely not removing all of the bay trees. It’s very targeted and strategic,” Shafer said about the $150,000 project, funded by the state and aimed at reducing the fire risk and spread of the disease in the oak-dominated section of the forest.

“It’ll make it less inviting for sudden oak death,” she added. “(But) we will not be removing any mature, healthy trees.”

The disease is caused by a fungus-like organism called Phytophthora ramorum, which is believed to be related to the microbe thought to be responsible for the Irish potato famine, and was discovered in Marin County in 1995.

It’s killed more than 3 million tanoak and oak trees throughout 15 coastal counties from Monterey to Humboldt, according to UC Berkeley’s Forest Pathology Laboratory.

It’s infected more than 105,000 acres in Sonoma County.

Combing through the state park, Shafer pointed to black and brown spots on a bay tree, evidence it was carrying the disease. Although it doesn’t kill bay trees, she said, sudden oak death easily can spread via water to nearby oaks — some of which are hundreds of years old and beloved by the community.

“Everybody understands that bay laurels are major carriers and they’re threatening the oak trees,” said Tjiska Van Wyk, executive director of Jack London Park Partners, which operates the state-owned park.

“The project is protecting the oaks for future generations,” she added. “We have a lot of those (old) guys here.”

Park visitors were upset over plans last year to remove a celebrated oak that stands outside Jack London’s cottage. Arborists had determined it was infected with a pathogenic fungi and dying, though it was determined not to be afflicted with sudden oak death. The tree, more than 300 years old, was spared after additional testing revealed it did have significant decay but was healthier than first believed.

Daniel White, a Corps employee supervising the crew, grew up climbing oak trees in the Napa area. It’s an experience he wants his son and future grandchildren to have.

“It’ll be nice to see future generations have the same opportunity we had,” White said as he watched crew member Durantae Johnson saw through a large dead oak that already had fallen over — likely a victim of sudden oak death.

“I’ve never seen oak trees this big before,” said Johnson, of Vallejo. “It feels good to help the area.”

Johnson and the rest of the crew will work for the next five to six weeks until the rain kicks in.

They plan to cut down the limbs and brush and press them down into the earth to decompose instead of hauling them off and risk spreading sudden oak death elsewhere, Shafer said.

Ted Swiecki, a plant pathologist and co-owner of Phytosphere Research, which was hired to look for ways to reduce the fire hazard and impact of sudden oak death, said the drought has slowed down the spread of the disease because a lack of rainfall to carry it. He said it’s important they get ahead of the problem to preserve oaks.

“An oak-dominated woodland is a pretty low fire hazard,” he said, adding, “It’s a proactive approach. What we’re trying to do is maintain a desirable native stand there.”

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Urban Conservation Corps Installs Trailhead Kiosk at San Gorgonio Wilderness

Article appears in the Highland Community News. Published August 26, 2014.

FOREST FALLS, Calif. – Volunteers from the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association and Urban Conservation Corps, and U.S. Forest Service personnel will complete installation of a wilderness information kiosk at the Momyer Trailhead on Saturday, Sept. 6, in an event that will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act and the legacy of wilderness advocate Joe Momyer.

Installation of the kiosk will begin at 9 a.m. A dedication ceremony will follow at noon with comments from San Bernardino National Forest officials, SGWA Executive Director Val Silva, and Harry Krueper, one of two remaining members of Defenders of the San Gorgonio Wilderness. Joe Momyer, Defenders president, Krueper, and other Defenders fought to protect the San Gorgonio Wilderness from development in the 1960s and lobbied for inclusion of the primitive area in the Wilderness Act of 1964. The act was signed into law Sept. 3, 1964.

The kiosk will include information about the San Gorgonio Wilderness, its history, and its importance as watershed for downstream communities and a place for visitors seeking respite and renewal from modern life.

The Momyer Trailhead parking lot, located in Forest Falls on Valley of the Falls Boulevard, approximately 3 miles from the junction with Highway 38.

The San Gorgonio Wilderness is one of the original wilderness areas created by the 1964 legislation. It receives approximately 200,000 visitors each year, one of the most heavily used wilderness areas in the country. Its 58,969 acres harbor two small lakes, meadows, streams, 100 miles of trails, densely forested northern slopes, and rugged terrain.

SGWA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the public, protecting the San Gorgonio Wilderness and the forest surrounding it, and educating people about how to care for the natural resources of the forest.

The kiosk project was made possible by a grant from the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance, working to build a community of wilderness stewards across America. For more information about NWSA visit wildernessalliance.org.

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HOPE Crew Project at Custer National Cemetery featured on Preservation Nation Blog

Article, written by David Robert Weible, appears on the Preservation Nation Blog. Published August 25, 2014.

It’s one of the most famous battles in American history. In May, 1876, Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry tracked down roughly 8,000 Cheyenne and Sioux Indians in southeastern Montana and stepped into battle with about 1,800 of them. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now a small piece of that history is being restored, with help from the National Trust, The Corps Network, The Montana Conservation Corps, and the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center.

138 years later to the month, the National Trust’s HOPE (Hands-On Preservation Experience) Crew program began connecting national youth corps participants with preservation projects from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to New Mexico’s Old Santa Fe Trail Building. The program will eventually bring thousands of young Americans to work on hundreds of sites, and teach them preservation craft skills from tuck pointing to carpentry, to window restoration, while restoring historic places in the process.

That’s exactly the case at the Custer National Cemetery inside the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument where a new HOPE Crew recently went to work.

Beginning July 14, a HOPE Crew comprised of members from the Montana Conservation Corps began work on the cemetery’s headstones, which mark the graves of soldiers from the Battle of Little Bighorn, the Spanish-American War, both World Wars, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

“This HOPE crew project was very special for our veterans corps members,” says Jono McKinney, President and CEO of Montnana Conservation Corps. “The opportunity to honor fallen veterans through their service restoring these headstones was personally moving. Each felt a bond through generations of service with his peers in combat. They connected to this work in such an intimate way, and found deep purpose in this HOPE project.”

The crew, comprised of two ‘hitches’ of six corps members each — including the HOPE Crew’s first all-veteran hitch representing each branch of the military — cleaned the headstones and adjusted the height and orientation of stones to coincide with the Veterans Affairs set of standards.

“An all-veteran HOPE Crew is a great example of how the program continues to expand to engage different audiences,” says Monica Rhodes, who oversees the HOPE Crew program for the National Trust. “[This type of training] is another opportunity for returning veterans to transition into an industry that could benefit from their proven leadership skills and work ethic.”

During the work, which ended August 8, corpsmembers also received visits and support from two representatives from the office of Senator, Jon Tester (D-MT).

“The park really appreciates this partnership opportunity, and we were able to complete some work that we would not have been able to accomplish without the program,” says Christopher T. Ziegler, Chief of Cultural and Natural Resources Management for Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. “We are excited to be a part of a program that helped train future stewards in preservation skills. After all, NPS will be the direct benefactors of this future labor force.”

But it’s not just the cemetery that’s seen a bit of a makeover in the last number of years. In an effort to reflect the history of both sides of the conflict, the name of the monument was changed from Custer Battlefield National Monument to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in 1991. Since then, NPS has worked alongside local Native American organizations to erect a monument to those that opposed Custer’s men and incorporate their story into the interpretation of the site.

“When the park first opened, interpretation largely focused on General Custer,” says Rhodes. “With the inclusion of Native American organizations, visitors are able to experience another side of the story, allowing us to celebrate other voices in American history.”

Watch a video of the Little Bighorn HOPE Crew project here.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation works to save America’s historic places. Join us todayto help protect the places that matter to you.

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ConSERVE NYC Volunteers Clear Invasives at New York’s “South Pole”

Article appears in the Student Conservation Association Blog.

ConSERVE NYC events have taken our volunteers as far north as Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, as far west as Hudson River Park in Manhattan, and as far east as Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing. On August 16th, our volunteers traveled to the southern-most point of New York to serve at Conference House Park on Staten Island.

Over 40 SCA volunteers teamed up with the NYC Parks Natural Areas Volunteers to reclaim young trees from invasives at a recent Million Trees planting site near the waterfront. Planted shortly before Hurricane Sandy, the trees sustained a barrage of saltwater when the low-lying area was flooded, then struggled to get enough sunlight as mugwort and other invasives took over the disturbed site. Many of the young trees were completely buried in overgrown vegetation, hardly visible from the park’s trails.

But SCA volunteers were up for the challenge. One group shouldered through six-foot-tall mugwort to begin clearing open areas around the saplings, while another group waded into waist-high masses of mile-a-minute vine to start untangling the aggressive vine from the native vegetation. By lunchtime, volunteers had bagged and removed over 1000 pounds of invasives to give the new trees room to grow and thrive.

For some of the participants, the site was a familiar one. Earlier this summer, members of SCA’s YCC crew traveled to Conference House Park for an Environmental Education Day to learn about the conservation challenges the park was facing, and begin removing invasives at the site. At this weekend’s event, YCC members Zack Towle and Amosh Neupane stepped up as Apprentice Leaders to help guide volunteers in continuing the task their crew had started.

Other participants included leaders from SCA’s Sandy Recovery Program and Hudson Valley Corps, as well as students from the Bryant High School Coalition of Students for Environment & Climate Action, Brooklyn Tech Key Club, Bard High School, Park East High School, IS 51, City College, and Borough of Manhattan Community College.

“I’m so excited to have another ConSERVE project on Staten Island,” said SCA Hudson Valley member Tara Linton, who lives near Conference House Park. “Most of my friends from other boroughs don’t want to come all the way out here…. but it’s such a great site!”

SCA alum Chris Fahim agreed. “I just finished an SCA internship in Kansas. But I’m from New York, so when I got back I was happy to find out that there were ways for me to stay involved with SCA here.”

After a morning of service, volunteers gathered on the beach for a group photo at New York’s “South Pole” — the southernmost point in the city, and in the state. Then they headed over for a free tour of the historic Conference House for which the park is named — a Dutch manor built in the 17th-century, where Benjamin Franklin and John Adams parlayed with the British in 1776.

“I met awesome new people today and learned cool stuff,” said Sam March, a student at Park East High School who just finished his summer term on SCA’s Sandy Recovery crews. “I didn’t think it would happen, but I’m going to miss not going to work with SCA on Monday!”

SCA’s ConSERVE NYC initiative has passed the milestone of 1000 volunteers engaged across all five boroughs of New York City. On September 13th, participants will gather on Governors Island to celebrate one year of successful ConSERVE events. Sign up to join in at conserveNYCseptember.eventbrite.com.

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Teens, young adults create mural with peace in Pomona as the theme

Article, written by Monica Rodriguez, appears in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Published August 20, 2014.

Using vibrant colors and various symbols that represent Pomona and its history, a group of teens and young adults are creating a mural that conveys a message of peace.

The mural includes the images of orange trees, symbols of the city’s agricultural history, and the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. The word peace is written in the sky and messages of peace worked into other elements of the mural. In addition, room among the roots of the trees in the work will be painted with chalkboard paint allowing people who see it to add positive messages about peace.

Peace, in multiple languages, will also be part of the city emblem, which consists of six images of the letter “P” arranged in a circle.

“It really is a community mural with a community design,” said Andrew Quinones, who in addition to being a professional artist is the director of mentoring, art and culture for the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps.

The mural, which is being painted on six, 8 foot by 4 foot wooden moveable panels, is an initiative of East/West Action, a gang intervention and violence mitigation program that started about a year ago in Pomona to address some of the city’s needs, said Bill Martinez, the group’s director.

Through the project, teens and young adults have a means to share their thoughts in a creative way, he said.

“It’s a way to give them a voice,” Martinez said.

A group of about 10 young people ages 15 to 20 are involved with the project, Martinez said. Some are young artists and others may have engaged in risky behavior.

The design for the mural came about through a collaborative process in which the participating young people contributed ideas that Quinones then wove together into one design.

This is the first of what is expected to be many more art projects that young people will create not only for the sake of producing public art but to give youth a way to be involved in the community and to express themselves.

“We have a number of talented youth but not enough outlets,” Quinones said.

Through art “we can create a lot of positive messages in Pomona.”

Among the young people who are involved in the mural project is Liselotte Marin, of Pomona. Marin is an art history major at Cal State San Bernardino and an artist who works mostly with acrylic paint.

Pomona resident Christian Ornelas, 17, a senior at the School of Arts and Enterprise in downtown Pomona is a young artist who has created metal sculpture in addition to producing pottery.

Both have been involved in mural projects before.

Marin was drawn to the mural project for several reasons, among them the fact the project is in her community and addresses violence.

“I think in a lot of my work I’m trying to send a message of equity and peace,” said Marin, who aspires to become an art teacher in addition to continuing to producing art of her own.

Over the years Marin has met young people who have engaged in negative behavior.

When that has happened Marin has some words for them: “Friend, come hang out with me.”

Marin has then introduced them to art and Pomona’s Arts Colony, often with success.

“Everybody has a talent,” she said.

Ornelas said art provides a means to express ones thoughts and feelings in a creative, non-violent way and the Arts Colony has many places where they will be welcomed and where they’ll find people willing to offer artistic guidance.

“There are so many opportunities,” he said. “There are plenty of places where they can go and get their feelings out.”

Once completed the mural will travel around Pomona, said Martinez who added he is having conversations with Pomona Unified School District representatives about having the murals visit district schools.

Martinez’s goal is to be able to take the mural to campuses from high schools to elementary schools.

The mural can spark conversations, he said.

“It’s really to start a process,” Martinez said. “It’s something we can use in the process of promoting non-violence.”

The project came about with the help of a $10,000 Tri-City Mental Health Services Community Wellbeing Grant.

The mural should be completed in time for it to go on display during September’s Second Saturday Art Walk in Pomona, Quinones said.

If it’s not possible to work out an arrangement with a local gallery then a formal unveiling will take place during an upcoming open house of the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps’ YouthBuild Charter School campus in Pomona, he said.

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They Called Us the ‘Green Shirts’: Disaster Response with Texas Conservation Corps

Article, written by Megan Helton, appears on the CNCS Blog.

We arrived in Bastrop, Texas, while the wildfire was still burning, the fire camp still buzzing. Fresh off two months in Joplin, MO, Texas Conservation Corps eagerly accepted the mission assignment to support volunteer and donations management. We slid into the chaos of the Emergency Operations Center, and put our heads down, getting to work organizing, outreaching, ordering all the offers of support that were coming in from throughout the country.

They called us “the green shirts.” We didn’t know that at first, but the name stuck and more and more people in the Disaster Recovery Center and in the County Judge’s chambers would reference it. So we started to speculate and think about the bigger picture.

We weren’t entirely aware of how we ended up in Bastrop County, and no one locally really had any clue who these AmeriCorps kids were and where we had come from. They just knew we were, almost against all odds, getting things done. They liked that – a lot.

2011 was a formative year for AmeriCorps and disaster response, and we walked away from our deployments with a new direction for Texas Conservation Corps. Building upon our experience in Bastrop, we formalized relationships with the Texas Division of Emergency Management and OneStar Foundation, our State Commission on Volunteerism. We added 30 AmeriCorps members to our portfolio, members who are recruited, trained, and on call for disaster deployments for the State of Texas and beyond.

Now, we work with our new partners to plan and create models of how to use a variety of National Service resources in Texas to address all four phases of disaster. We provide disaster training to other State AmeriCorps programs, we co-teach classes on Spontaneous Volunteer Management. We attend state Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) meetings. Nationally, we are an active AmeriCorps Disaster Response Team (A-DRT) in the Disaster Services Unit program, and work to promote training and cross program relationships that unite us as A-DRTs.

In 2013, we deployed to the Oklahoma tornados alongside two other A-DRT teams; AmeriCorps St. Louis and Iowa Conservation Corps.  We had served with these programs during the Joplin response. While it was a difficult deployment (we had AmeriCorps members serving in five counties), the ease with which we became an AmeriCorps operation and not separate programs serving alongside one another spoke to the value of preexisting relationships during times of disaster. We saw the same thing when we deployed to the West, Texas, Fertilizer Plant Explosion, and were given increasingly important and sensitive tasks. Those at the top of the organizational chart already knew the capabilities of “the green shirts.”

Texas Conservation Corps AmeriCorps members change each year and often do not get to see the outcome of the kindness, compassion, and work ethic that they show communities after a disaster. But each incoming crew is aware of a legacy that they are asked to live up to, of a good faith foundation that built their AmeriCorps experience. It is this sense of whole community that strengthens our members into engaged citizens, and bolsters our country’s ability to recover.

Megan Helton is Field Coordinator for Texas Conservation Corps at American YouthWorks.