Urban Corps of San Diego Corps-to-Career Department Averages 70% Grad Placement

 

Corps-to-Career Averages  70% Grad Placement 
Employer Partnerships Build Opportunities for Youth

Taken from  the Urban Corps of San Diego newsletter, The Corps Supporter, Spring 2013

The Corps-to-Career department at Urban Corps is averaging a placement rate of 70% among Corpsmembers from our last two graduating classes. Staff attribute the high placement rate to successful partnerships with local employers in business community which help place graduates in positions which suit their interests and skill sets.

“Graduationis an exciting time for our seniors, however the transition can be stressful without a solid job lined up,” says Director of Student services Myrna Contreras. “That is why we actively work to establish relationships with employers and help our youth research careers, colleges, and connect with employers before they leave Urban Corps. We do everything we can to ensure their post-program success.” 

Companies partnering with Urban Corps offer job shadowing, participate in job fairs, present career information, recruit graduates, or simply communicate job openings.

Among those partnered with UCO is Grondin Construction, a family-owned and operated firm specializing in general contracting, lead abatement, and independent living modifications.

“We have worked with Urban Corps youth on job sites, and as a result, have hired four Corpsmembers over the years,” says Grondin co-owner Caroline Grondin. “We know that when we hire a Corpsmember we are getting a staff member who has participated in a year-long training program, proven their work ethic, and attained valuable skills. Often times they have experience working directly alongside Grondin team members. Our hope is to strengthen this partnership and create a Corpsmember hiring stream with job skills directly suited to our needs.”

Additional valued partnerships exist with the Goodwill, Nuera Contracting & Consulting, American Insulation and the Downtown San Diego Partnership.

The Corps-to-Career Dept. at UCO helps Corpsmembers transition with employment, enroll in college,  and actively seek partnerships with employers. Since the March 2013 graduation in which 27 received diplomas, 17 have been placed in gainful employment and two have been placed in grant/scholarship funded training programs.

(There are many advantages to partnering with UCO to help fulfill staffing needs. Contact UCO Job Developer Geneva Karwoski in the Corps-to-Career Dept. to find out more about setting up an employer partnership. Phone (619) 235-6884 ext 3119 or email gkarwoski@urbancorps.org)

City Year Hosts Annual Summit

This week City Year is hosting its annual summit in Washington, D.C. Some of their distinguished guests, performers, and speaker have included U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools Alberto M. Carvalho, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service Wendy Spencer, and also Nicholas David Mrozinski, a musician who was a finalist on “The Voice.” (See photos here.)

As part of the summit, City Year has unveiled an excellent new video about the program and its emphasis on helping students and schools succeed nationwide. Watch it below.

  

Southwest Conservation Corps Featured on White House Blog for “Let’s Move” Campaign

Celebrating Two Years of Let’s Move! in Indian Country

By Jodi Gillette, White House Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs

I recently had the honor of attending an event to mark the 2nd Anniversary of Let’s Move! in Indian Country at Chimney Rock National Monument in southwestern Colorado. I hiked and learned about this magnificent landscape on our way to the top with fifty youth from the Southern Ute Montessori Elementary, the Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture Butch Blazer, and a handful of youth from the Pueblos who work with the Southwest Conservation Corps, an AmeriCorps partner organization that engages and trains a diverse group of young women and men and completes conservation projects for the public benefit.

I had lengthy conversations with Aaron Lowden, an Acoma Pueblo, regarding the strength and resiliency of the ancient people who built and lived in that space, and how their journey is connected to his own. Below I’d like to share some of his thoughts:

Continue reading at www.whitehouse.gov

Budget Cuts Slow Conservation Efforts in Michigan


Picture from The Detroit Free Press
 

“Michigan conservation effort falls on hard times as state drains fund for park improvements”

Taken from thetimesherald.com
– by Kathleen Gray, Detroit Free Press

Kara Collins gives thanks every day that she doesn’t have to spend her workday in a cubicle.

The 23-year-old resident of Avoca in Michigan’s Thumb region gets to spend most days outdoors, clearing brush, collecting and planting native plant seeds, and doing her part to protect and improve the ecological balance in Michigan’s state parks.

“I had planned on going to school for psychology, but doing this work has completely changed what I want,” she said. “I want to work outdoors.”

Collins is one of a crew of a dozen people still employed by the Michigan Civilian Conservation Corps (MCCC), which was inspired by former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program that once employed more than 3 million men — including more than 102,000 in Michigan — during the Great Depression.

But the program, once a valuable tool to keep parks and nature areas spruced up while providing jobs to unemployed people, is now only a shadow of FDR’s grand plan to improve the nation’s forests, parks and fisheries and far from its heyday — from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s — when it was funded through a multimillion-dollar endowment and had hundreds of people supplementing Department of Natural Resource workers in state parks and waterways. The culprit has been the state’s sluggish economy, which siphoned money from the once-popular program.

Steve Philip was the administrator of the program from when it was reintroduced in Michigan in 1984 until his retirement in 2002. During much of that time, the MCCC was paid for with a $20-million state endowment fund, and Philip had about $5 million a year to hire unemployed people to help with recreation projects around the state.

Then, the workers lived in three camps around the state and completed a large number of park improvements and enhancements — creating trails and constructing buildings in the parks, re-roofing old buildings built during the original CCC days, and helping work at fisheries around the state.

“It’s one of the best ways for the state to spend money to make money,” Philip said. “You’re taking people off welfare and giving them a productive job. And the DNR gets a lot of work done.”

But the economic free fall of the last decade caused the state to raid and drain the endowment fund in 2007 to help solve budget deficits.

“It was a shock to those of us involved in the program,” Philip said. “You go from hundreds of people to 12. In the history of Michigan, we need a program like this now. When times are good, we get programs like this, but when times are bad, that tends to be when we lose them.”

Because the endowment was lost, the MCCC has been paid for this year through $486,833 in the DNR’s budget and has just eight people working on stewardship projects, such as the controlled burn of 99 acres at Sterling State Park in Monroe on April 3 that killed invasive species and rejuvenated the soil so the native prairie land at the park can be restored. The department also is helped by legions of volunteers who put in 11,000 hours of work in state parks. It’s even helped by inmates with the Michigan Department of Corrections, which has a horticulture program to cultivate and grow the native seeds gathered by the MCCC crews to be replanted in state parks.

Four more MCCC employees work at a shop at Hartwick Pines State Park near Grayling, making the signs that are used at all the state parks.

It’s not much, but it’s all the DNR can afford.

“We are still using the MCCC mechanism, but we fund it ourselves through a much smaller amount of money,” said Ron Olson, the DNR’s director of parks and recreation. “It enables us to employ underemployed individuals and people who want to qualify for some AmeriCorps grants.”

Collins and Lee Slingerland, 27, of Algonac are MCCC members who helped with the controlled burn at Sterling State Park and who are using the program to qualify for AmeriCorps grants that can be used toward college degrees.

In addition to the $7.40 minimum wage MCCC members are paid, Collins has earned $7,000 in college grants while Slingerland has qualified for $10,000 in AmeriCorps grants. Both will go to Northern Michigan University later this year and plan to study environmental sciences for Collins and fisheries and wildlife for Slingerland.

“I would like to ultimately have my office in the woods,” Slingerland said.

Last year, the Legislature passed laws that would beef up the MCCC once again but didn’t put any state dollars behind the initiative. Instead, the Legislature ordered the DNR to appoint a committee that could identify a nonprofit that would be willing and financially able to run the program with help from the DNR and other public institutions such as colleges that could provide credits for the MCCC work.

“It is one of those things that is a great concept, but more difficult to achieve the ideals of the program,” Olson said. “We haven’t appointed the committee yet. But it’s on the agenda.”

State Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, one of the sponsors of the legislation said the MCCC is a program worth investing in, but setting up the structure for the new organization was a good first step.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of interest in putting state dollars in when the legislation passed,” she said. “But maybe it’s a good time to revisit as we’re doing the budgets now.”

James Clift, policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council, said the state has been starving some of the natural resource-based departments for years.

“And now the economy is finally starting to rebound to the point where we’re getting more money into the state coffers and the first thing the Legislature does is grant a huge tax cut to business,” he said. “If you look historically, really good things have happened with this program.”

Instead of just foisting it on a nonprofit, the state should have some skin in the game, Clift added.

“Otherwise, the nonprofit is going to say, ‘Is the state going to be an equal partner or am I just going to be out there having to sink and swim by myself,’ ” he said.

Warren noted that this is one more program that will help keep young people in Michigan.

“We’re going all over the world advertising Pure Michigan and encouraging people to come here, but we haven’t had enough funding in our state park system, and a lot of natural resource protection programs to keep our pure Michigan as wonderful as we’d like it to be,” she said. “This program is a real win-win.”

 

“People can get through the unimaginable if they stick together” – a member of the Texas Conservation Corps reflects on disaster relief

A member of the Texas Conservation Corps reflects on her experience assisting with disaster relief in West, TX – the location of an April 2013 fertilizer plant explosion that injured over 200 people and killed 15. 

Taken from the Texas Conservation Corps blog
– by Heather Kouros, Corpsmember 

The term disaster can refer to an event, or series of events, natural or human induced that causes a significant amount of damage; whether it be in loss of lives or in the physical shifting of the environment. “Disaster” in and of itself doesn’t refer to a specific event, but rather to its scale, its effect. Since returning from my 2 weeks in West, working disaster relief and thinking about disaster, the main idea that keeps coming back to me is the severing that occurs when disaster strikes. The disruption of time and space, of a place and its functions. The expulsion of a people from the routine of their daily lives, into something unimaginable, with no set guidelines or instruction manual. This is certainly the case for the town of West, Texas, a small community of about 3,000, that became a household name when a fertilizer plant exploded on April 17th,2013.

As TxCC’s Emergency Response Team working in West, our goal was to help facilitate the transition into this new reality. We dealt with critical aspects of disaster recovery that can be neglected when tragedy hits: donations and volunteer management. After deploying to West, our crew was hit with the insanity of West Fest Fairgrounds donation site, the major drop off and distribution center for donations that oversaw over 120 tons of donations. Displaced residents, unclear of the fates of their homes and families members, picked through piles of donations. Over 5,000 volunteers came to help during our time here. We recorded their volunteer hours and other data  so that their presence will help reduce the local cost of the disaster and then we coordinated precise locations and tasks so that their work could be best utilized.

Upon learning the Incident Command operational systems from the  immediate responders, Team Rubicon, our crews were thrown into the field. The entire location was our responsibility; feeding, volunteer reception and coordination and handling the tons of donations that were received daily. We developed a volunteer reception center that could handle the flow of people coming to lend a hand, and directed these people to crew members working in the warehouse itself for task delegation. We also had a team of people in the office, updating reports and data. We received contact information for the hundreds of people offering services, developed a media management program, made site maps of affected areas, and put up a facebook page as an informational resource.

As operations expanded over the course of the next few days, our responsibilities shifted from West Fest to the other locations that were providing relief and resources. ERT members were stationed at the Joint Assistance Facility (JAC), where they assisted over 80 homeowners with intake forms so that they could receive free assistance from volunteer organizations. Team members coordinated volunteers with locations needing assistance all over the city, and arranged for critical resources to be brought into the areas most devastated by the explosion. We managed reentry registration, handing out damage assessments to affected homeowners and helping guide them to the resources they needed. We developed a database for volunteer hours and homeowner intake forms that was maintained daily, and served as an informational platform to the public. We dedicated our time to creating a structure that could be transitioned to city appointed leaders, who would lead the long term recovery program.

The deployment in West was our crew’s first experience leading during a disaster, and we all struggled and overcame the challenges it presented together. We worked fourteen hour days, getting lost in our work and all that needed to be done, and slept in the office that served as our home base. We cried with each other from the stress, bad food and exhaustion, but also for the tragedy and grief of our temporary home and all the people in it we had quickly come to love. We helped people find their dogs, we listened to their stories, we fed them and ate (too much) and we bonded about Jesus. We even met Batman, the weirdest and most righteous volunteer ever. We learned about resilience and optimism, and that people can get through the unimaginable if they stick together.

California Conservation Corps Dispatches Over 100 Corpsmembers to Fires

Photo Credit: California Conservation Corps

*** May 3rd Update ***

MORE CREWS DISPATCHED TO FIRES NORTH AND SOUTH

As of May 3, the CCC has 165 corpsmembers (12 crews) assigned to fires throughout the state, working under the direction of Cal Fire.  Both initial-attack and logistical support crews have been dispatched. 

Four crews are assigned to the Springs Fire near Camarillo in Ventura County.  The crews are from Camarillo, Los  Angeles, Pomona and San Luis Obispo. On the Summit Fire near Banning in Riverside County, CCC crews from Camarillo, Pomona and San Bernardino are working. And in southeastern Tehama County, CCC crews from Chico, Redding and Ukiah are providing camp support.

The CCC is one of the state’s premier emergency response agencies and has additional crews available to be dispatched where needed.

The Los Angeles Times has posted an article, photos, and video about the fire. The video shows Camarillo 21 cutting line with helicopter drops on the Springs Fire. If you look down in the article there is a link that says “Photos: Camarillo Brush Fire” picture # 30 and 32 are CM’s from Crew 21. 

 

More than 100 members of the California Conservation Corps have been dispatched to fires in both Northern and Southern California.

Two Camarillo fire crews and two camp support crews from Pomona and San Bernardino have responded to the Summit Fire in Riverside County. Another Camarillo fire crew has been sent to the Springs Fire in Ventura County. And CCC crews from Chico, Redding and Ukiah are providing logistical support on the Panther Fire in Butte County.

All of the crews are working under the direction of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The Green City Force Community Meeting

 

Green City Academy and the Community Meeting

It isn’t called Green City Force for nothing. The dictionary says that a “force” is a physical energy or power. Green City Force Corpsmembers show their power through their ability to educate people and make a real difference in how low-income New Yorkers consume energy. They display power by making a real difference in the lives of community members through service projects that range from food distribution at a local soup kitchen to Hurricane Sandy disaster cleanup. Corpsmembers also show power in their commitment to the Green City Force program and to each other. The main vehicle through which they express this commitment is the GCF Community meeting. 

Once a week, Corpsmembers gather for Green City Academy and the Community Meeting. Green City Academy, the classroom component of GCF, involves preparing Corpsmembers for green careers and higher education by helping them brush up on math and literacy skills and teaching them basic job readiness skills. Corpsmembers spend the day completing reading and writing assignments, meeting with career counselors, and working through the Roots of Success eco-literacy curriculum. All Corpsmembers also prepare for the Building Performance Institute certification needed for a career in energy efficiency auditing.

With just one day a week to cover classroom material and help Corpsmembers work towards their AmeriCorps Education Awards, Green City Academy can be very busy. The entire day isn’t spent in front of a whiteboard, however; for about one hour, after the books are put away, all Green City Force Corpsmembers and staff gather for the Community Meeting. The meeting is a chance for people to openly discuss their thoughts about the program and speak candidly about concerns or issues they have.

Everyone does not participate in the same meeting; for instance, the roughly two dozen EmPower Corpsmembers and their Team Leaders meet separately from the rest of the group. The EmPower Community Meeting begins with Announcements and a chance to discuss what the team accomplished over the previous week. This week, several Corpsmembers who had the chance to shadow building efficiency auditors talked about how they got hands on training in plastering, foam insulation installation, and window installation. Other Corpsmembers talk about how they met with the Green City Force Board of Directors earlier in the week.

Later in the meeting, it’s time for the Feedback Session. Corpsmembers and staff speak directly to one another and either give praise, or give positive reinforcement along with a suggestion for improvement. Corpsmembers encourage their peers to stay focused and not lose sight of their goals. They might use this opportunity to publically apologize to someone, to tell a friend that he needs to take the job more seriously, or to let someone know that they’re doing a good job. This open, honest communication allows for stronger bonding and more productive relationships. The Feedback Session also helps remind Corpsmembers why they came to the Corps in the first place; hearing personalized encouragement or concern from a peer might be just the right motivation a Corpsmember needs to get him or herself through the program.

Another section of the Community Meeting offers a chance for people to share their “hopes.” Corpsmembers and staff pass around a tiny potted tree and “water” the plant with their hopes for themselves, fellow crewmembrers, and the program. Corpsmembers that want to share a hope wait for their turn to hold the pot and stand in the middle of the group to speak. The whole process is professional and the hopes people share are insightful and sincere. Some of the hopes are very specific, while some of them apply to the whole group. This week, several Corpsmembers expressed the hope that everyone in the EmPower team would continue to grow and learn. One Corpsmember, who had seen Green City Force alumni warmly welcomed whenever they returned to visit their old supervisors, hoped for a day when he could make a triumphant return to Green City Force. Another Corpsmember who was concerned that he and his peers sometimes lacked motivation, expressed the hope that everyone on the team remain committed to the program and graduate with a sense of accomplishment.

“GCF is like a family. We do training and service and things like that, but at the end of the day we all come together because we’re a force. We’re a force moving towards the same goal,” he said. “We’re supposed to enjoy our time here because we’re here to learn. It’s only six months; it’s not like we’re going to be locked with each other forever. But we came together with a common goal and I feel like sometimes people lose that value. So my hope this week is that we can all appreciate what GCF is intended to give us.”

 

 

Forests, Parks & Gardens: the Many Ways NYRP Keeps New York City Green

By Hannah Traverse

Sherman Creek Park, Swindler Cove

It’s 10 a.m. and a group of elementary school students has just arrived at Sherman Creek Park for a nature presentation. The students and their teachers gather at a semi-circle of picnic benches and wait as Shawn Walton and Michelle Mar pass out binoculars.

Shawn and Michelle are both AmeriCorps members with New York Restoration Project, a non-profit dedicated to bringing green spaces to underserved communities in New York City’s five boroughs. Shawn and Michelle, who both started at NYRP in January 2013, are environmental educators. Along with Mya Jenkins, the NYRP Education Manager, Shawn and Michelle work to develop educational activities and lead students on nature walks through Sherman Creek Park, located along the Harlem River.

Though the first couple months of their AmeriCorps service were spent planning activities and creating informational materials, Shawn and Michelle now spend their days in the park with visiting students. They usually teach two classes a day, three to four times a week.

Each class begins with Mya, Shawn and Michelle welcoming students to the park and showing them several thought provoking items, like preserved insects or dried fungus. Then the binoculars are distributed and the nature walk begins. Sherman Creek Park is full of flowers and budding trees this time of year, but Swindler Cove hasn’t always looked this way. In fact, those who are familiar with the region’s history know it’s quite extraordinary that a park can now exist here.


The pond in Sherman Creek Park

Back in the 1990s, NYRP helped develop a garden at P.S. 5, an elementary school located on what is now the edge of Sherman Creek Park. At the time, the area that eventually became the park was used as an illegal dump. The ground was heaped with trash, car parts, and tangled masses of invasive vines. The waterfront was lined with collapsed boathouses and debris. NYRP saw potential in this forgotten part of Harlem and began the process of transforming the dump into a useable green space.

From about 1996 to 1999, NYRP hauled away trash and removed the thick cover of vines. The next few years were spent restoring the land and the waterfront to their natural beauty by reintroducing native plants. The five-acre park now includes an urban forest, wetlands, a vegetable garden, a freshwater pond, and a boathouse – all connected by a wide, well-maintained trail. NYRP is now expanding the reclamation efforts by improving a longer stretch of the shoreline. One of their bigger projects involved planting 200 flowering cherry trees between the river and Harlem River Drive.

Back with the class, Mya leads the students to the park’s freshwater pond and quizzes them about the difference between shallow water and deep water. She encourages the students to look for the tadpoles and pumpkin seed fish swimming in the sunny parts of the pond. Then Michelle takes over and asks the students to identify other kinds of animals that might like living in the pond: Squirrels? Turtles? Ants? 

The class works its way through the park, pausing at the waterfront to look at the ducks and cormorants. They stroll through the urban forest to see what’s in bloom and to look for birds. They stop in the garden and gather around the 18 raised beds to learn about where fruits and vegetables come from. Shawn and Michelle love seeing how excited the kids get when they see one of the park’s resident Red-tailed Hawks, or when they watch the snapping turtle swimming in the pond, or when they see food they recognize from the grocery store growing right out of the ground.

In the process of teaching classes, developing activities for visiting students, and helping maintain the park, both Shawn and Michelle say they’ve learned a great deal. Shawn learned that the Harlem River is technically an estuary, not a river. Michelle has picked up gardening tips and learned how to identify many new birds. She hopes to one day have her own vegetable garden.

The nature walk ends back at the picnic benches where Shawn has set up a collection of preserved insects and spiders under magnifying glasses. As the class troops back up to the tables, Michelle stops to get a better look at a large water bird she’s just noticed bobbing in the river.

“What is that?…I’m always looking things up in this job. I’m always learning new things.”

 

Highbridge Park

It’s fair to say that most people think of the Brooklyn Bridge when they hear about New York City’s oldest bridge. Not many people know that High Bridge, crossing the Harlem River to connect the Bronx to Upper Manhattan, was completed in 1848 – over twenty years before construction on the Brooklyn Bridge even began.

Probably part of the reason why High Bridge is often forgotten is because it’s a footbridge. Part of the reason is because it fell into disrepair and has been closed to traffic since the 1970s. From the ‘70s to the ‘90s, the bridge went neglected because its western end was the derelict Highbridge Park.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Highbridge provided upper middle-class New Yorkers with a place to go horseback riding and rowing. However, with the development of Washington Heights and the construction of the Harlem River Drive, Highbridge became dirty and less accessible. The forgotten park soon became a place for illegal activity. Squatters constructed shacks and people came to deal in drugs and prostitution. Highbridge’s 119 acres were soon littered with trash and the remnants of stolen cars. The park’s grass, plantings, and many of its trees died as uncontrolled vines overtook them.

In the mid to late 1990s, New York Restoration Project (NYRP) reclaimed the Swindler Cove waterfront and created Sherman Creek Park. As development of Sherman Creek progressed, NYRP expanded their reclamation efforts to include the northern end of Highbridge, located just on the other side of the Harlem River Drive. When NYRP started work in Highbridge, it was so overgrown and littered that most of the pathways were buried and needed to be excavated. NYRP removed nearly 500 tons of trash from the park in 1996 alone.

After clearing the trash and the shells of stolen cars, NYRP then worked with the New York City Parks Department to begin restoration of Highbridge by beautifying the northern entrances. Bit by bit, they then removed the invasive vines and helped plant native trees, flowers, and shrubs. Jason Smith, the NYRP Campus Regional Director who oversees Highbridge, estimates that some 3,000 to 4,000 trees have been planted in the park since the late 1990s. The reintroduction of these native plants was excellent for wildlife; the park is now home to hawks, field mice, snakes, squirrels, and many different bird species. NYRP staff members who have seen Highbridge through its transformation agree that every year they see more and different kinds of birds.


Stages of restoration at Highbridge Park. In the background is an area of vines that NYRP staff and Corpsmembers have not yet had a chance to remove. These parts of the park represent what the entire area used to look like before NYRP’s intervention. 

Work on the northern end of the park continues to this day. With the help of volunteers, a group of AmeriCorps members and NYRP staff members maintain what’s already been reclaimed and continue to pull out invasives. Tony Lewis, NYRP’s Highbridge Area Supervisor, generally oversees two AmeriCorps members in the winter and three members in the Spring. At any given time, there are about 20 NYRP AmeriCorps members up in Northern Manhattan. Tony started at NYRP as a Corpsmember after he was inspired by the before-and-after pictures of Highbridge. He says that many of the park’s current volunteers come for a similar reason.

“We started just by prettying up the edges to invite people in,” said Tony. “Now they see how we’ve cleaned up the area and they’ve become interested. They’ve become very dedicated, helping us pull out vines and invasives.”

Some parts of the northern end of the park have what Tony likes to refer to as “DVS”: Dead Vine Syndrome. Many native trees still struggle to survive under the gnarled dead branches of porcelain berry and other fast-growing vines. This is where the attention of AmeriCorps members is essential to the park’s success.

“If you couldn’t tell, I’m very dedicated to my AmeriCorps members,” said Tony.


A restored area of the Harlem River along Sherman Creek Park

Tony not only remembers the names of every AmeriCorps member that’s served under him at Highbridge; he remembers which specific plants they added to the park’s landscape. He fondly refers to certain plants as “so-and-so’s rose bush” or “so-and-so’s ferns.”

Kennedy is one of the AmeriCorps members who currently serves as part of the Highbridge-Sherman Creek Park urban forest crew. He used to work as a security guard at the Con Edison building located opposite Sherman Creek Park on the Harlem River. Ken was so intrigued by the restoration work happening in the park that he went down and spoke with someone from NYRP who was collecting litter along the water’s edge. He liked the idea of working outside and eventually applied to the program. These days, Ken is Tony’s “right hand man.” He’s been taking classes at the New York Botanical Garden and hopes to eventually pursue a career in horticulture.

In addition to gardening and forestry work, AmeriCorps members and NYRP staff help manage the park’s volunteers. In Sherman Creek, many volunteers help with the children’s garden or with the park’s compositing effort, which involves recycling food waste from a local farmers’ market.

“The composting is just part of our main goal to show what sustainable, environmentally friendly land management can look like in a low-income community,” said Jason Smith.

One of NYRP’s biggest goals right now is to improve the forest cover in Highbridge. Many branches and several large, old trees came down last year during Hurricane Sandy and preceding storms. The organization plans to plant several hundred new trees this fall. Within the past year they planted about 2,500 trees as part of the development of the Highbridge Park Mountain Bike Trail, the only one of its kind in Manhattan. Though NYRP did not build the trail, they have worked with the local volunteers and BMX riders who did in order to protect and promote the growth of the new trees planted on the trail’s eastern edge.

Mountain bike riders are certainly a new addition to the park, but most of Highbridge’s patrons are newcomers, too. Jason, who has worked at Highbridge and Sherman Creek long enough to remember when the park was too dangerous for recreational use, has seen enormous, positive changes in park patronage.

“Families use the park now. You see children and people walking dogs,” said Jason. “When I started, you would have never seen that happen.”

 

Northern Manhattan Community Gardens

Maggie’s Garden

Some of the parks managed by NYRP range over 100 acres. But there are many NYRP-managed properties that cover just a couple thousand square feet. These are the NYRP Community Gardens. There are 11 gardens in Upper Manhattan, nine of them located in East Harlem.

Some of the gardens are so small and shaded by trees that they could go unnoticed by someone unfamiliar with the neighborhood. To those who live in the community, however, the gardens serve as safe, welcoming places to enjoy some fresh air and meet with friends and family. Many of the gardens have seating areas, gazebos, and grills, making them perfect places for celebrations and summertime barbeques.

No two gardens are exactly alike. Barry Elmore, NYRP’s Manhattan Zone Gardener, points out that many of the gardens were established community gathering places well before NYRP assumed management responsibility. In the late 1990s, over 100 community gardens throughout New York City were scheduled for auction. To save these green spaces from development, NYRP took title to 52 of the gardens and established the New York Garden Trust. The Trust for Public Land took control of most of the remaining gardens. NYRP now partners with community gardeners to ensure that these precious plots remain useable green spaces for everyone in the neighborhood to enjoy.

Some of the Upper Manhattan gardens have raised beds for community members to grow their own produce. Some of the well-shaded gardens are almost entirely paved and act more as courtyards than places to grow fruits and vegetables. It is the job of NYRP staff members and AmeriCorps members to make sure the gardens stay clean, the paths stay clear, and the plantings stay healthy and free of weeds. Barry noted that some of the gardens have been looked after by dedicated community members for many years. NYRP works with these caretakers to make sure the gardens get the appropriate attention and resources.


Rodale Garden

For Barry and the AmeriCorps members who help in the gardens, Monday and Friday are generally days for picking up litter and maintaining greenhouse plants. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are when they can give the gardens more specialized attention: they prune shrubs and trees, plant donated flora, use the bag-snagging device to remove plastic bags from trees, and work with partnering organizations to build raised planting beds and help with events.

A few of the Upper Manhattan gardens are sponsored by major companies or reflect certain themes. The103rd Street Garden, sponsored by Disney, includes a basketball court and playground. The tiny Wicked Garden, based off the Broadway musical, features a yellow brick road and other Oz-inspired fixtures. The Family Garden, commonly known as the Tiffany Garden because of its sponsorship by the iconic American jewelry company, features a shaded front courtyard gated by a wrought iron fence.

One small sign of how the community has invested in the Tiffany Garden and others is how people will sometimes hide cat food under the bushes for the neighborhood strays. At the Tiffany Garden, located just around the corner from Raos, a famous Italian restaurant, Barry says the cats sometimes eat like kings, receiving leftover calamari and whole chickens.

Communities are obviously invested in the gardens in many other ways as well. The Los Amigos Garden, located in the heart of Spanish Harlem, was recognized by the New York State Council on the Arts for its importance to the local Latino population. Though it was constructed in the early 1980s, NYRP worked with community members to redesign the space to better suit their needs. The garden reopened in 2010 with a newly constructed casita where people from the neighborhood come to play cards, relax, and host traditional meals.                                                                                        

“Each garden is a little different based on the community’s needs,” said Barry. “The biggest thing is to try and get the community involved.”

 

Improving Building Efficiency One Day…Tearing Buildings Down the Next

 

It’s windy and the weather is colder than the forecast predicted, but it’s easy to stay warm when you’re bundled in a head-to-toe Tyvek suit. Along with respirators, gloves and safety goggles, the suits are part of the uniform worn by the Green City Force Corpsmembers tasked with salvaging homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

It’s been almost six months since Sandy struck, but for some New Yorkers the storm might as well have just hit yesterday. Down in Sheepshead Bay, a neighborhood of Southern Brooklyn located along the Rockaway Inlet, many homes were completely inundated by storm surges. Even now, home interiors are still filled with mud-coated furniture. The walls are still covered in moldy sheetrock and wet insulation. Most families are simply not capable of addressing the storm damage on their own. This is where Green City Force comes in.

The goal of Green City Force, a Brooklyn-based Service Corps that enrolls residents of New York City Housing Authority buildings, is to end the cycle of poverty and protect the environment by training low-income young adults for “green collar” careers. The Corpsmembers, who range in age from 18 to 24, spend six months getting hands on training and learning about fields related to the clean energy economy, including energy efficiency, weatherization, urban agriculture, and improving community environmental health. Corpsmembers also participate in community service projects; but lately many of their additional service projects have focused on Sandy recovery.  

Today, a cloudy Thursday in mid-April, marks the third time that this team of Green City Force Corpsmembers has helped with the Sheepshead Bay cleanup efforts, building on the work of last Fall’s Corpsmembers. Using prepaid MetroCards issued by Green City Force, many Corpsmembers have traveled well over an hour to get here. Their first stop is a trailer run by Occupy Sandy; a coalition of Occupy Wall Street members working to distribute volunteers and resources in storm-damaged neighborhoods. Green City Force and Occupy Sandy are not officially affiliated, but the Corps has arranged to spend the day volunteering in whatever homes Occupy Sandy has scheduled for cleanup.


 

At the trailer, about 10 Corpsmembers from the Green City Force EmPower Team and their Crew Leader, Kenta Darley-Usmar, gather protective gear, trash bags and crowbars. Their first job today will involve taking down the sheetrock and fiberglass insulation from the interior of a damaged storage room. The walls and insulation – wet, muddy, and covered in mold – crumble easily, necessitating the use of respirators. Corpsmembers use hammers and crowbars to break holes in the walls, then use their hands to pull down the sheetrock. Other Corpsmembers collect the debris in trash bags and take it to the curb.

After a pizza lunch provided by the grateful owners of the storage room, the EmPower team heads off to another house. This second home has already had the sheetrock and insulation removed, so Corpsmembers get to work pulling out moldy kitchen cabinets, doors and door frames. Some Corpsmembers wait outside and use hammers to remove nails and staples from the wood. Though they admit there’s something therapeutic about being able to tear things down, the Corpsmembers are solemn and very respectful of the property.


 

“It feels good to help families. This is a lot of work so you know there’s no way they could’ve done it on their own. But we get it done,” said Angie Lacy, a Corpsmember with the EmPower team.

Angie and a fellow Corpsmember, Angela Almonte, commented on how helping muck out damaged homes is in many ways easier than the outreach work they do as members of the EmPower team. Except for on service days like this one, the EmPower team normally spends four days a week doing environmental education in low-income neighborhoods. Their main job is to inform eligible residents about a state program through which they can receive energy efficient appliances for free. Corpsmembers then help with the application process and follow-up work. The team also distributes CFL light bulbs and information about ways people can reduce their utility bills. Eventually the Corpsmembers will become certified to actually do energy efficiency audits and install aerators and eco-friendly appliances. As Angela points out, helping muck out damaged homes is actually very applicable to the program’s main goal because it allows Corpsmembers the opportunity to learn about building safety and see the skeletal structure of buildings.

Angela discusses how the EmPower team’s outreach work can often be challenging because it involves having to get the attention of sometimes reluctant residents and then gain their trust. Whereas tearing down a wall is pretty straightforward, outreach work can be unpredictable. When they can, the team tries to set up their table in front of an apartment building that has a looped driveway so that residents can see there are multiple Corpsmembers all working together.

“Sometimes people kind of don’t feel like they’re being helped,” said Angela. “But it’s a really good feeling when you see that they know they’re being helped and they really appreciate it.”

Angela and Angie are both very dedicated to completing the six months of GCF and continuing on to college. Angela hopes to study architecture, while Angie wants to pursue a degree in biology. Both young women have an interest in science that brought them to Green City Force in the first place — Angela attended the Gateway Academy for Environmental Research and Technology; a public high school where she had the chance to take classes in biotechnology and robotics. Angie took botany in school and excelled in environmental science. When Angela heard about GCF from her mother, and Angie saw a flyer for the program in her apartment building, they were both intrigued by the prospect of gaining green industry job experience.

“I’ve learned a lot while I’ve been here. It’s opened my eyes to a lot of things, like how the earth really is warming up, and how we’re running out of resources,” said Angie. “We’ve been to a lot of places and we’ve experienced a lot of things – things I definitely wouldn’t have experienced on my own. Our resumes are going to look great by the end of this.” 

Finding a New Beginning in Your Own Community – the NYC Justice Corps

 

Finding a steady job can be difficult for anyone who’s been involved with the court system, but it can be especially hard for a young offender. A jail sentence can disrupt a teen’s educational path and prevent the development of basic job skills and work experience most young adults gain in their early twenties. Without a resume, a high school diploma, or job market savvy, many young offenders are left with few options and return to the bad habits that landed them in trouble. Fortunately, there are programs like NYC Justice Corps to help these youth stay off the streets and improve their educational and employment outcomes.

The mission of NYC Justice Corps is straightforward, but the organization’s comprehensive programming touches many people in the communities the Corps serves. Participants in the Corps learn work readiness skills, gain hands-on job experience, can earn their GED or trade certification, and receive personal counseling and support. Corpsmembers acquire their hands-on experience by completing volunteer projects that benefit local churches, daycare centers, senior care facilities and other organizations in need of assistance. Essentially, Corpsmembers benefit from having a second chance to build a future, and other members of the community benefit from their service. 

To be eligible to join the Corps, participants must be between the ages of 18 and 24 and must live within one of nearly 20 zip codes in Harlem and the Bronx. They also must be on probation or parole, have been released from jail or prison within the last year, or have participated in an alternative-to-incarceration program within the past year. Though some Corpsmembers once participated in illegal activities that hurt the South Bronx, the Justice Corps offers them a chance to give back to the community and show people that they’ve changed.  

“A lot of these Corpsmembers are natural leaders, and it’s just all about how they funnel their energy. There are a lot of people out there who will follow you, so why not have them follow you to do something good?” said Juan Gonzalez, a Senior Site Supervisor at the Corps’s Fulton Avenue location in the South Bronx. “A lot of these kids could be counselors. They could be social workers. They could have active, positive lives instead of going around doing things they shouldn’t be doing. Everybody has something they shouldn’t be doing, but there’s always a point in your life when everything clicks and you realize ‘I need to stop doing this. I need to move forward.’ I’m hoping that our Corpsmembers who haven’t heard that click yet can get in tune with it. We can’t force them to change, but we can help.”

Juan is new to NYC Justice Corps, but he has worked in youth development for over 25 years. He has a great deal of experience working with homeless, runaway, and LGBT youth and has developed a passion for helping young people find their way. He likes how the model of the Justice Corps helps its young participants get on their feet through structured service projects that help the whole community. He hopes that these service projects help Corpsmembers build a connection with the neighborhood that leads them to want to stay, build a family, and continue to help local organizations grow and thrive.


 

Recently, Corpsmembers have helped manage the food pantry at a church that supplies food distribution efforts at other churches throughout the Bronx. On Mondays, Corpsmember pack over 200 grocery bags. On Tuesday mornings they help distribute the bags to people in the community. Wednesdays and Thursdays are when they unload food delivery trucks and prepare it to be picked up by representatives from some 80 other congregations. On Tuesdays, there is usually a long line, wrapped around the corner, of people in need of food assistance.

“This kind of giving involves working hand-in-hand with the community. You might even see someone who you know,” said Juan. “When our guys see that line around the corner, I hope something clicks and they think, how could you hurt a community that’s already hurting so much?”

Service projects, which might range from food distribution to mural painting and lawn maintenance, are only one aspect of the Justice Corps’ program. After Corpsmembers are recruited and enrolled, they have about one month of orientation and training. They then must complete about 10 – 14 weeks of community service projects. The final step of the six month process is a roughly two-month-long internship with an outside organization. Partway through the community service portion of the program, Corpsmembers undergo OSHA training that allows them to perform light construction work. They might help paint and plaster the exterior of a church, or put up new sheetrock walls in a daycare center.

“We just want to be visible in the community, through our work and through word of mouth from the organizations we work with. Just through word of mouth we get referred a lot and we’re pretty well known in the South Bronx,” said Andrew McKee, a former Corpsmember and current Site Supervisor who won a 2011 Corpsmember of the Year Award.

In his position as Senior Site Supervisor, one of Juan’s responsibilities is to do outreach and find more organizations in the Bronx that might benefit from the services of Corpsmembers. He knows there are plenty of churches and community centers that would love to have a few helping hands – it’s now just a matter of making sure they’re aware of the program. Juan also envisions a future in which more young people know about the Justice Corps, too. Right now, many Corpsmembers are mandated to join the program or hear about it from a counselor. Elizabeth Murrell and Phillip Crosby are two examples of Corpsmembers who came to the program on a counselor or parole officer’s recommendation.

“When I came out of jail I was looking for something to do — something I could do with my time that would help me stay out of trouble, stay off the streets. And then I found out they were paying here. I can get my money and do something with myself, and possibly get something in the end. So it was perfect,” said Elizabeth. “I never actually had a job before, so being here and getting some experience has been really helpful. They taught me how to organize and how to dress and how to act in the business world.”


Computers in the former NYC Justice Corps alumni center. Corpsmembers can use the Computers on Fridays or during downtime. The Site Supervisors hope to install software on the computers that can help Corpsmember learn basic office skills. 
 

Elizabeth and Phillip are part of the same cohort, but they participate in slightly different programming. Elizabeth spends some of her days in the field working on service projects and some of her days in the classroom working towards her GED. Phillip, who came into the Corps with a bachelor’s degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, spends every day on the work site. Just as Elizabeth is studying for her GED, other Corpsmembers spend some of their days at Bronx Community College where they work to become certified plumbers or electricians. On Fridays, all Corpsmembers work with counselors to prepare their resumes and plan their next steps. Fridays are also when they participate in mock interviews, receive job training, and have a chance to meet with a psychiatrist.

At the end of the six month program, Elizabeth hopes to have her GED and be able to pursue a hands-on career in construction. Phillip hopes to pursue a trade, but he has yet to decide which specific field he wants to enter.

“Before the end of the six months even comes, we’re supposed to already have our foot in the door at an internship or a job. Basically they help us throughout the six months so that before we graduate we’re supposed to already know what we’re going to do. They help us, but it’s on us to make the initial steps,” said Phillip. “This whole program prepares you for an actual job, for the real world. What you’re doing here, you could be doing the same exact thing in a job.”

Both Elizabeth and Phillip say they’ve learned a great deal in the past couple months. Elizabeth says she’s brushed up on her math skills and has improved her communications skills. Phillip says he’s learned how to interview better and says he was surprised to learn about how organized and complex the church’s food distribution system is. Both Corpsmembers say they would recommend the program to other young people looking for a fresh start.

“It’s not a waste,” said Elizabeth. “You actually do something with your time while you’re here and you can benefit from it in the long run.”