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Getting Things Started Right: 2011 National Conference Begins

The 2011 Corpsmembers of the Year. From Left to Right: Tyler Rose of Coconino Rural Environment Corps (Arizona), De’Andre Alexander of Operation Fresh Start (Wisconsin), Mari TakemotoChock of KUPU (Hawaii), Christopher Thomas of California Conservation Corps, Andrew McKee of NYC Justice Corps (New York), and Oscar Marquina of Utah Conservation Corps.

The Corps Network opened the 2011 Annual Corps Forum with an ambitious schedule. After a warm welcome to attendees and a big thanks to Forum planners and sponsors, the audience was treated to a 7 minute video about the 6 primary stars of the Forum— the Corpsmembers of the Year.

After celebrating the Corpsmembers, Former Senator and Service Champion Harris Wofford gave a heartfelt tribute to his recently departed friend, Sargent Shriver. Shriver was the first director of the Peace Corps and was an adament supporter of National Service.

Next Denise Fairchild, the Executive Director of the Emerald Cities Collaborative, talked to Sally Prouty about her work and described how Service and Conservation Corps will play an important role in helping to retrofit many of America’s urban buildings to make them greener and more energy efficient.

Switching gears again, the trio of Mary Ellen Ardouny, Harry Bruell, and Gene Sofer provided an update about the state of politics in our nation’s Capitol. They talked about Congress’s desire to cut spending and what it would mean for Americorps. On a more positive note, they also described The Corps Network’s efforts to build federal partnerships and pass legislation that will benefit its members nationwide.

Harry Bruell and Mary Ellen Ardouny.

The Opening Session concluded with a surprise appearance from Mr. Peanut himself. He came to present a symbolic check that represented Planters’ investment in a new partnership with The Corps Network. Together, The Corps Network and Planters are creating urban parks in 4 cities that demonstrate our mutual commitment to improving communities. Afterward Mr. Peanut happily obliged an eager crowd by sticking around for photo opportunities.

Mr. Peanut proudly poses with (left to right): Sally Prouty, Executive Director of The Corps Network, Mr. Peanut’s Sidekick, James Jones, Senior Vice President at The Corps Network, and Jason Levine, Director of Marketing for Planters.

Corpsmember Success Story: Luis Cruz

From the October 2012 edition of Corps Conection – the Sequoia Community Corps Newsletter

Luis Cruz has been an outstanding member of the Sequoia Community Corps for five years. After a friend told him about the Corps, Luis joined to learn valuable job skills. Luis has learned how to complete projects such as plumbing, electrical, HVAC repair and more.

One of Luis’ most memorable experiences as a member of the Corps is assisting a disabled Porterville resident. She was unable to find work and wasn’t comfortable in her home. Luis helped install new windows, doors and a stove. The resident was extremely grateful and Luis was very happy to help someone that really needed it.

After he completes the Corps, Luis hopes to use his skills to help people and to find employment in the construction industry.

11 Impressive Fun Facts about Corps

1. Restored or improved 5,739,259 acres of land—an area larger than the state of New Jersey!

2. Constructed, restored, and maintained 95,337 miles of trails—enough to circle the Earth almost 4 times!

3. Helped thousands of people save money. Corpsmembers assessed or improved the energy efficiency in 55,191 homes. That’s similar to the number of houses in a city like Springfield, Illinois.

4. Removed or repainted 1,673,340 square feet of graffiti—a space equivalent to 29 football fields.

5. Constructed 104,952 feet of boardwalks, footbridges, and walkways—a distance more than 11 times the length of the Golden Gate Bridge.

6. Planted over 1 million trees nationwide (1,005,145 to be exact).

7. Mobilized 289,285 community volunteers— that’s enough people to fill Boston’s Fenway Ballpark for over 7 games. For every Corpsmember, nearly 10 additional community volunteers were generated. These volunteers completed 541,086 hours of work: an estimated value of $11,557,597.

8. Helped 108,602 students achieve improved academic success by emdeding Corpsmembers in schools.

9. Removed or eradicated exotic and invasive plants from 195,333 acres of land, an area nearly twice the size of Denver, Colorado.

10. Renovated and constructed 3,231 buildings.

11. Responded to at least 251 disasters including fires, floods, and storms.

Corpsmembers Complete Park Upgrades

From the October 2012 edition of Corps Connection – the Sequoia Community Corps Newsletter

In August, the Sequoia Community Corps completed work on 1800 square feet of concrete sidewalk for Mulcahy Park in the City of Tulare. The sidewalk was six feet wide and 300 feet long. The project, contracted by the City of Tulare, took one supervisor and four Corpsmembers eight working days to complete.

The new sidewalk is part of the City of Tulare’s new Mulcahy Park. When complete, the park will have sports fields, lighted walking trails, shade arbors and covered play areas for young children.

The concrete sidewalk installed by the Sequoia Community Corps will provide an easy and safe way for area residents to pass from the south end of the park to the north. It will also be included in the walking path that totals 1/2 mile.

Congratulations to the City of Tulare on this exciting project!

National Service: An Imperative in Today’s Economy

by AnnMaura Connolly
President, Voices for National Service; Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President, City Year, Inc.

When our country faces difficult times, economically or otherwise, it is almost always our citizenry that show us the way forward.

Today, we are faced with increasingly difficult choices. How can we meet the growing need for services with shrinking fiscal resources at every level of government? How can we improve the lives of people in our communities and help them thrive when we can barely afford to provide them with the basic services they need to survive?

The answer is clear. We need cost-effective strategies for public problem solving that leverage the most powerful resource we have: the American people.

Two new reports released by Voices for National Service detail the vital role national service plays in providing cost-effective solutions to improve local communities and strengthen the American workforce and economy at large.

Corps in Kansas City Teaches Youth to Care for Their Environment

Father John Wandless named his program the Urban Ranger Corps based on the philosophy that the participants “all live in the urban core and care for the environment around them — the yards and homes of their neighborhoods — like forest or park rangers.” This summer 58 Urban Rangers have spent seven weeks cleaning up trash and old tire strewn lots, shoring up or tearing down sagging porches and rebuilding them as decks or patios; patching and caulking holes in exterior walls and painting houses, building fences, mowing yards and trimming or cutting down overgrown trees and bushes. Work was completed for low-income homeowners, with particular focus on eldery persons and single parent households. The 32-hour work week and 4-hour weekly workshop sessions give the teens work experience and training and earn them a bi-weekly check that pays them up to $2,400 for the summer, for many of the young men, their first paycheck. Fund raising helps purchase equipment and tools and pays their wages. Read more here in an article by Marty Denzer of the Catholic Key Reporter.

San Francisco Conservation Corps completes work in Buena Vista

After three months of hard and rewarding work, San Francisco Conservation Corps Corpsmembers have completed the Buena Vista Project. SFCC partnered with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department’s Capital Division to identify and area of erosion and safety concern in the oldest park in San Francisco, the Buena Vista. Their work included deconstruction and re-building of stairways and retaining walls. See a slide show about their work here.

Corpsmembers of The Year Represent The Corps Network on New National Council of Young Leaders

The Corps Network is pleased to announce that 2012 Corpsmembers of the Year, Philan Tree of Coconino Rural Environment Corps and Ladine Daniels of Energy Conservation Corps/The Sustainability Institute have been appointed to the National Council of Young Leaders. This new Council made up of representatives from national youth-serving organizations is intended to be a permanent body that will advise the White House, Congress, philanthropists, business leaders, and other policymakers on issues affecting disadvantaged or “opportunity youth” and their communities. The next event for the Council will be participation in the Opportunity Nation Summit in Washington DC on September 19, 2012, where they will be leaders for young people from around the country (including several additional Corpsmembers).

More information about the Summit can be found here.

Dorothy Stoneman, founder and CEO of YouthBuild USA, Inc. (one of our partners in the National Council of Young Leaders) speaks to the role of youth-serving organizations in addressing challenges faced by Opportunity Youth in a recently published article on the Huffington Post called “Solutions are Obvious for a National Emergency”.

Additional efforts are being worked on to advance the voice of young people. Read more in this posting by SparkAction.

Strengthening America with the Clean Energy Corps

The Corps Network’s Clean Energy Corps program was featured this week on the Huffington Post in an article written by Interim CEO Mary Ellen Ardouny. The article explains how this youth development program, funded by AmeriCorps and operated in nine Corps, is making a difference.

She writes: “When we envisioned the program several years ago, we thought it would be an excellent way to engage Corpsmembers in work that would lead to credentials and careers, while at the same time saving energy and money for residents in their communities. I’m pleased to report that after nearly two years, the program has proven successful.”

In a recent six month period, the Clean Energy Corps weatherized and retrofitted 493 homes, of which 98 percent showed reduced annual energy usage based on pre and post-test data. In this same six month period, 3,510 households were informed about energy and cost-saving strategies and 746 additional community volunteers were mobilized on service projects.

But perhaps the biggest benefit comes to the Corpsmembers themselves. They receive credentials like the Building Performance Institute (BPI) Insulation/Air Sealing Technician certification, which allow them to more competitively pursue careers in the growing green energy industry.

Corps currently participating are American YouthWorks, CivicWorks, Green City Force, Heart of Oregon,Limitless Vistas, SEEDS, Chenango Community Corps, The Sustainability Institute/Energy Conservation Corps, and Youth Conservation Corps.

Utah Conservation Corps Bilingual Youth Corps Highlighted

Photo by Eli Lucero – Herald Journal

“Youth corps introduces uninitiated to great outdoors”

TONY GROVE — On a bright Wednesday morning just before 9 a.m., Tony Grove is virtually silent, save for a few birds chirping and the gentle gallop of horseback riders off in the distance.

But only a half hour later, a group from the Utah Conservation Corps Bilingual Youth Corps have arrived — doing some stretching, laughing, and then preparing for a 4-mile hike into the wilderness terrain to White Pine Lake.

Their gear includes yellow hard hats, boots, axes, shovels, and backpacks stuffed with food and water. And who can forget their uniforms: A pine green shirt spotting the UCC logo.

“OK, off like a herd of turtles,” said Kate Stephens, program director for the Utah Conservation Corps, as the 12-member group headed up the path that would lead them to the lake.

The trip was part of the final week of a five week session of Bilingual Youth Corps, an extension of the Utah Conservation Corps, which is under the USU AmeriCorps. The final week of the session is conducted entirely outside, and for that week, the group was assigned to put up signs and repair existing ones in the White Pine Lake area.

Founded in 2008, Bilingual Youth Corps is now in its fourth year.

“The Latino population had exploded over the last decade,” Stephens said in an interview on her reason for founding the youth corps. “The Latino community does not recreate as much on our public lands — generally, it’s just not a part of their culture — so this was an opportunity to reach out. ”

She continued, “We wanted our UCC to be representative of a changing demographic in Logan.”