Wendy Spencer on Hurricane Sandy Recovery


Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, with an AmeriCorps member. From Serve.gov
 

From the National Service Blog of Serve.gov

As Hurricane Sandy efforts transition from emergency response to long-term recovery, AmeriCorpsmembers are providing vital leadership in communities up and down the East Coast.

AmeriCorps is skilled and experienced in volunteer management and gutting and mucking operations – and our teams are already having a powerful impact helping hundreds of Sandy survivors put their homes and lives back together.

I witnessed their impact first hand on a return visit to New Jersey and New York last week. From Atlantic City to Union Beach to the Rockaways, I was deeply impressed with the resourcefulness and dedication of our members, who are serving long hours in difficult conditions.

With tens of thousands of homes damaged along the East Coast, there is a large need for volunteers to help displaced residents take the steps necessary to move back into their homes. The tasks involved – removing debris, remediating mold, and gutting and mucking – are labor intensive. This work requires skilled crew leaders and an infrastructure to recruit, train, and supervise volunteers. That’s where AmeriCorps comes in.

Ernie Farmer, a crew leader from the Washington Conservation Corps, briefed me on the volunteer operation he leads out of a community center in Brigantine, NJ. Working with state and local officials, an AmeriCorps strike team set up the operation in a matter of days. They reached out to local partners, secured a location, found housing, and established a seven-day-a-week volunteer operation. This includes canvassing door-to-door, creating work order and volunteer tracking systems, securing donated supplies, training volunteers, and sending out crews to gut and muck homes.

One of the crews we met in Atlantic City was led by NECHAMA, the Jewish disaster relief organization. All 11 volunteers were recent graduates of AmeriCorps NCCC – alums eager to get back into the field for hands-on service.

In many sites, AmeriCorps members are both leading volunteers and providing the muscle power for home repair. In Union Beach, NJ, a blue-collar town of 6,200 where nearly a quarter of the homes were lost, I joined AmeriCorps members in ripping out the flooring of a storm-damaged home. Our members bring tools, training, and a supercharged work ethic that rubs off on the volunteers they serve with.

Removing damaged floors and mitigating mold reduces health risks and can save homeowners thousands of dollars – especially important for those who aren’t covered through their insurance or can’t afford contractors. The cost savings are significant. But AmeriCorps members and volunteers provide something else harder to put a dollar figure on but no less important: an enormous emotional lift.

Maureen Gallagher is an 82-year-old widower living a few blocks from the shore in the Belle Harbor neighborhood in Queens. Her home suffered extensive damage and she has been living with her daughter since the storm. When she heard volunteers were at her home, she made a special trip over to say thanks. Emerging from her car, she was overcome with gratitude, with tears streaming down her face as she hugged and thanked the volunteers. Similar scenes are playing out across the affected areas, as volunteers come from near and far to lend a hand.

Maureen is one of hundreds of homeowners assisted through New York Cares, a Points of Light affiliate. We are proud to partner with New York Cares, our state service commissions, and dozens of other organizations in the affected states on this critical mission. It takes partnerships of many kinds to help a community recover and rebuild, especially from a storm as devastating as Hurricane Sandy.

Working with local partners and residents, national service will continue to provide leadership and muscle power to Sandy survivors in their time of need.

Wendy Spencer is CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that engages millions Americans in service through Senior Corps and AmeriCorps, and leads the president’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve.

Volunteering among Americans hits 5-year high

A press release from the Corporation for National and Community Service 

Washington, D.C. – As the holiday season spotlights charitable contributions and acts of kindness, a new national study shows that Americans significantly increased their commitment to volunteering and civic engagement in 2011, with the national volunteer rate reaching a five-year high.

The findings come from Volunteering and Civic Life in America, a report issued by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) in partnership with the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC).

The report also finds that parents of school-aged children contributed more than 2.5 billion hours of their time to volunteer efforts in 2011, most of it to school-based projects, underscoring the pivotal role that schools play as hubs for local volunteer efforts.

Overall, 64.3 million Americans (more than one in four adults) volunteered through a formal organization last year, an increase of 1.5 million from 2010. The 7.9 billion hours these individuals volunteered is valued at $171 billion. Among citizens who volunteered through an organization, the top activities included fundraising or selling items to raise money (26.2%); collecting, preparing, distributing, or serving food (23.6%); engaging in general labor or transportation (20.3%); or tutoring or teaching (18.2%).

In addition to this formal volunteering, two out of three Americans (65.1% or 143.7 million individuals) volunteered informally by doing favors for and helping out their neighbors, an increase of 9.5 percentage points from last year. Among other key findings, almost half of Americans (44.1%) actively participated in civic, religious, and school groups.

“Volunteering and civic engagement are the cornerstone of a strong nation,” said Wendy Spencer, CEO of CNCS, a federal agency that supports and strengthens volunteering through its AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs, which collectively engaged 3.7 million Americans in volunteering in 2011. “Hurricane Sandy provides a prime example of the importance of people working together, with volunteers throughout the Northeast and elsewhere in the country stepping up to support recovery and relief efforts. When volunteers and residents come together, it has a positive and powerful impact on a community.”

The report shows the volunteer rate among parents is seven percentage points higher than the national average (33.7% compared to 26.8%). Nearly half of parents in their late forties with school-aged children volunteer, despite time-consuming child-rearing responsibilities. Among working mothers, the volunteer rate is nearly 40 percent.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the findings reinforce how community participation is an essential factor in school success.

“CNCS’s report crystallizes that our schools are essential hubs for volunteering and civic activity,” said Secretary Duncan. “Every day, AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members help more than three million disadvantaged youth by serving as teachers, tutors, mentors, and counselors.” Duncan added that, “In America, education must be the great equalizer—and robust engagement from communities, families, mentors, tutors, and other volunteers is absolutely vital to achieving that core American ideal. As a nation, we are so much stronger working together collaboratively to advance student learning than working in isolation.”

The report also ranks all 50 states and the nation’s largest cities and metropolitan areas for their volunteering and engagement rates. It has become a useful tool for elected officials, civic leaders, and nonprofit executives who recognize the economic impact of an engaged community.

“Volunteering and Civic Life in America helps tell the story of the quiet civic reawakening we see happening around the country—a story about people helping communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy; serving on the PTA; connecting with friends through social media; and advocating for their favorite causes,” said Ilir Zherka, Executive Director of NCoC. “We believe this data shines a light on this reawakening, and is essential to inspiring all sectors of our society to work together to bolster it.”

The full report is available at volunteeringinamerica.gov.
 

Key Findings: States and Metropolitan Areas

  • The top five states for volunteering are Utah (40.9%), Idaho (38.8%), Iowa (38.4%), Minnesota (38.0%), and South Dakota (36.8%).
  • The five states with the greatest percentage point increase in volunteering from last year are Delaware (+5.3%), Oregon (+5.0%), Alaska (+4.4%), Georgia (+3.7%), and Idaho (+3.7%). The survey results indicate that some gains for Delaware and Oregon were due to increases in collecting/distributing food when volunteering (+1.0% Delaware; +2.3% Oregon).
  • The top five metro areas for volunteering are Minneapolis-St Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI (37%), Rochester, NY (34.8%), Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (33.4%), Salt Lake City, UT (33.2%), and Jacksonville, FL (32.2%).
  • The five metro areas with the greatest gains in volunteering are San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA (+7.2%), Louisville, KY (+7.1%), Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA (+6.3%), Austin-Round Rock, TX (+5.6%), and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (+5.4%).

Key Findings: Parents

Please note that this survey defines parents as people who have children under 18 at home.

  • The parent volunteering rate in 2011 was 33.7 percent nationwide, which is a 0.1 percentage point increase from the prior year. This translates to 22.7 million parents volunteering with a formal organization for approximately 2.5 billion hours, which is valued at $54 billion.
  • Parents between the ages of 26 and 50 with school-aged children volunteered at a significantly higher rate than non-parents in this age range, with volunteering rates for parents peaking at nearly 1 in 2 parents (46%) in their late 40s.
  • Working mothers are a key segment of volunteering parents, as nearly four in 10 (38%) volunteered.
  • The top five states for parent volunteering rates are Utah (52.0%); South Dakota (46.2%); Iowa (45.9%); Minnesota (45.0%); and Wisconsin (44.3%).
  • Schools and other youth service organizations are the most popular places for parents to volunteer. More than 40 percent (43.1%) of parents volunteered at one of these places.
  • Parents also expressed some or a great deal of confidence in the public schools their children attend, with nine out of 10 parents (90.4%) in 2011 feeling this way

 

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), an independent federal agency, plays a vital role in supporting the American culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility and is a leading grantmaker in support of service and volunteering. Through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, the Social Innovation Fund, and other programs and initiatives, CNCS provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and address critical needs. To learn more, visit nationalservice.gov.

The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) believes that everyone has the power to make a difference in how their community and country thrive. NCoC is a dynamic, non-partisan nonprofit working at the forefront of our nation’s civic life. Through events, research, and reports, NCoC expands our nation’s contemporary understanding of what it means to be a citizen. More information is available at www.ncoc.net.

The data for this report were collected through two supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS): the Volunteer Supplement and the Civic Engagement Supplement. The CPS is a monthly survey of about 60,000 households (approximately 100,000 adults), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau on behalf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The selected supplements collect data on the volunteering, voting, and civic activities of adults age 16 and older for volunteering and 18 and older for the civic supplement. Volunteers are considered individuals who performed unpaid volunteer activities through or for an organization at any point during the 12-month period (from September 1st of the prior year through the survey week in September of the survey year).

California Students Reap Rewards for Recycling

 


 

Taken from Valley Community Newspaper

Dr. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), the American Chemistry Council (ACC), Keep California Beautiful (KCB) and the Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps (SRCC) today announced the winner of the Read, Write, Recycle! Challenge, a recycling contest for students in the San Juan and Natomas School Districts that teaches the importance and value of recycling.

Students from Whitney Avenue Elementary School emerged as the grand-prize winners after collecting and recycling 1,124 pounds of plastic, aluminum, glass and paper during the five-week contest. Today, the students received the $1,000 grand prize for their achievements related to https://top-casino-promo-codes.com/. Along with the grand prize, one participating school in each of the two school districts was awarded a district level prize of $500. Witter Ranch Elementary School claimed victory in the Natomas School District and Whitney Avenue Elementary won in the San Juan School District.
In total, the six participating schools helped recycle a grand total of 2,892 pounds, more than one ton, of materials throughout the competition, including 467 pounds of plastics. The six participating schools included: Natomas Park Elementary, Heron School, H. Allen Hight Elementary, Greer Elementary, Witter Ranch Elementary and Whitney Avenue Elementary.

“The students at all of these schools should be proud of what they have accomplished by being part of Read, Write, Recycle!,” said Dr. Pan, a local pediatrician and State Assemblymember. “They should also know that, by recycling, they are connected to a larger effort to protect our environment, creating a healthy planet and healthy futures.”

“The efforts of the students in the San Juan and Natomas School Districts are phenomenal. The more we can do to spread the word about recycling among kids, the more kids can take that knowledge and apply it in their everyday lives,” said Steve Russell, vice president of ACC’s Plastics Division.

“It’s amazing how much our students, as well as the staff, learned about recycling by participating in this program,” said Vincent Arias, principal at Whitney Avenue Elementary. “Educating and involving students in recycling at the elementary school age will help ensure that they will continue recycling as they grow up.”

A total of 165 elementary school classes from the six schools participated in this five-week recycling challenge. In total, more than 4,300 students participated in the program, learning valuable lessons about recycling.

“The Read, Write, Recycle! Challenge has been a welcome addition to our ongoing conservation efforts and work training program,” said Dwight Washabaugh, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps. “Partnerships like these help ensure that the SRCC can provide the kind of on-the-job career experience that our corps members need.”

The Read, Write, Recycle! program was first conducted in February of 2012 in San Gabriel County where 1,500 students recycled more than 11,000 pounds of materials. Building on the success of this initial program, Assemblymember Dr. Pan and the partners brought the competition to Sacramento in the fall of 2012.

Read, Write, Recycle! is the latest recycling effort supported by ACC under the Plastics. Too Valuable to Waste. Recycle.™ campaign. ACC also works with LA’s BEST, an after-school enrichment program in Los Angeles, to educate students about recycling, and ACC is a key sponsor of Recycle. Goal., a recycling contest between young soccer players in Southern California and the Central Valley.
 

To learn more about Read, Write, Recycle!, please visit www.2valuable2waste.com.

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Veterans-youth conservation partnership to restore Colorado’s public lands

 

Taken from Pagosun.com – by Jennifer Freeman, Special to the SUN  

The Conservation Lands Foundation and the Colorado Youth Corps Association have announced the launch of their new Veterans-Youth Conservation Corps Partnership at a celebration and kickoff in Denver.

Nearly 100 supporters gathered to launch this new public-private collaboration that unites the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), conservation corps, private industry and veterans groups to provide Colorado veterans and youth with employment and job training opportunities working to restore and maintain Colorado’s public lands.

“When you take Colorado youth corps, tie them in with veterans, mix that with the Bureau of Land Management staff that’s in Colorado, then you begin to get a pretty rich soup,” said Gov. John Hickenlooper, addressing the crowd. “Mix in some private industry funders to provide resources or donations, add the Conservation Lands Foundation. Now it’s seasoned, now it’s got heat and energy.”

Working on Colorado’s public lands, including the McInnis Canyon and Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Areas and Canyons of the Ancients, corps members will work 10-hour days, four days a week on a variety of projects. The veterans and young people will be fixing trails, improving wildlife habitat, restoring wetlands and rivers, and cutting out unhealthy trees or undergrowth that would readily feed forest fires.

“This partnership is about training and employing our veterans and young people; they are our future conservationists, our future resource managers, and having the opportunity to hone their skills in this setting is invaluable,” commented Jennifer Freeman, executive director at the Colorado Youth Corps Association. “We look forward to expanding job opportunities for young people and veterans who want to serve the people and lands of Colorado.”

Colorado BLM is providing some funding for the veterans and youth corps for 2013. The Conservation Lands Foundation is leading an effort to seek additional funding from energy companies that work in Colorado and other private industries in order to expand funding for this partnership.

In addition to Gov. Hickenlooper, two current conservation corps members — former Marine Corey Adamy and Western Colorado Conservation Corps crew leader Eddica Tuttle — also spoke at the event.

Tuttle has worked since 2011 for the Western Colorado Conservation Corps near Grand Junction, earning AmeriCorps Education Awards for higher education and the opportunity to be the first in her immediate family to attend college. Adamy is a Marine Corps veteran and leads a crew of veterans in the Durango-Farmington area in a wildlands firefighting program for the Southwest Conservation Corps.

Adamy talked about how veterans often miss the camaraderie and physical activity they experienced in the military. Many need to transition back into civilian life, want to physically work outdoors and they enjoy the teamwork and structure of a conservation corps.?

“The agencies (such as BLM) love the veterans crews and our work,” Adamy stated. “We’re doing great work on the ground with our wildlands fire program that they couldn’t get done with just the funds they have.”

Charlotte Overby, with the Conservation Lands Foundation, sees the partnership as a great way to invite the private sector to show their support for veterans and young people, be good stewards of some of the state’s most treasured public lands and take pride in what they accomplish.

“This is an ideal partnership with the potential to be robust and productive in job creation and habitat restoration,” Overby stated. “Colorado’s public lands are part of our shared outdoor heritage and so important to our economy, and preserving them for future generations must be a priority. This partnership will create immediate job opportunities and prepare our future natural resource stewards to carry out that mission.”

Harpers Ferry Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center Congratulates Graduates


Photo by Holly Shok of The Journal

Taken from The Journal – written December 8, 2012

SHEPHERDSTOWN – The U.S. Forest Service Harpers Ferry Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center graduated 95 students on Friday.

Students, who were required to have a high school diploma or GED to finish, received a certificate of completion and career technical training certificate from Harpers Ferry Job Corps Center at the ceremony, hosted at Shepherdstown’s National Conservation Training Center.

“This is the beginning of education and training for the rest of your lives,” Center Director Ralph DiBattista said addressing the graduates. “Congratulations on a job well done thus far.”

The graduation address was made by recent retiree of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Dr. Mamie Parker, president of MA Parker and Associates. Parker encouraged graduates to avoid, what she terms, the four cancers of life: criticizing, complaining, negatively competing and comparing. Parker, who was the first African-American to serve as the FWS Regional Director, detailed her story of success, which included various ups and downs.

“You, graduates, are certainly braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think,” she said.

Harris Sherman, undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture, also addressed the graduates.

“Let me just say that … you should feel so proud of the achievement you have made here,” he said. “I know that a lot of you have overcome adversity. You have rolled up your sleeves, you’ve worked hard, you’ve put your shoulder to the wheel. You all have faced a variety of challenges that a lot of young people your age have not had to face.”

“I just want to salute you,” Sherman said. “I hope you will savor this moment, you’ll look back on this moment, you will realize how proud you should be of yourself for everything that you have been able to accomplish. Congratulations to you.”

Keith McIntosh, representative of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, spoke on behalf of the senator. Manchin also addressed the graduates via video clip.

Special awards were presented by Mike Grove of Citizens Conservation Corps of West Virginia. Additional outstanding student awards were presented to Darren McIntyre Jr., Career Technical Training Award; Melody Self, Academic Student of the Year; Brandon Perry, Residential Student of the Year; Terrance Pearman, Counseling Award; and Richard Johnson, Student of the Year.

“My fellow graduates, today is one of the most successful days of our lives, because we achieved our goal,” Johnson announced to the class of 2012. “Every four years, America needs a new president who can lead our country in the right direction – that president could be you. You have taken the right step at Job Corps. Don’t stop now.”

The Harpers Ferry Job Corps Center was initiated as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty.

 

 

TCN Staff Attend Annie E. Casey Foundation Event on Youth Employment Crisis


On Monday morning, several members of The Corps Network staff attended an event hosted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Patrick McCarthy, President of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and an expert panel discussed many of the challenges that young people face in a time of scarce jobs, and the enormous value that programs that help youth can serve. Jamiel Alexander, a member of the National Council of Young Leaders and a representative of YouthBuild USA, introduced a short video.

Our partners at Spark Action have produced an excellent write-up about the event that we recommend. It includes a link to watch a recording of the event in its entirety.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation also released a new report in conjunction with the event titled Youth and Work: Restoring Teen and Young Adult Connections to Opportunity. 

Click here to download and read the full report

White House Releases 2012 America’s Great Outdoors Progress Report

Earlier this month the White House released their latest progress report about the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. Corps and the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps Initiative received several mentions throughout the report and in quotes from top officials.

But this was the crucial one: “USDA and DOI investments in Youth Conservation Corps programs increased participation by 20 percent this year above 2011 levels.” Bravo!

Click here to download and read the full report 

Remembering Rosalio Cardenas

We recently learned that one of our past Corpsmembers of the Year – Rosalio Cardenas – was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident on the morning of Wednesday, December 12, 2012. Lio won Corpsmember of the Year for California Conservation Corps in 2007. He was flown out to Washington, DC to be honored at our National Conference in February 2007. Below is the speech he gave upon receiving his award. 

We at The Corps Network are deeply saddened by Lio’s sudden passing. We send our condolences to his family, his friends, and California Conservation Corps. For information on Rosalio’s service in the Corps, click here to read his bio from our Conference.

Services for Lio are as follows:

  • Rosary Service Friday, December 21, 2012 4:00pm – 8:00pm Greenwood Memorial Park & Mortuary 4300 Imperial Ave San Diego, CA 92113 (619) 264-3131 
  • Funeral Service Saturday, December 22, 2012 10:00am – 10:45am St Anthony of Padua 410 W 18Th St National City, CA 91950-5528 619-477-4520 
  • Graveside Service Saturday, December 22, 2012 11:30am – 12:00pm St Anthony of Padua 410 W 18Th St National City, CA 91950-5528 619-477-4520
     

A speech by Rosalio Cardenas (2007)

Most people would argue that prior to joining the California Conservation Corps my life was on track.  I grew up in a warm house with loving and hard working parents.  They owned their own gardening business with only four employees: my father, my mother, my brother and I.  I had 96 units at a four year university, had worked as an educator, tutored privately and made between $10 and $24 an hour.  Everyone thought that I was on my way to success and that all was fine.  The truth is that I was just idling through life.  I was taking class after class, but not getting significantly closer to my degree and career goal, teaching.  I was working part time jobs in the educational field and tutoring for cash.  Yet these jobs and tutoring stints were unstable.  Working with my father on my days off from school and work could only help for textbooks or gas.  Statewide budget cuts and unwise city budgeting made my part time jobs unreliable and scarce.  So I decided to go for a career change and began the application process with the California Highway Patrol.

I joined the California Conservation Corps per my brother’s recommendation in January of 2006.  He told me about how he earned certifications and worked hard for his money.  He boasted about how he worked for the state, had some medical benefits and showed off his uniform.  He informed me about the scholarship after just six months of continuous work.  What was the catch?  As a corpsmember one would make minimum wage and the work wasn’t always comfortable.  Yet what convinced me was that my brother was happy and enjoyed his job.  I later found myself working in ditches, streams, next to freeways, dirt and rain.  I had gone from classrooms and libraries to labor in the outdoors.  The work was similar to what I had done with my father for years, so my muscles were getting worked everyday.  The remarkable difference is that I could have made more money working with my father.  Nevertheless I gained a lot more than minimum wage.  I worked alongside young men and women from a different walk of life than myself.   Some were single parents, others were trying to leave the gang lifestyle and several had misfortunate lives so far.  This was the real benefit of this program, rather than a job, the diversity of a team and the comradeship.  My previous jobs lacked substance; I felt left out and not as important.  In this program all my peers were friends opposed to just coworkers.  We would help each other out on and off the grade.

The biggest impact from the corps was the Backcountry Trails Program.  I left the luxuries of life behind for a simple life.  The cell phone was traded for envelopes and stamps.  My motorcycle was replaced by a pair of hiking boots.  I never imagined myself bathing in a creek or climbing a peak.  I worked on mountain ridges during thunderstorms, near soothing creeks, at the world famous Yosemite Falls and throughout Northern California Wilderness.  The work was intense and strenuous, and the days were long.  I slept on the ground and under the stars.  All the sights, sounds and smells will never be forgotten, because pictures and stories will never do justice to what I’ve experienced.  Yet the biggest impact was that of my crew.  We were an extremely diverse yet close knit crew of twelve.  We worked, ate, hiked, relaxed, played, lived and grew together.  I made friends for life.  Despite five months of arduous labor my impact on the Wilderness is truly insignificant.  Rain, snowfall or an earthquake can undo everything I’ve made, dug and cleaned this summer.  But my influence on my crewmates and theirs on me will never be washed away.  I learned my importance to others and the effect I can have on my peers.  Due to my cool head, role as a mediator and overall character I was affectionately nicknamed “Papa Leo.”  I found out that I could do so much more than I ever expected, physically as well as mentally and socially.

The Backcountry truly prepared me for my career goal of becoming part of the California Highway Patrol. Not only did I test my limitations, but I found myself as well.  I intend to continue helping others and assist in keeping the peace. I am currently in an advanced stage in the California Highway Patrol’s application process, the Backgrounds Investigation phase which is the lengthiest part of the process.  I have just earned a generous scholarship from Americorps, through my service in the California Conservation Corps, which I plan to put towards my unfinished degree. My ultimate goal is to become a success in life and be a genuinely happy person.  I do not dream of wealth or seek riches.  I want to continue making an impact on my peers and community, while in uniform or at leisure.

It would be a great honor to represent the California Conservation Corps and all that it encompasses. It has helped become a well rounded citizen.  Thanks to my experience with the California Conservation Corps I have many anecdotes along with valuable lessons I am willing to share.  I honestly see the Corps movement as a stepping stone building block for the success of America’s youth.

Orange County Conservation Corps Helps Staff Veterans Day Event and Meet Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez

Corps Members (middle row, left to right) Andrew Aguirre, Michael Ramirez, Jordan Ramirez, (front row) Marlene Villegas Gonzalez, Julian Gonzalez and (not pictured) Myriah Vasquez met Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (front row, center) and many supportive veterans.

From Orange County Conservation Corps

Veterans continue to be an inspiration at home. Six of our Corps Members volunteered at the Veterans Day Flag Raising Ceremony and Job Fair in Santa Ana on November 8 and were honored to meet many service men and women, as well as Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Mayor Miguel Pulido of Santa Ana.

Our Corps Members helped set up for the event, control traffic and clean up afterwards, which kept them pretty busy throughout the day. Still, they had time to explore the booths and meet employers, exposing them to possibilities they might not have otherwise known about. They got a much better idea of what options there are specifically for veterans.

As far as their experience with the veterans attending the event: “They were amazed that there were so many people giving them support,” said Program Specialist Ralph Jimenez. As Corps Members thanked veterans for their service, the veterans encouraged the Corps Members to continue their education and be loyal to themselves and their country. By the end of the day, veterans sought out Corps Members to see if they had any more questions.

150 Corpsmembers Join in California Conservation Corps Flood Exercise

Photo Credit: Conner Jay/Daily Republic

Members of the California Conservation Corps, including one crew from each center throughout the state, participated in a large-scale flood readiness exercise in the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta this week.  The Delta levees have experienced flooding and levee breaks many times over the years, so the Twitchell Island exercise provided corpsmembers with a realistic site for sharpening their skills.

The exercise included proper methods for filling and passing sandbags, construction of sandbag walls, protection of levees from wave-wash erosion and “boils,” or seepage through the levee.

Every CCC crew is trained in floodfighting techniques by mid-December, and can be dispatched where needed during to assist state agencies and local communities during winter storms and floods.

Read more about the exercise and see additional photos at the Fairfield Daily Republic website.