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Legacy Achievement Award Winner: Sam Duran

Sam Duran has dedicated his life to empowering, advocating and improving the lives of under-privileged youth through a career in the Conservation Corps movement. Sam possesses 33 years of executive leadership in conservation corps program operations and management in California. Through his significant experience, he has built a stellar reputation for ethical leadership and organizational ingenuity, while maintaining a tireless dedication to youth and what he refers to as the “magic of human potential.”

As the founding CEO of Urban Corps of San Diego County, Sam has guided this local conservation corps from its original budget of $120,000 to more than $8.5 million. The organization has been responsible for training, employing and educating over 10,000 at-risk youth and graduating more than 1,400 with a high school diploma since its 1989 inception. Through Mr. Duran’s continuous personal belief in and commitment to developing underprivileged youth from all walks of life, the Urban Corps of San Diego County has grown into a dynamic organization that provides a second chance to young people while preserving San Diego’s natural resources.

Under his leadership, the Urban Corps had the honor of being the only conservation corps to ever receive a grant from the Smithsonian Museum to conduct a survey of all outdoor sculptures in the County of San Diego. Sam’s vision has led to Corpsmember exchange programs with the USSR, Quebec City, Canada, and Mexico as well as enduring contract work from the Port of San Diego, the City of San Diego, and a countywide recycling program that includes major contracts such as Qualcomm Stadium, PETCO Park, Cox Arena and Crickett Wireless Amphitheatre.

This year, Sam led the establishment of Urban Corps’ own charter school. Directly following the transition, corpsmember enrollment increased by 30% thanks to a shift to a week-on/week-off school format in which corpsmembers alternate every week with 50% attending school for five days with the other 50% a working in the community. The shift represents the most significant change in recent Urban Corps history and is providing substantially more autonomy over curriculum and school funding.

Sam is an active member of the California Association of Local Conservation Corps and serves as a board member of the Conservation Corps State Museum. Among other accomplishments, in 1993, Sam served on the national task force created to advise President Bill Clinton on the creation of AmeriCorps. At Urban Corps and beyond, Sam has been a proven visionary and strategic leader who translates strategies into maximum results for youth, community, and environment.

Legacy Achievement Award Winner: Elizabeth Putnam

Early in her life, Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam felt the need to respond to the threats facing America’s national parks. Her senior thesis at Vassar College in 1953 proposed the development of a volunteer student conservation corps to perform essential service for these endangered natural resources. This led to the creation of The Student Conservation Association (SCA), which has become one of the largest providers of youth development and conservation service opportunities in the US.

Ms. Putnam dedicates her life to ensuring that America’s treasured but fragile public lands are preserved for future generations and that those generations become future stewards of the land. Ms. Putnam has volunteered with SCA’s leadership and staff to commit SCA to a strategic vision, emphasizing national leadership in programs that both engage young people in conservation service; i.e., hands-on work that benefits national or community interests; and highlights the capacity of conservation service to build future leaders.

Ms. Putnam remains SCA’s premier ambassador. She is actively involved with SCA and in the environmental arena. She meets with young people, participates in community service events, and tells the inspiring story of SCA’s volunteers across the country. She has been recognized by the Department of the Interior, the National Wildlife Federation, the National Park Service, and the Garden Club of America for her achievements and her ongoing commitment to the natural world. Her enthusiastic call to action and hard work on behalf of the nation’s public lands encouraged more than 60,000 SCA volunteers over the past 53 years.

Ms. Putnam’s commitment to ensuring SCA volunteers and the conservation arena reflect the multiculturalism of American society led SCA to establish its Urban and Diversity Outreach, which connects youth from diverse backgrounds to nature and provides positive experiences in the outdoors.

Each SCA member has provided valued and essential service to national and state parks, forests, refuges and urban green spaces. The results are felt on a national and at the “grassroots” community level. It is reported that more than 55% of these young people continue their engagement in conservation through career, education or volunteerism. In 1971, she presented testimony before the U.S. Congress that led to legislative approval of the Youth Conservation Corps.

In 2010, Ms. Putnam received the Presidents Citizens Medal from President Obama recognizing her for her service to the conservation and Youth Service movement. Today the fruits of her labor continue to pay off, as SCA provides an opportunity for thousands of volunteers to restore and protect the environment and gain a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Legacy Achievement Award Winner: Bruce Saito

Bruce Saito has invested 35 years of outstanding service into the Corps movement. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University in 1976, he joined the California Conservation Corps (CCC). The organization was less than a year old and the Conservation Corps movement in California was in its infancy. He was part of the team that initiated youth development programs and environmental enhancement programs in the state at a time when there were few other 501 (c)(3) non-profits in existence, and certainly none proposing a model like the CCC, which combined a high school education program with environmental training and job skills development. He rose to the level of Program Director, directing and developing work and education programs for youth.

In the area of environmental enhancement, Bruce was instrumental in coordinating emergency efforts during the Los Angeles floods and fires in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest, and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Both locally and nationally Bruce is recognized today as an expert in procuring and managing conservation corps projects.

By the mid-80s, Bruce was recruited by former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor to be part of a team to start the LA Conservation Corps. The organization started with 27 Corpsmembers participating in alternating weeks of school and work in the Young Adult Corps.

Since 1995, Bruce has served as the LA Conservation Corps’ Executive Director. Today, along with LACC’s flagship Young Adult Corps program, Bruce oversees dozens of holistic conservation, education and support programs and services in primarily low-income communities throughout LA County, with a focus on Pico Union, East LA, South LA and Watts. In fact, the Corps is the largest urban nonprofit conservation corps in the nation, impacting over 13,000 11- to 24-year-old young people annually.

In addition to his work at the LA Conservation Corps, Bruce has served as president of The Corps Network’s Board of Directors. He has also presided over the California Association of Local Conservation Corps (CALCC), the organization that represents the 12 certified urban conservation corps from San Diego to Marin.

He has been recognized for his service by the City and County of LA, the State of California and the federal government, and has been honored with a National Philanthropy Day Outstanding Professional Award.

2007 Project of the Year: University of San Diego -UCSD Assessment and Counseling Clinic

Winner: Urban Corps of San Diego

After months of sharing ideas, visiting each other’s campuses and planning, the Urban Corps of San Diego and the University of San Diego (USD) have partnered to create the Urban Corps Assessment and Counseling Clinic (UC-ACC).

This collaboration provides Urban Corps participants the opportunity to receive both personal and career counseling services from Graduates Students in USD’s Leadership Program. Under the supervision of Dr. Ronn Johnson; Licensed Clinical Psychologist and head of the counseling department; these USD students come to the Urban Corps of San Diego on a daily basis to assess and counsel corpsmembers in the on-site UC-ACC office.

The UC-ACC program is now written in to Dr. Johnson’s course curriculum syllabus and enables him to place his students in a working clinical environment, exposing them to practical (non textbook) situations involving real young adults facing real-life issues.

As one can easily see the beauty of this collaboration is the experience that it provides these master’s level USD students while giving Urban Corpsmembers and the organization a valuable service that neither the corpsmembers nor a typical Corps program (non-profit) could afford on a full time basis.

Another phase of this collaboration, will involve the same USD students, working under Dr. Johnson’s supervision, conducting staff training seminars for supervisors, managers, and directors at Urban Corps of San Diego to assist them in acquiring a better understanding of the skills necessary in dealing with and serving the needs of these young adults in their quest for education and job training. Most of the young people entering the Corps face problems so overwhelming that they are unable to function within the established parameters of the program, and often exit prematurely. As the staff at the Urban Corps participates in these USD-led training seminars and adds these skills to their repertoire of techniques in dealing with young people, the organization will be better equipped to continue its mission to successfully develop these young adults who face multiple barriers to success.

There is enormous mutual benefit in this collaboration for both participating organizations and it has great potential to evolve into other areas that benefit both the young people at USD and the young people at the Urban Corps of San Diego.

2007 Project of the Year: Historic Island Trail Restoration

Winner: Coconino Rural Environment Corps

The Coconino Rural Environment Corps, whose mission is in part, “To carry on the tradition of the Civilian Conservation Corps”, has been working in partnership with the Flagstaff Area Monuments for several years to repair and rehabilitate the historic Island Trail. The Island Trail is a strenuous one-mile loop whose 185 vertical foot descent deep into the canyon is made possible by over 200 stone and concrete steps. Originally built by the CCC, these steps have slowly degraded from use and the freeze-thaw processes active in the 7000 foot climate. During 2006, CREC members had the great honor of literally following in the footsteps of the CCC by taking on the daunting task of restoring the Island Trail stairs.

Between July and September of 2006, 40 CREC AmeriCorps members contributed 2,961 hours of service to the restoration of the Island Trail stairs over 10 project weeks, through funding awarded by the Arizona State Parks’ Recreational Trails Program (RTP). Crews began by demolishing the remnants of 78 decomposing steps and manually hauling the debris out of the canyon via the 185 foot near vertical climb. During this phase, crews uncovered much of the original CCC rock work which had been unfortunately encased in concrete in years since construction. Additionally, crews uncovered CCC period beverage cans evidently either used as filler, or simply forgotten as trash. Subsequent crews manually transported 20,880 pounds or more than 10 tons of concrete and over 400 gallons down the trail using backpack haulers. Members built 25 retaining walls and other erosion control structures and formed and poured more than 90 steps in 4 separate flights of stairs.

As of the close of this season, CREC members have restored nearly half of the more than 200 stairs on the Island Trail. With additional RTP funding available pending necessary approvals and clearances, CREC looks forward to continued collaboration with Flagstaff Area Monuments and to the eventual full restoration of the CCC’s historic Island Trail.

2007 Project of the Year: TCYC Gains Secondary Emergency Responder Status

Winner: Tulare County Youth Corps (now Sequoia Community Corps)

Tulare County Youth Corps (now Sequoia Community Corps) corpsmembers participated in flood control this past winter season when water flooded public roads, portions of Sequoia Airfield, and areas surrounding the Tulare County Jail and Juvenile Detention Facility. The corps assisted county personnel in pumping water from flooded areas, replenishing supplies, and repairing levies and bridges to mitigate further flooding.

TCYC’s invaluable assistance led to an agreement with Tulare County to be a secondary emergency responder in 2006. TCYC prepared for this role by offering a new certification program in Bobcat operation. Seven corpsmembers have been certified in Bobcat operation and six more will be ready to test by November 2006.

The testing consists of written and hands-on field navigation on uneven and unstable terrain and includes a full range of maneuvers such as moving land for repairing and shoring up levies and bridges where water breaks overflow, leveling of surfaces, and trenching for water flow redirection. Thus far in 2006, fully trained and certified corpsmembers assisted in trenching for disaster relief in Tulare County.

2008 Project of the Year: Yellowstone River Clean-Up

Winner: Montana Conservation Corps

This summer, the Montana Conservation Corps teamed-up with the Yellowstone River Conservation District Council (YRCDC) and dozens of other groups to pull-off the longest recorded river clean-up in Montana history – and perhaps in the nation. From its headwaters in Yellowstone National Park to the Missouri River, the Yellowstone flows 551 miles and is the longest un-damned river in the lower 48 states. Although, the Yellowstone is treasured for its outstanding trout fishing, quieter sections for swimming, and dependable sugar beat and alfalfa crop irrigation, the stewardship of her resources falls short at times. Her shores are littered with trash – even in the most remote stretches of this grand and wild river.

For one week, four MCC MontanaYES program youth crews with 24 teenage participants, ages 14 to 16, and their eight AmeriCorps crew leaders, covered the length of the river to clean-up sixty-four public access points. Each day, community organizations including scout troops, Lion’s Club members, conservation district staff, and other volunteers joined the teens to help with their efforts, logging a total of 325 volunteer days. In one week, 18,320 pounds of trash and debris was removed from the banks of the Yellowstone River, including 1500 pounds of steel and 5,056 aluminum cans that were recycled, and 90 tires. Other partners included: nonprofit conservation districts representing communities along the river, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Yellowstone Valley Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy, local service clubs, private landowners, and the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch Fund.

National Council of Young Leaders Launches

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2008 Project of the Year: Quality Neighborhoods Improvement Program

Winner: Greater Miami Service Corps

Through the Quality Neighborhood Improvement Program (QNIP), Corpsmembers repair and/or install sidewalks in local neighborhoods. Since April 2007, 16 Corpsmembers have received hands-on experience installing 13,961 linear feet of sidewalk. This partnership is mutually beneficial to all partners, achieving each entity’s organizational goals. QNIP enhances property values in inner-city areas, many of which never had sidewalks. In addition, Corpsmembers are trained and prepared for work opportunities in the construction field, a high growth area in South Florida.

The partners include: Miami Dade County Board of Commissioners (set-aside funding for youth workforce development opportunities); Community Action Agency (intermediary with that allows Corps to obtain contract); The Office of Capital Management (policy support and tracking of all capital project completion); Miami-Dade Public Works (project oversight and inspections); Rainbow Enterprises (engineering sub-contractor and project superintendent); Miami-Dade Public Schools/Lindsey Hopkins Technical Education Center (academic, vocational, and GED training/scholarships); Miami Gardens Job Corps (academic and vocational training for co-enrolled youth); and The Greater Miami Service Corps (pre-employment and life skills, work experience, service learning, counseling, educational opportunities, internships, and job placement).

2008 Project of the Year: Redondo Bluffs Restoration Project

Winner: Los Angeles Conservation Corps

In a collaborative effort between the LA Conservation Corps, local residents, the Urban Wildlands Group (local nonprofit), and state and local governments, the Beach Bluffs Restoration Project Team was formed to identify and restore locations within the South Bay that historically supported populations of the El Segundo Blue Butterfly, an endangered species known only to exist in 3 isolated reserves.

LACC’s SEA Lab is located in Redondo Beach on the Santa Monica Bay. The adjacent coastal bluffs are the historic home of the El Segundo Blue Butterfly. However, due to habitat loss, the butterfly population rapidly declined and the insect was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1976. In 2005, the Corps received funding from the California Coastal Conservancy to restore a small 3 acre site. For 2 years, more than 100 Corpsmembers removed invasive ice plant, constructed a native plant nursery, planted native vegetation, installed irrigation, fencing, and interpretive signage, conducted stakeholder surveys, and maintained the newly planted native landscape.

Although the Bluffs Restoration Project team hoped that one day the El Segundo Blues would return to the Redondo Bluffs, the scientific community believed due to habitat fragmentation and population isolation re-colonization of the butterflies could occur only via human assistance. In May 2007, as crews were wrapping up the project by adding vegetation and removing weeds, staff member Monica Acosta noticed a butterfly that looked suspiciously like the El Segundo Blue. She sent a few photos to USC experts for identification. A team of scientists surveyed the site and confirmed the presence of over 200 butterflies.

Sure enough, via the hard work of LACC Corpsmembers, the El Segundo Blue returned, on their own, to the Redondo Bluffs. The rapid return to the site so surprised the experts that it is now leading them to a new understanding of the species. Young folks from some of the neediest neighborhoods in LA made a difference, a huge difference, and proved that sometimes the impossible is just improbable.