Actively Recruiting: Yes
Position title: Youth Empowerment Steward (YES) AmeriCorps Member with Homestead National Historical Park
Deadline to apply: 2026-12-06
Type of Position: Intern / Individual Placement
Town, City, Park, etc: Beatrice
State / Territory: Nebraska
Benefits: Education Award
Project/Program Focus: Data Collection

Apply Here

The Stewards Individual Placement Program places individual placements across the nation in projects that build capacity, improve access to natural resources, develop and support innovative solutions, develop opportunities for service and economic development, and empower leaders.

Stewards Individual Placements & Youth Empowerment Steward (YES) Initiative:
Stewards Individual Placements provides individuals with AmeriCorps service and career opportunities to strengthen communities and preserve our natural and cultural resources.  The Youth Empowerment Steward (YES) initiative aims to increase access to the outdoors for all Americans.

Are you passionate about expanding access to public lands and creating welcoming outdoor experiences for all visitors? Do you believe everyone should have the opportunity to explore and enjoy our National Parks? Our health, our planet, and our collective future rely on variety – in thought, ability, experience, and ideas.  Join the Youth Empowerment Stewards (YES) program and contribute to strengthening park operations and enhancing the visitor experience by helping to remove barriers to outdoor access—ensuring that our national parks remain open, accessible, and welcoming to all Americans.

Homestead National Historical Park:
Homestead National Historical Park remembers the many legacies of the Homestead Act of 1862. The Homestead Act gave individuals an opportunity to earn 160 acres of land from the federal government if they lived on the land for 5 years, built a shelter, and improved the land. The Act lasted 163 years and settled ten percent of all land in the United States.

Role of YES Member at Hometown National Historical Site:
Homestead National Historical Park has a large collection of historic photographs taken during park activities. The digital versions are currently only available to park staff on an internal server. This YES Member will work toward updating the metadata related to the photos, which includes creating unique titles, updating descriptions, reviewing location tags, reformatting dates, and creating searchable keywords. Once completed, the information and the scanned images will be added to NPGallery for the public to view and search for these records of the history of the park. This work will ensure the images are 508 compliant and ready to be used in accessible ways in social media and on the webpage.

Description of Duties:

To achieve the goals of this YES position, the member will:

• Move, scan, and organize physical photographs
  • Relocate printed photos to the Cultural Resources Office
  • Scan images to be added to digital collection
  • Store, organize, and inventory physical photographs
• Update the metadata of scanned photographs and images for consistency in designated fields
  • Reformat some fields to fit the requirements of the NPGallery
  • Create a set of controlled keywords for image searches
  • Add location tags for images
• Create titles, update photo descriptions, and review alternative text for historical photographs
  • Create titles for images
  • Create descriptive caption for each image
  • Review photo descriptions and alternative text in the meta data spreadsheet
• Develop section 508-compliant virtual visitor experiences and digital resources
  • Create social media content using historic photographs
  • Create visitor-friendly digital resources that improve trip planning and provide meaningful alternatives for spaces
  • Collect trail mapping data to create visitor-friendly digital resources
  • Collaborate with park staff and NPS access specialists to ensure digital products align with Section 508 requirements and NPS best practices
• Visitor Services duties
  • Assist with front desk coverage
  • Assist with special events
• Interpretive Program Development
  • Develop targeted education and interpretive programming for a new audience
  • Develop programming using sensory kits for a diverse audience
  • Support access planning for interpretive programs, volunteer initiatives, and special events by developing digital resources that expand visitor access and engagement