Youth corps serve parks - includes a related article on urban waterway restoration and related information

The scene: A quiet morning in an urban park in St. Paul, Minnesota. A sunny fall day in 1990. The manners golf cart cruises the park, checking Preparations. promptly at 9:00 a.m., buses and vans start to arrive. Out spill no participants in a national conference -- youth and adults included. By the time the group breaks for a late lunch, the park features a new playground -- built from the ground up that morning -- a new universal access trail to a dock, and far fewer exotic plants lining the edge of a Pond.

Cut to San Diego, 1992. This time, Balboa Park -- the city's crown jewel. This time, hundreds of youth corps participants and staff line the hillside clearing trails and installing erosion control structures. Traffic slows as drivers stare at the variety of uniforms and hardhats, and the sheer number of people at work.

These day-long service projects in city parks are an embodiment of the close relationship between state and local Parks and the national network of youth corps -- a relationship based on mutual support and benefit. Whether it is the participants in an annual conference of the corps carrying out a service project, the Vermont Youth conservation Corps helping staff heavily-touristed state parks each summer, the Pennsylvania Conservation Corps building another revenue-generating tourist cabin in a state park, the Wisconsin conservation Corps fielding an elite crew for a three-week "State Parks Tour." or the San Francisco Conservation Corps installing its umpteenth neighborhood play structure in an odd-shaped lot, youth corps are at work in parks every day, and could provide assistance in your town, city, or state soon.

But what exactly is a youth corps? What are some of the ways corps can help with state and local park projects? What are the benefits of working with youth corps? And how does one find a nearby corps?

Youth Corps Basks

Youth corps are unique organization -- sometimes community-based non-profits, sometimes arms of state or municipal agencies -- that marshal the energy and idealism of the young to carry out a wide range of community service projects, including many that seek to meet local conservation and recreation needs. Corps organize young people ages 16-25 into crews, with each crew working under the supervision of an adult leader. The young people who participate in corps -- known as corpsmember -- typically receive stipends approximating minimum wage, and may remain in the program for three months kin the case of summer programs) or 12 months or more (in the case of year-round programs). Because they involve out-of-school youth, corps also provide basic education, life skills classes, and job preparation services for members, many of whom are educationally or economically disadvantaged.

With this full range of offerings tailored to the needs and aspirations of the participants, corps have embraced their role as comprehensive, positive youth development programs -- an approach also increasingly practiced by local parks and recreation departments. Heirs to the tremendous legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression-era program that involved six million young men from 1933-42 and which literally provided the labor to establish state park systems in many states, corps today also seek to move hungry young people from the unemployment rolls into full-time work and a better future.

A commitment to community service and learning-by-doing sets corps apart from many other job training projects and programs. Each crew undertakes -- and completes to specifications -- highly visible, achievable and measurable projects such as streambank stabilization, trail building, facility construction, tree planting, and community environmental education. Corps actually prefer projects that require sweat, muscle and teamwork; corpsmembers can supply these in ample quantities.

State and local corps have thrived and grown substantially in the last decade -- 120 corps now operate in 37 states and the District of Columbia -- because of the substantial benefits they bring to communities and youth. In fact, corps provide a four-fold return on investment:

* Corpsmembers gain valuable work skills, preparing them for future employment in the private sector -- or on park staffs;

* Corps participants and staff are hired from the community, and spend their wages locally;

* Corps accomplish tangible, visible work projects that often improve both recreational facilities and the environment; and

* Corps focus on improving basic skills through work-based learning (the best method for adults young and old), so that corpsmembers gain the reading, writing and critical thinking abilities that employers demand.

Indeed, a recent case-control study of youth corps by Abt Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts determined that corps are cost-effective. The programs studied yielded $1.04 in monetary benefits over and above costs for each hour of service they perform. (Cost efficiency increases as corps grow larger and gain experience, and this figure does not include non-monetary benefits such as workforce preparation and diversion from less productive pursuits). Eighty percent of project sponsors polled rated corps' work as "good" or "excellent, And most dramatically, the researchers reported that African-American young men who participate in corps work more, earn more, vote more often and earn more associate degrees than their peers.

Youth Corps and the Future

of Parks and Recreation

Pilot cooperative efforts between parks agencies and youth corps are already underway in a number of new areas, and further exploration is warranted. Examples of future endeavors include:

1) Welfare to Work: Youth corps as community work experience providers for welfare-to-work program participants. Two New York City corps and one corps in Albany already engage welfare recipients in park maintenance, community gardening and urban forestry projects. As more states and cities unveil their welfare-to-work plans, they may well turn to corps as experienced labor force managers and to parks and recreation agencies with a huge backlog of projects.

2) Summer youth corps and junior corps: Federal support for the JTPA summer jobs program remains strong, and many corps are interested in and capable of expanding to field additional crews of teenagers in state and local parks. Also, several urban corps in California have pioneered the concept of involving 12-14 year olds in after-school, weekend and summer neighborhood greening projects. In cooperation with parks agencies, more corps could develop junior corps as supplements to existing year-round or summer recreation programs to reach and substantively involve youth at this critical age.

3) Stream and wetland restoration. For parks agencies that manage flowing waters, youth corps can be an invaluable ally -- as they already are in California and Oregon -- for labor-intensive streambank stabilization and other restoration projects (see sidebar).

4) Facilities restoration and rehabilitation: As state and local park agencies face ever more constricted workforces, youth corps can increasingly assist with restoration of picnic shelters, boat ramps, fireplaces, walls and fences, rest rooms, and many other facilities.

5) Bond-funded projects: In Colorado and other states, corps are working closely with resource managers to develop a role in large-scale projects funded by bonds, in addition to becoming a means to leverage such funding.

6) Internships and externships: Corpsmembers whose career vision is shaped by participation in the corps are eager to explore "what it's really like" and more corps are interested in developing programs to place graduating corpsmembers as interns in a variety of positions in state and local park agencies. Youth corps could be part of the answer to the question, "Where is the next generation of parks and recreation staff coming from?"

7) Greenways and rail-trails: As the greenway and rails-to-trails movements continue to influence new facility development across the nation, corps could increasingly serve as a valuable supplemental labor force to put facilities in place.

8) Corps as a tool for outreach into urban communities: For park managers concerned about the quality and quantity of their visitation from urban and minority communities, youth corps can help build bridges. Corps recruit and hire from these communities, provide on-the-job environmental education, and through hard work develop corpsmembers' appreciation of public park resource -- a value that corpsmembers pass along to their friends, families and children. In addition, some public agencies have taken corps "labor intensive" orientation and turned it loose in the form of direct public education -- with training, youth corps crews can conduct excellent door-to-door awareness campaigns.

9) Corps as providers of supplemental staffing for hard-pressed state park systems: The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps stepped into the breach and has helped keep numerous state parks open to summer visitors for several years. Small, self-managed crews actually collect enough in fees and sales to fully cover the cost of staffing park entrance booths and maintenance. Vermont State Puts arranged the Youth Corps' services only after determining that it would no longer be able to hire seasonal employees due to tighter state budgets.

10) Corps as a labor force for heritage areas and historic preservation projects: With support from parks agencies and the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), a few corps have tackled projects to restore historic structures such as living museum buildings and historic rail stations. As the parks field further develops linked heritage sites and faces a rehabilitation backlog for historic sites and structures, youth corps could help meet a wide range of needs.

As is evident from the examples above, corps and parks are working together in many different ways. Your nearby youth corps will work with you to fashion a project that fits your priorities, and wants to stay "close to the customer" to make sure that all technical and safety specifications are met. See Fig. 1 for more information on how corps work with local groups to create and execute successful projects.

The National Association of Service and Conservation Corps (NASCC) is the national membership organization for youth corps, serving as a source of training and technical assistance, Washington policy voice, and partnership developer for its members. NASCC also serves as the central reference point for parks and natural resource managers who want to find the corps closest to them. Call 202-737-6272 or e-mail [email protected] for a referral.

Fig 1. What you need to know about arranging a corps work project

* Each corps has its own procedure for soliciting and arranging new projects with work sponsors. Most corps develop new projects on an ongoing basis; a few use an annual project selection process.

* The corps director or work project coordinator serves as the point of contact between the corps and the potential work sponsor. For referral to the corps nearest you, contact NASCC. A typical initial meeting with a youth corps staffer could even involve walking the potential worksite.

* Youth corps project range in length from special one-day "signature" events, through two-four weeks all the way up to six months or longer.

* Corps use project selection criteria to choose among potential projects in busy seasons. Criteria frequently include public benefit, visibility and learning opportunities inherent in the project. Project selection criteria also ensure that corps take on projects with clear beginnings and ends -- not regular maintenance -- and that corps do not displace full-time adult workers or recently laid-off workers.

* Increasingly, youth corps ask projects sponsors to underwrite at least part of the cost of fielding a crew. Corps can often provide assistance finding -- or bring to the table -- matching funds so that all costs of the corps are met.

* Youth corps crews of eight-12- typically work 30-35 hours per week on site. The balance of the workweek is spent improving the basic and life skills of corpsmembers.

* Youth corps typically ask work sponsors to provide technical supervision for projects, as well as specialized tools and supplies. Corps also welcome the provision of environmental education and safety briefings from work sponsors.

* Often, corps create a paper record of agreed-upon roles in the project using a standardized project sponsorship form. In some cases, park agencies may require the corps to enter into a special type of agreement -- usually not a problem.

Youth Corps and Urban

Waterway Restoration

Although corps will always direct a large portion of their energies to recreation-related projects, they have also begun to develop expertise in the growing field of natural resource restoration.

With the assistance of the Minneapolis Parks Board, NASCC sponsored an urban stream restoration training session in 1994 to help the corps community begin to learn key concepts and techniques for urban waterway restoration. The training brought representatives of 25 corps from 18 states to Minneapolis for four days of lecture and field work on the eroding banks of Mennehaha Creek. Since that time, participants in the session have trained numerous fellow staff and corpsmembers and have secured several local restoration projects.

One associate corps director reported that in looking around her state for restoration experts with whom she could launch projects, she found that she was the expert. In Minneapolis itself, the training session had the effect of introducing a new supplemental workforce to the Parks Board, which leapt at the chance to plan future projects with the metro-area staff of the Minnesota Conservation Corps.

The training session also helped jump-start stream restoration efforts within parks at four pilot sites -- Newark, New Jersey's Branch Brook Park; Oakland, California's East Bay Regional Parks; Atlanta, Georgia's Chattahoochee River Greenway and tributaries plus Trammell Crow Park; and Tacoma, Washington's Swan Creek Park -- with support from the Corporation for National Service. At the Tacoma site, the city parks and recreation department directly supervises the project with assistance from the statewide Washington Service Corps. NASCC introduced corps at these four sites to affiliates of the national Coalition to Restore Urban Waters (CRUW) to heighten the involvement of community groups. Also, inspired by the training, corps in Vermont and Montana have tapped into EPA's nonpoint source pollution prevention funding for support of stream- and riverside restoration projects in several towns.

Restoration projects the corps are undertaking in these sites include building crib walls; re-grading streambanks and planting with native willows and other soil-holding plants; conducting stream assessments, monitoring and community cleanups; and assisting land managers and waterway regulators to conduct environmental education and outreach in nearby communities regarding maintenance of restored streams and pollution prevention.

NASCC has now obtained a challenge grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation which it will use to train 100 more youth corps staff members in stream restoration in 1997, so that youth corps will constitute an available workforce for this type of project nationwide. As in Minneapolis, state and local park agencies will likely host several of the training sites.

Fig. 2 Youth Corps Signature Services Projects in Parks

At each annual conference, members of the

National Association of Service and

Conservation Corps (NASCC) tackle a

day-long signature service project in the

conference location. Frequently, this

project benefits park users.

A sampling of recent projects includes:

Asilomar State Park, Participants built a disabled access Monterey, California, 1989 boardwalk and and viewing deck and

planted beach grass for dune stabilization

Marydale Park, 200 participants constructed a playground St. Paul, Minnesota, 1990 and tot-lot from the ground up, built a

universal-access path to the dock, cleared

a fish pond of exotic species, and laid

cement foundations for picnic areas.

Project

dedication by Minnesota Lt. Governor

Marlene Johnson.

Franklin Square Park, Revitalization projects in this inner-city Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992 park in an historic section of

Philadelphia included landscaping,

mulching, painting and and replacing light

fixtures, and restoring

and painting a play structure used by

used by neighborhood day-care centers.

Project

dedication by Mayor W. Wilson Goode.

Balboa Park, Projects included trail construction and San Diego, California, 1992 restoration, fence building, refurbishing

exercise station, and erosion controls

structures. Project dedication by

California's

First Lady Gayle Wilson and CCC alumni.

Metroparks and Lakefront State Park, 450 attendees repaired 400 feet of an Cleveland, Ohio, 1994 original CCC stone breakwall, restored

and

relocated the River Grove Trail, and

assisted with the construction of a

Learning

Structures playground and landscaping.

Project dedication by Sally Prouty, deputy

director, Ohio Department of Natural

Resources.

COPYRIGHT 1997 National Recreation and Park Association
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group