CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS USA

The primary project continued in Saint Albans to build a national demonstration site. The voluntary advisory board called the Community Leadership Team met weekly and sometimes more often to work on all aspects of the proposed program and build awareness. Seven different sites were thoroughly examined, and all were eventually rejected for different reasons. The work continues to develop a financially self-sustaining, community-centered, and governed Community Conservation Corps that will engage many local young people and the community at large. In Rutland, working closely with mentor Connector, a second Community Conservation Corps initiative was started with many individuals meetings. This is a continuation of the work started three years ago in Rutland. An alternative school-based model was developed with input from local schools, town officials, and past Conservation Corps staff who managed and taught in a similar program. The proposed model is a long,school- based program we dubbed Senior Year of Service. Students will earn academic credit, be paid a stipend, and be charged with developing a local Community Conservation Corps. CCCUSA staff provided material, advice, and consultation for the Michigan Climate Corps, based in Marquette, MI, and a new Conservation Corps program developing in Pittsburgh, PA called Pittsburgh Tomorrow. A fourth project was the beginning of a book that, when completed, will inspire young professionals to have confidence to pursue their dreams, as VYCC founder Thomas Hark did back in 1986. CCCUSA worked with the Overbrook School for the Blind in PA to develop and plan for the first in the nation national service program for the blind and visually impaired. The program received an AmeriCorps grant and began operations in September.