Connecting Parks And Corps: A New Era

Parks & Recreation, Sept, 2001 by Michael Duplechain, Kevin Taylor

RETIRING BABY BOOMERS. MAINTENANCE BACKLOGS. MORE FEDERAL FUNDS FOR PARKS AND GREENWAYS. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT. WELFARE-TO-WORK. PARTNERSHIPS. DISABLED ACCESS. GLOBALIZATION.

Creating a meeting point for discussion and action on this swirl of seemingly disparate topics is a still relatively unknown but increasingly important parks and recreation partner -- the nation's state and local youth conservation and service corps. Corps have grown to employ 23,000 youth and young adults each year, providing paid conservation work experience, education, and career preparation along the way. Read on if you're concerned about where to find the parks and recreation staff of the future, how corps have improved their services since the last time you've read about them, or simply for an update on these premiere youth programs!

Indeed, there's no time like the present for parks and recreation professionals to beef up their links with corps. Corps can help address several pressing current realities -- Baby Boomer retirement expected to afflict over 50 percent of the current staff of parks and recreation agencies; the clarion call for governments at the municipal county, state, and federal level to leverage their efforts through partnerships; and changing population characteristics creating an urgent demand for a more diverse workforce and leadership ranks. Not incidentally, corps and the image they convey of youth at work for the community can also help build support among policymakers for more federal resources for state and local parks, and greater community engagement with National Parks.

Stronger linkages between corps and parks produce mutual benefits, as well as connections with broader policy and fund trends. For the parks and recreation field, corps offer an ethnically diverse supply of recruits familiar with park culture, experienced in park projects, who come from the very neighborhoods at which so many park agencies aim their outreach efforts. In the context of welfare-to-work, corps can manage transitional job programs in order to erase maintenance backlogs in parks and recreation and identify good candidates for permanent jobs, even as they ease the human resources management burden that might otherwise fall on parks and recreation staff. Current park staff, and the growing number of skilled retirees, can serve as mentors for corps members during training or as they enter parks careers. For young people and the corps in which they receive work experience and training, the park field holds the prospect of solid, often unionized skilled jobs -- without the Catch-22 of the requirement of a college education, which remains a distant dream for many corps members.

The corps of the 21st century focus more strongly than ever on meeting the needs of communities and young people simultaneously. This commitment engendered a major, ongoing professional development and training effort beginning in 1998 -- the Corps-to-Career Initiative. Thanks to the Initiative, corps now set out to deliver good services and training during the six-to-twelve month course of the program, and also provides post-placement support as corps members move on into their first jobs and the post-secondary education that will guarantee their ability to support a family over the long term. In addition, US youth corps are active participants in the international Conservation Volunteers Alliance, and are learning from their colleagues in Australia, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere about the most effective ways to meet the needs of park and greenspace managers, whether through contracts or volunteer management.

Service and Conservation Corps Basics

The conservation and service corps programs of today harness the energy and idealism of young people to meet the needs of communities, states, and the nation. Today's state and local corps build on the legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s and the Youth and Young Adult Conservation Corps of the 1970s -- programs whose proud legacy includes creating and restoring numerous city and state parks and recreation facilities.

Corps programs engage young people, in paid, productive, full-time work, which benefits both the young people and their communities. Approximately 104 corps operate in 32 states and the District of Columbia. Some programs are statewide, most others are locally based. Most corps operate year-round, although some operate only during the summer. Some corps are community-based non-profits, others are arms of state or municipal agencies. Funding for corps comes from a variety of sources, including federal, state, county and municipal appropriations; fee-for-service contracts; foundations and corporations.

Participants in corps programs -- corps-members -- most often work in crews or teams of eight to twelve with a paid adult supervisor who sets and models clear standards for behavior. Youth corps crews undertake a wide range of work projects. Some are similar to the forestry and parks projects of the 1930s CCC, others fill gaps in the services of urban parks, renovate housing, and assist human service agencies. All corps projects meet community needs and allow young people to serve as community resources. Most corps members receive at least minimum wage for their work.