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Seeking Host Organizations for Chesapeake Conservation Corps Volunteers

by
Bill Whorton

In 2010, the Maryland Legislature established the Chesapeake Conservation Corps Program to promote and sustain the environment by providing young adults with opportunities to gain career skills and become more engaged through meaningful community service. This leadership program, supported by the Trust, Constellation Energy, and the state of Maryland, matches young adults with organizations throughout the state for paid, fulltime, one-year term of service. Individuals must be between the ages of 18 and 25 years at the time of enrollment. Corps Volunteers will receive stipends of $15,500 per year plus health insurance, administered by the Trust. The purpose of the Corps Program is two-fold: the first is for stipend Volunteers to work with Host Organizations and communities throughout Maryland to implement on-the-ground restoration and energy conservation projects. The second is to provide leadership and training opportunities for young adults pursuing environmental and conservation careers.

The Chesapeake Bay Trust is proud to announce the fourth year of solicitations for Host Organizations for the 2013-14 Chesapeake Conservation Corps with a February 22nd deadline. The Volunteer Application will be launched on February 25th. In its inaugural year, 16 Corps volunteers worked on a variety of environmental initiatives including energy efficiency programs, restoration activities and neighborhood clean-ups, water quality monitoring programs, reforestation projects and job training programs for youth. The program expanded to 21 participants its second year, and now includes 26 exceptional young people in year three who will gain valuable work experience and partner with local communities to advance conservation initiatives in Maryland. For the fourth year, the Trust anticipates placing 20-25 Corps Volunteers in Host Organizations throughout Maryland with service to begin August 27, 2013. Almost 30 percent of all program participants have been hired by their host organizations, which illustrates that the program not only creates employment opportunities but also increases the capacity of participating organizations to further their environmental missions. Additionally, the program has a 100% retention rate – not a single volunteer has ever left the program early with the exception of those hired on mid-service term by their host organizations.

The Corps Program provides service-learning opportunities and green job training for young people through environmental and energy conservation projects including their mandatory capstone project. Corps volunteers have been involved in a variety of types of activities, including promoting, preserving, and protecting local streams, rivers, the Bay, and Maryland’s other natural resources; working with communities to promote energy conservation and mitigate threats to the environment; pursuing leadership opportunities that will advance environmental and conservation careers; obtaining training for careers that will be part of the emerging green economy; and educating and training communities about the long-term actions needed to promote, preserve, protect, and sustain the environment. One of the beauties of this Program is that each position at each Host each year is different. As a result, you can have one Volunteer out on a kayak doing water quality monitoring and then another working on reforestation at a number of sites and another leading field experiences with kids. Still the entire group is intertwined and visiting each other’s sites, attending each other’s events and always networking.

Applications to serve as Host Organizations will include proposed scopes of work, and potential Host Organizations may suggest a wide range of activities to be undertaken by the Corps Volunteer in the fields of environmental restoration, energy conservation, sustainable agriculture and forestry, and/or K-12 environmental education.

Please click here to download the application. All applications must be RECEIVED by 5pm on February 22, 2013.

For any questions about becoming a Host Organization or about the Chesapeake Conservation Corps, contact Tara Baker, 410-974-2941, ext. 102.