A Voice Was Heard

A few weeks ago, I helped facilitate a Roundtable discussion with YouthBuild Corpsmembers. The Roundtable discussion was designed and sent out by the White House. It’s an initiative to engage youth in discussing and addressing issues that are going on in their community, and to top it off, the White House invited 10 young Americans to meet President Obama and his senior staff and present the Roundtable discussion talked about in their local communities.

I was chosen to represent the Roundtable that took place here at Mile High Youth Corps with YouthBuild Corpsmembers. YB CMs (that participated in the Roundtable) and I identified education as the biggest issue going on in the lower class neighborhoods. Since we were all high school dropouts, we figured that if we address the education system correctly then it will ultimately address other issues such as, cycles of poverty, gang violence, the job market, etc.

As a representative of Mile High Youth Corps, YouthBuild USA, and young people in Denver, I was able to present these issues and share my story with President Obama and the White House staff.

Message to the Youth: I encourage you to get your voice out there! You never know what will happen and remember someone is always listening.

~Xavier Jennings, Program Specialist, YouthBuild Corpsmember 2008

For more information on the round table discussions and Xavier’s trip to DC, please click HERE.

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MHYC in the Community

One of the requirements for the ACLC program is the completion of a larger, community-based project. A few of the ACLCs, Michael Wright, David Cumming, Cory Franz and Katie Jhanson have put together an incredible project that focuses on outdoor education workshops for kids, called ASPEN (After School Programs for Education in Nature).

To see some great pictures of their first couple of events, take a look at their ASPEN blog! Looks like it was a great time for everyone!!

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Summer of Service Has Begun!

This month marked the beginning of project work for our Summer of Service crews. To help give you a better perspective of what the Summer of Service entails, I have combined a few numbers to make it clearer.

12 weeks of service
13 crews
106 youth employed as Corpsmembers
34 youth are chain-saw certified
25 (and counting) project sites across Denver and the Southern Front Range

Our Colorado Springs crews have completed orientation and hit the ground bright and early. Garret on the H1N1 (Hayman 1) Crew said camaraderie was really building between both Hayman crews (H1N1 & Gary and the Sunshine Kids) because they were working together. The two crews are building a brand new dirt bike trail in the Hayman fire area. StilhJacks (Sawyers) are in Ute Lake and the fourth crew (Anteres’) is doing some technical day work at Rainbow Falls in Manitou Springs. The Canon City crew hits the ground next Monday for a grand total of 52 Corpsmembers.

Some of the crews will be working in a variety of locations, like the RockClimber crew who will be doing fire mitigation in various state parks or the RidgeRunner crew who will spend their summer alternating between chain-sawing an invasive species of trees and weeding noxious plants at wildlife refuges. Other crews will be working in one location the whole summer. For instance, the Mile High Youth Corps camping crew, the GateKeepers, will be working on a long-term trail project in Golden Gate Canyon State Park the entire summer. And finally the nine Corpsmembers of the Travis Kubiak Angler Education program will spend their summer teaching children how to fish and the importance of environmental education at a variety of clinics at different lakes, and reservoirs throughout the state.

~ Veronica Solis, Denver and Sylvia Sedrak, Colorado Springs

The summer of 2010 was my first summer working for Mile High Youth Corps-Colorado Springs. During that term of service I learned a substantial amount about tools, trail building, rock wall building, corridor clearing, tree removal and transplanting, etc. One of the most valuable skills I obtained was better leadership skills. Currently working my second year with MHYC I am more confident and able to apply the skills I learned last summer to help lead and teach new Corpsmembers proper techniques and ways to do a specific job. MHYC is a phenomenal program to stay in shape, learn valuable skills, earn a stipend; but most of all helping improve our environment at the same time.

~ Janari McCampbel- Anteres Crew-Colorado Springs

Land conservation work has finally started for ACLC’s!

After three and a half months of energy work in homes, ACLC’s are finally embarking on their land conservation projects… and we couldn’t be more excited! We have been divided into five separate crews and just received our additional Summer of Service crew members that will be working with us through mid August. This past week has been orientation, and starting June 1st, we are on our respective project sites doing work!
With the arrival of all the new corps members, I have had the pleasure of meeting many new people as well as getting to know my sawyer crew, the Trailblazers.
The Trailblazers (woot woot!), along with the 2 other sawyer crews, spent the past week at an S-212 chainsaw certification class. After day one in the classroom learning about the safety, technique, maintenance and purpose of saw usage, we were able to quickly transition into day two. It was during this second day that we were truly able to get a feel for the saws and actually get our hands dirty with sawing and swamping. Despite a rainy afternoon and wet gear, we all stuck with it and got some great practice in.
After long days of cert runs on days three and four, all of us left the site with our S-212 certifications and ready for our summer projects. And as it turns out, we are all naturally amazing sawyers!
Needless to say, this is going to be a great summer; we have amazing crew members joining, spirited and knowledgeable crew leaders, and well planned projects. We have set the bar high for ourselves and can’t wait to get started!

~Lindsay Hill, ACLC 2011

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Home Energy Kits

Did a package show up at your door today? Aren’t you lucky! You must have gotten one of MHYC’s energy kits. Inside the box are lightbulbs, a shower head, sink aerators and some education on how you can make your home more energy efficient.
The kits are made by our very own Energy Corpsmembers in an assembly line as efficient as the one Henry Ford used for his Model T Ford.
Click on the video to see the whole process!

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HEAL THE EARTH…HEAL YOURSELF

Critical Point, Tread, Inside Edge and Back slope. Don’t forget to cut your slough and Berm! Crew Leaders learned about these terms and how to create the perfect trail at the Colorado Youth Corps Association’s training May 24-26.

Volunteers from OSI (Outdoor Stewardship Institute) and VOC (Volunteers Outdoor Colorado) came to beautiful Golden, CO to train this summer’s youth corps leaders. Colorado Springs & Denver Crew Leaders joined Crew Leaders from around the state for a three day training. Workshops included trail building and maintenance, rockwork (where we learned how to talk to the rocks), and ecological restoration.

Participants were inspired by the volunteer teachers who had spent years in the woods, preserving the earth. One teacher was even missing a diaphragm, yet spent the entire day outdoors keeping up with the 20 year olds and passing on his knowledge of conservation. The most important message: STAY SAFE! You only get ONE body.

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Meet Olivia Navarro-Gomez

Olivia is the wonderful part of our staff that helps schedule and organize our incredible energy work in the Denver Community. You may not see her too often, she is always busy on the phone at Canosa, but she took some time to answer my questions and tell me a little bit more about herself.

DO YOU WANT AN ENERGY AUDIT DONE IN YOUR HOME OR POSSIBLY RECEIVE A NEW TOILET? GIVE OLIVIA A CALL AT (303) 433-1206, Opt. 1, Ext. 522.

Do you want to be on our schedule board?

Where are you from?
I’m originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, but I’ve spent most of my life in Denver.

What is your position at MHYC?
I’m Client Intake staff for the Energy Conservation Program here at MHYC.

What brought you to MHYC?
After my first interview with Tara and Erica, I felt that I was a perfect fit! I had always enjoyed interacting with people, but I like a good challenge every now and then and since I didn’t have “cold calling” experience, I wanted to try something new. I’ve been with MHYC for over 1 year now and the rest is history.

What was your background before MHYC? Have you always worked in non-profits?
I was fortunate enough to having had the opportunity to be a stay at home mom for 1 year before I came to MHYC. I had previously worked for a couple of local nonprofits doing human resources, accounting and administrative duties.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I’m still trying to figure that out! Seriously, as a very young child, I wanted to be an actress, I loved the glamour and glitz…then it was a lawyer but when I learned that there was a lot of reading involved, I had a change of heart. I love writing and have aspirations of being a successful author of children’s books.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Being a working mother of 2 is a superpower in itself! Really, if I could have a superpower it would be to have the ability of space-time manipulation, like the character Hiro from the TV show Heroes. I am fascinated with historic events and would like to have been there in person to experience what it was really like.

What is your favorite burrito restaurant?
Super Taqueria hands down! They make an amazing super burrito…makes my mouth water just thinking about it. It can only be found in the Silicon Valley.

What is your favorite thing to do in Colorado?
Aside from spending time with my husband and 2 daughters, I love the tap water here! Really, I’m not an “X-games” kinda gal therefore I’m not very adventurous, but I really enjoy a 70’s degree weather type of day at a park.

What is your favorite part of MHYC?
The satisfaction of knowing that we’ve helped people in need of our services, especially when they call me to compliment the services that we do and the great work by corps members.

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Not To Be Forgotten

It’s been fun, it’s been a challenge, but most of all its been a journey not to be forgotten anytime soon.
When I first started at Mile High Youth Corps in February 2010, I have gained so much more than the technical skills that were promised. From February to July of 2010 I gained the skills to install a toilet, I met many cool people from many backgrounds, and received much needed constructive criticism to make me into a better corpsmember.

At the end of my first term, I looked back on my time and realized how much I enjoyed working at Mile High Youth Corps and decided to come back. I came back on the energy crew as a returning corpsmember and was a little nervous at first. I had to learn new things and I was a little fearful that I’d mess something up, but that’s normal and by the end of my first week I knew I had it.

On the energy crew we installed CFL light bulbs, showerhead, sink aerators and the all famous thermostats. We also, checked water heaters, refrigerators and insulation. The thermostat had to be the most intimidating thing for me, until I found out how simple it is to install one. As my second term was coming to a close, I thought once again about the skills I had gained, the people I had met, the challenges I faced, but most of all, the memories I made over those five months. I knew I’d miss it, if I left, so I decided to apply for a Senior Corpsmember position on the water crew.

When the New Year rang in, I came back to the water crew as one of their Senior Corpsmembers even more nervous than I was for my second term because I was in a leadership role. With a pocket full of skills, I still had more than enough room to fit more. This term as a Senior Corpsmember, Mile High has allowed me to gain more leadership skills, communication skills, and confidence.

With the term ending in a short five weeks, I keep looking back on my very first day on that February morning at Mile High. It had all began on the mezzanine with all the other curious faces, chatter, teambuilders, laughter, safety, and the history of Mile High (oh don’t forget about the paperwork during our orientation). I can say it was defiantly an investment that I don’t regret. I came to Mile High Youth Corps to gain technical skills and 16 months later have gained so much more than I first believed I would.

All and all I would like to thank Mile High Youth Corps for this journey and it will not be forgotten anytime soon.

~Rueben Pulce, Water Senior Corpsmember

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