MHYC Participates in Global Youth Service Day

April 26-28th marks Global Youth Service Day 2013, the largest day of service in the world and the only service event specifically dedicated to children and youth ages 5-25.  In honor of the event, MHYC took part in five different service projects throughout Denver.  Take a look below to see how our Corpmembers and Staff lent their helpful hands today:

Picking up trash, sweeping, and checking for graffiti at our Adopt-A-Spot location.

Weeding and helping to install an irrigation system for the Boys and Girls Club.

Sorting food donations, preparing pallets of food orders, packing boxes of food orders at Food Bank of the Rockies.

Landscaping and maintaining trails at the Bluff Lake Nature Center.

Helping Denver Urban Gardens lay gravel pathways for an existing community garden.

And check out the video of why our Corpsmembers serve:

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Outcomes for 2012!

As 2012 comes to a close we would like to reflect on the amazing accomplishments of our Corpsmembers. All our Corpsmembers were eligible to receive AmeriCorps Education Awards upon completing their terms. The total amount earned by our Corpsmembers this year totaled $$253,36.. This is one of the many achievements of our Corpsmembers. See below for many more statistics that make up only a snapshot of the work that took place at Mile High Youth Corps in 2012.

• 6 miles of trail constructed in the Hayman burn area
• 13 miles of trail constructed and maintained
• 50 acres of noxious weeds removed/1,584 feet of fence constructed
• 11,722 trees cut down
• 85% of the project work completed will last more than 10 years
• 100% of enrolled summer AmeriCorps members earned their Education Award

The Following Statistics represent the work of our Second Term Water Crew.

• Homes serviced over 1,000
• Toilets installed 1,242
• Gallons of water saved annually 8.6 million gallons
• Olympic pool equivalent 13.4

Thanks to all of our Corpsmembers who made 2012 a year to remember!

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Indy Give! Starts Today!

2012 Indy Give! Logo

Today is the kick-off for Colorado Springs’ fourth annual Indy Give! campaign. Our Mile High Youth Corps Colorado Springs location is participating once again. Click here to donate today.

As a way to kick-off this campaign, MHYC is joining forces with Rocky Mountain Field Institute and the Coalition for the Upper South Platte for a guided tour of the Waldo Canyon Burn Scar at the Flying W Ranch at 10am on Saturday, November 10. Your ticketsupports the work of these nonprofits in the Waldo Canyon Burn scar.Meet with experts, including special guest Jerri Marr from the Pike and San Isabel National Forest, and the groups leading the restoration efforts of the Waldo Canyon Fire. Learn about restoration techniques, next steps, and how YOU can help.

Limit 100 participants
$30/person
Age 18 and older onlySIGN UP ONLINE: www.uppersouthplatte.org/waldoevent.html

Can’t make this event? You can still give through Indy Give! Check us out at http://www.indygive.com/participating-non-profits/youth/mile-high-youth-corps-of-colorado-springs/

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Operation Graduation: Pueblo

The Steel City Crew poses with their Crew Leader, Ron, for one last picture of the season.

On Friday, August 3, the first ever MHYC crew of Pueblo officially completed their work season. Between June 4 and August 3, 2012, the crew of young adults worked hard in seemingly endless heat to conserve and restore parks, trails, and open spaces around their hometown.

Corpsmembers work a wood chipper as they clear overhanging brush from a trail.

The crew earned a total of $11,740 in education awards and had a 91% completion rate. Throughout June, July, and August, they worked outside for a whopping 38 days in over 90-degree heat; 14 of those days were over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The crew spreads mulch, that they chipped, around trees in Pueblo.

As far as project outcomes go, the Steel City Crew did phenomenal work all summer. In Williamsburg, they maintained and installed 50 wooden steps and removed 20. Around Pueblo, they picked up 171 bags of trash, painted 300 square feet of a mural, and abated 250 square feet of graffiti along the Arkansas River.

A few Corpsmembers make sure MHYC is a permanent fixture in Pueblo during their mural painting work.

Please join us in congratulating this crew – the first of its kind in Pueblo – for the fantastic work they did this summer. Another special ‘thank you’ to Abel Tapia of the Colorado Lottery, for helping to make MHYC Pueblo possible! Plans are already unfolding regarding a crew for 2013 Summer of Service. Stay tuned!

Learn more about their mural painting project here.

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Project Spotlight: City of Pueblo Mural

August’s Project Spotlight is the City of Pueblo!

Corpsmembers spruce up a corner of Pueblo with fresh paint and vibrant designs.

For years now, Mile High Youth Corps – Colorado Springs has served seven counties in the Southern Front Range, including Pueblo County. This year though, with the help of the Colorado Lottery, MHYC was able to make a more permanent presence in the town. In June, eleven young adults were hired to form the very first MHYC-Pueblo crew.

The crew, consisting of all local, Pueblo young adults, has been doing work for both the city and the county all summer. Their labor has consisted of corridor clearing along the Arkansas River Trail (Russian olive and more), sign installation, trash removal, and trail and step construction.

Some of the crew takes a break from building steps near Lake Pueblo.

The most artistic project though, has been mural painting off of the Arkansas River Trail. The crew was assigned to beautify a once very plain spot in the city. Designs became intricate and creative, though most were easy to reach. When it came to covering a very large wall with water at its base, the crew busted out ladders and a harness.

Corpsmembers support one of their crew as he dangles from a harness, similar to a rock climbing set-up, to work on a mural.

The painting of a large Colorado flag mural can be completed only with ropes and a harness.

After the harness helped to complete the Colorado flag, a ladder is set up for the more accessible, yet not easy-to-reach areas.

If you’re ever in Pueblo doing something outdoorsy, there’s a good chance you’ll see this crew. Feel free to ask them what they’re up to this week – they’re not shy and they won’t bite! Although they may be wielding shovels and sledgehammers…

Corpsmembers leave their mark on Pueblo.

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MHYC by the Numbers: Pueblo Day Crew

 

Monthly Infographic #3.5 – Pueblo Day Crew

On June 11, a new Mile High Youth Corps crew entered the field far from the Mile High City. Thanks to much help from Abel Tapia, President of the Colorado Lottery, MHYC was able to start a day crew in Pueblo. The Steel City Crew consists of 11 local (Pueblo) young adults. They will be building trail and performing other various tasks along the Arkansas River Trail all summer. Check out this infographic – a follow-up to June’s demographic piece – to see who makes up the new Pueblo crew.

Also, if you use Foursquare, follow our Summer of Service list and check-in when visit our project sites!

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Project Spotlight: Rocky Mountain Arsenal

July’s Project Spotlight is Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge!

Photo Credit: USFWS

MHYC has been working on various projects at The Arsenal for the last several years. Some projects have included trail maintenance, fencing, and most commonly, removal of the invasive Russian olive tree. This species of tree devastates the surrounding areas and is notoriously difficult to remove.

The Arsenal consists of 15,000 acres of shortgrass prairie and is home to more than 330 species of fish and animals. This land was previously a grazing area for herds of wild bison, then farmland for settlers moving west. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army transformed the space into a chemical weapons manufacturing facility. Beginning the in the 1980s, the Army began a massive environmental cleanup of the area and the site was later designated as a national wildlife refuge.

Today, our crews work tirelessly during the summer months to preserve the wild and natural beauty at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Crews keep areas of the park safe for visitors and management alike and help protect the abundant wildlife of the area.

Photo Credit: USFWS

Rocky Mountain Arsenal is open to visitors for free, seven days a week excluding federal holidays. For more information, please visit www.fws.gov/rockymountainarsenal

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AmeriCorps Week Service Projects Benefit Veterans

Each year during AmeriCorps Week, Americorps recognizes the commitment of members and alums by highlighting the extraordinary impact AmeriCorps makes across our nation every day. This year, AmeriCorps Week took place from Saturday, March 10 through Sunday, March 18, 2012.
The theme this year, AmeriCorps Works, communicated the value and effectiveness of AmeriCorps while providing flexibility to be used in many different contexts. It provided an overarching framework to communicate AmeriCorps triple bottom line return on investment — for the recipients of service, the people who serve, and the larger community and nation.
-Corporation for National and Community Service

To celebrate AmeriCorps Week this year, Mile High Youth Corps organized several service projects around the Denver area. This gave Corpsmembers the chance to demonstrate the strength of AmeriCorps in the local community as well as connect with other AmeriCorps alums. Our service projects this year included volunteering at a Veteran’s Hospital,  cleaning up a neighborhood through our Adopt-A-Spot program, working with Veteran’s Green Jobs, and a Donation Drive in partnership with ARC Thrift Stores.

Now, MHYC Corpsmembers are no stranger to service projects, but for AmeriCorps Week we jumped at the opportunity to give back to those who often sacrifice so much in their service to our country but rarely get the thanks they are owed, our veterans. So on Friday, Corpsmembers and staff headed out across Denver to our project locations and spent the morning working for and alongside our nation’s veterans. We did landscaping and cleaning at the Veteran’s Hospital and helped Veteran’s Green Jobs reorganize their supply yard, all while we listened to the stories of the brave men and women who serve our country every day.

Our veterans are truly an inspiration to many Corpsmembers. They embody the meaning of service and sacrifice and continually strive to improve our nation for those that follow. And yet, they do all of this without ever asking for thanks or gratitude. Our projects during AmeriCorps Week pale in comparison to the dedicated service of American veterans, but we are more than happy to give back in any way we can. Mile High Youth Corps wants to give a very special thanks to all our veterans, including those who we are lucky enough to count among our staff.

Here are some of the pictures we snapped during our AmeriCorps Week service projects this year. For more, check out our album on Facebook.

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MHYC Receives Award in DC

As you may have learned last week from Nancy Wilson’s blog post on the Post to Parks Project, MHYC was recognized recently for one of our summer land projects. The Corps Network invited MHYC CEO Kelly Causey to Washington, D.C. to receive the award. We asked Kelly to tell us about the experience.

“Accepting a national project of the year award from The Corps Network was humbling and extremely satisfying. What an honor it was for MHYC to have a land conservation project recognized from among the other incredible projects completed by corps across the country. In our twenty year history we’ve conducted more land conservation projects than any other type of service to our community yet our energy and water conservation projects have been the ones to stand out among the national network of corps projects. That is, until our Southern Front Range field office, only two years old (!), changed that.

Last summer MHYC-Colorado Springs partnered with the National Park Service on their ‘Post to Parks’ initiative at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Seventeen youth from Ft. Carson families joined our crew for a four day educational adventure at the national park and it was a super experience for all involved. In addition to enjoying the interaction with the Ft. Carson youth, Troy Furhman and the park staff were outstanding project sponsors. Troy flew to Washington, DC to join me in accepting the award and to highlight the importance of engaging military families in projects like this.

Awards were given on the Hill in DC and I had the chance to join other Colorado corps staff in meeting with Senator Michael Bennet, who is supportive of our accomplishments. Congratulations to Nancy, Ryan and the rest of the Southern Front Range staff and Corpsmembers for this incredible accomplishment!”

- Kelly Causey, Ph.D.
CEO

Troy Furhman and Kelly Causey, Ph.D. accept the Project of the Year Award from The Corps Network

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What now?

Well, we are rounding up this term at Mile High Youth Corps. It is scary and exciting at the same time. Scary because I still do not have a job to go directly in to, and exciting because I know that now I can leave here better prepared for work and life in the future.

There are some things here that I don’t think I’ll miss, for instance, we’ve constructed over 40,000 kits with energy saving measures to be mailed all over Colorado. I hate to say it but I will be honest, I am glad I do not have to build one more Energy Saving Kit. I am glad I also do not have to sit through another JRT (Job Readiness Training) class, but I am greatly appreciative for all the skills and knowledge I have gained through this class. I am now a more confident interviewee, I have a better resume, and I know how to write a cover letter.

However, it is not just the technical skills I have learned here that will benefit me for the future. I have a great experience under my belt now. I have gained confidence to be a leader among my peers, better knowledge of behind the scenes at a non-profit, and have developed a zeal for service. I feel so enriched with this program and I am so incredibly grateful for this entire experience. Therefore, even though I do not have a job yet, I am not worried because I know I am much better off now for the job market and the world because of my time at Mile High Youth Corps.

-Jesse Kuck, Energy Conservation Program

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