Hiring for 2013 Crews!

MHYC is currently hiring for crews that will begin this January.All Corpsmembers will experience a great team-based, leadership experience, receive a living stipend throughout the program, and be eligible to receive an AmeriCorps Education Award. There are two separate programs that we are accepting applications for until all positions are filled, so if you or someone you know is interested in this program follow the link below to complete your application. http://www.milehighyouthcorps.org/green-jobs/current-corpsmember-positions-available

The AmeriCorps Leadership and Conservation Crew gives ACLC’s to build leadership skills, work on a variety of land, energy, and water projects throughout the 11 month program. The ACLC’s will also have the opportunity to be peer leaders on the land crews throughout the summer and fall months.

The Energy and Water Program offers Corpsmembers the opportunity to build their “green” industry skills, work on small teams doing respective energy and water projects in affordable housing. For these 5-month programs there are also positions where Corpsmembers can additionally build their office experiences by working in our Bryant street location and working on the projects with their crews when needed.

Both of these Programs offer College and Career Readiness training, life skills training and an opportunity to become a part of an impactful agency at Mile High Youth Corps.

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Top Ten Sports to Watch in the Olympics

As the Summer Olympics came to a close in London we asked our Corpsmembers what were their favorite sports to watch. They even wanted to demonstrate their athletic skills in their favorite sports. Check out the Top Ten Sports to watch in the Olympics as reported by our Corpsmembers.

#10) Shotput

#9) Javelin

#8)Weightlifting

#7) Fencing

#6) Track

#5) Volleyball

#4) Diving

#3) Cycling

#2) Synchronized Diving

#1) Gymnastics

Thanks to all of our Mile High Youth Corps athletes for showing us their skills. Hope to see you in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio!

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Summer of Service Blog Series: Chain Saws Need Love Too

If you’re looking to find yourself in places designed for postcard photos doing work designed to build muscles this summer, look no further. Mile High Youth Corps is still accepting applications for their Summer of Service Corpsmember and Crew Leader positions. Visit our website and apply here. I spent last summer dividing my time between a trail building and chain sawing crew, gaining skills and making friends – one special friend in particular of the winged variety. Check out my blog from last summer:

My new best friend is an Angel. With a wing disguised as a long, flat bar – lined not with feathers, but sharply filed teeth – the use of this wing is far from what would be typically described as angelic. A halo this Angel has not, but two circular knobs twisting open hungry for fuel. And this Angel doesn’t feed on fluffy clouds or the joy of making miracles, but rather thick, sticky bar oil and potent smelling gasoline. This Angel doesn’t live in the sky; instead she rests her weary head after a long day of work in a dark, dusty shed. Lucky number seven, my chain saw was christened her name back in the beginning of summer and has been by my side ever since, slicing through thick limbs and showing dense thickets who really reigns king. Rough around the edges and tougher than nails, still, as I’ve come to learn, chain saws need love too.

I have a degree in English Literature from Michigan State University. Before starting at Mile High Youth Corps in February, the extent of my use of tools ended with a pen and paper. My understanding of the word “machine” fell short after a laptop. But Angel has shown me the way, and in return I have learned to love her back. This Angel doesn’t need love in the form of hugs and kisses, she doesn’t want to cuddle or share one milkshake with two straws, never the less, she is very demanding of my attention.

Almost everyday Angel declares she’s had enough, demanding I take time away from cutting down trees to tend to her tired and worn chain, dull from cutting through thick bark and tree stumps. So I find myself, file in hand, working through each tooth making sure the angle of Angel’s cutting utensils are just right.

At the end of the day, Angel is dirty with the grim and grit of felling hundreds of trees, so I take her apart and with the help of air pressure, clean away the filth and leave her sparkling clean and unclogged of wood chips. And each morning, she thanks me. Angel takes down trees that seem impossible at first glance; she slices through meaty trunks as easily as a hot knife through butter and, ultimately, makes my job as easy as (sweating under a hard hat, doused in heavy gear facing gnarly forests) can be.

She may be an Angel in rare form, but halo dust doesn’t come in as handy as a sharp chain when you’re facing a tree that wants to remain standing tall.

-Vanessa Notman, Outreach Alumni Mentor

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Water Conservation at MHYC

Hi my name is Ed Flores and I am on the water crew here at MHYC, I think the main point of this blog is to let the outside world get a glimpse of our little special universe here at Mile High Youth Corps.

The first point that I would like to make is that MHYC is not just a “job” for me, meaning that I don’t just come to work every morning, do what’s asked of me, get a paycheck and go home. For me, MHYC is more than a job, its a place where I wake up in the morning and say WOO! I get to go install High Efficiency Toilets (HETs) in low-income homes.

Now for some this might not sound like the most appealing job. Everyday I go somewhere new, I have no idea where I’m going until I am loaded in the van, sometimes the places I go into are not the most pleasant, maybe we encounter some grumpy clients after waking them up at 9 a.m. on their day off, sometimes the sewer gases feel like they are burning your eyebrows off, sometimes old toilet water splashes all over you, or maybe even a tool slips and falls down the pipe and the person on your team with the smallest arms has to fish it out… but the thing that makes all of this worth it is the immediate satisfaction of the client and their family seeing this brand new thing in their home, this wonderful gift of a new, water-saving toilet that we have given them free of charge.

Then comes the secondary satisfaction of the awesome knowledge that I have just saved gallons and gallons of water, and money for this family which in turn saves more water for me, you, Denver, Colorado, the USA, and ultimately the world… all with just an hour of my time in bad sewer gas, broken bolts, four-story walk ups, and a chunk of porcelain, and that is why I love Mile High Youth Corps.

-Ed Flores, Water Conservation Senior Corpsmember

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Summer of Service Blog Series: Fainthearted Need Not Apply

There are lots of ways to spend your summer. And while sipping lemonade poolside sounds relaxing, by week two it may get a little boring. And besides, isn’t that just a little too easy?

And if a Summer of Service position with Mile High Youth Corps sounds hard, well, that’s because it is.

Hard in the best kind of way. Your days are spent outside it the hot, Colorado sun, using tools, sweating under hardhats and contributing to really changing and bettering our community.

In two and a half months you have the opportunity to gain real skills. Technical skills. People skills. Job readiness skills. It’s a lot crammed into a short amount of time, and the days go fast. You get to see real results, build friendships and trails and bridges. Use chainsaws and construct rock walls.

You come home with twigs in your hair and dirt tucked deep into the creases of your skin. You go to bed with sore arms and heavy eye lids. And then, then you wake up the next morning and do it all over again. You do it because it is challenging. You do it because you are a part of a team and without you, you know they will have to work that much harder. You do it because it feels good and because you care.

If you’re looking to spend your summer lazily floating on a raft, then don’t apply here. But if you want a challenge, a great farmer’s tan and the ability to help change Colorado for the better then we’d love to see your application come our way!

Where will you be this summer?

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The Stuff of Legends

There are those that seek glory. Those that valiantly overcome insurmountable odds and pass into the annals of myth. Few have dared to venture to this mystical land where young people become heroes and their deeds become the basis of legend. Someday children will hear from their elders about a group of courageous young men and women who gambled their lives to save the world.

For the young men and women that execute the duties of the Energy Conservation program, there are tasks that must be completed. Lightbulbs, showerheads, aerators, and client education. Every Corpsmember has crafted an elevator speech designed to effectively communicate the goals and procedures of this team, this brotherhood, and this sisterhood of the traveling BDU’s.

But beneath the surface of the green t-shirt and under the shiny badges is the true story of the ACLC/Energy crew. Everyone has seen the pictures of Corpsmembers installing light bulbs, but no one… until now… has dared to reveal the secret inner-workings of this society.

Days on the Energy crew begin by scrolling over tool checklists and restocking bins. This simple assignment is not for the faint of heart. Paper and cardboard cuts are a reality as well as a rite of passage. The staircase in the Mezz is not unlike the ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro, and many a brave soul have perished on this unsteady climb in the wear house. Then Corpsmembers are sandwiched into 12 passenger vans equipped with light speed capabilities and thrust onto the unmerciful avenues of Denver. Yet this group is willing to do anything to get the job done, including diving headlong into the mud to retrieve an errant Frisbee during the ultimate lunchtime ritual.

Within the crew a deeply fostered sense of competition exists that frankly put, would cause most grown adults to crumple like an empty light bulb box. Teams forever strive for the “perfect week” of paperwork; a flawless and epic representation of precision, skill, and teamwork. Rivalries develop between teams; and Corpsmembers may even be traded for some of Mike M’s gourmet Cheese Its.

The intrepid spirit of this corps is tested everyday, and everyday these heroes enthusiastically rise to the challenge. Yesterday Jesse was witnessed doing backflips as he smashed the dumpster full of recycled boxes. Brendan F frequently leaves his sweatshirt in the van in subzero temperatures as if challenging Mother Nature to a duel. It has be rumored that Colin stood on Ben’s shoulders to form the “World’s Most Giant Corpsmember,” successfully changing a 13 Watt on a 60 foot high ceiling. Not to be outdone, Sam overcame a lethal combination of West Nile Virus, Mad Cow Disease, and Swine Flu in merely one week. And Simone demonstrates such exquisite penmanship that the Energy intake staff is oft brought to tears.

Through the dedication of this crew, it can be assured the 2010 ACLC/Energy crew will live long beyond their term of service. Never before has humankind seen the amalgamation of such a diverse crop of talent fused together to form a mega-team. This crew is, and will always, remain classy.

-Sean Ransick, Energy Corpsmember

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The Difference

This Is the difference,
Between lions and mice.
This is the difference,
Between fire and ice.
This is the difference,
Between a monster or beast.
This is the difference,
Between the Booth and the streets.

I speak about reality, life and its fatalities
Love and all its fallacy, war and lost cavalry
Seen the dark nights, through the eyes of a lion
When the people are angry, and the children are cryin
Their faces show promise of never ending the fight
The people who won’t give under the pressures of life
We struggle and we rise, we hustle and we pride
Ourselves to be alive through the life that we’ve survived
We never talk to talk, were too busy in action
We walk the walk and we bleed out our passions
We raise our hands as a fist and we swing it fight
Not for whats left we only fight for whats right
They take their classes on speech but never been on the streets
Ya see they talking they talk and never missing a beat
They never hunger to the point where they needed to steal
Where they needed to steal just to eat up a meal

This Is the difference,
Between lions and mice.
This is the difference,
Between fire and ice.
This is the difference,
Between a monster or beast.
This is the difference,
Between the Booth and the streets.

It’s the difference we make and the difference you don’t
Between the people who will and the people who won’t
Theres only few who would fight, and fight with their life
At the end of a barrel or at the blade of a knife
I’ve looked fear in the eyes with out a shiver of fright
Turn the world with my words and deliver the night
We feed our families with our hopes and our wishes
And starve ourselves ona quest for a vision
And some of us wander with no where to go
And freeze to death in the streets because the world is so cold
We’re political activists who protest the war
While your sending your troops to murder the sick and the poor
So raise your hand In the air try to grab it and miss
And what your left with is your hand as a fist
So swing it to fight for the people who can’t
and when your legs are the weakest hold yourself up and stand

This Is the difference,
Between lions and mice.
This is the difference,
Between fire and ice.
This is the difference,
Between a monster or beast.
This is the difference,
Between the Booth and the streets.

-Chance Two Crow, AmeriCorps Leadership and Conservation Corpsmember

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From Mile High City to Rocky Mountains

Some of us forgot water bottles. Sleeping bags. Mess kits. Some of us didn’t know what a mess kit was. Some of us had never been to the mountains. Never been camping. Never gone five days without a shower. We are the seventeen AmeriCorps Leadership and Conservation (ACLC) 2009 corpsmembers, working for Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC) since February. Shockingly enough, we survived and — gasp — some might even say enjoyed our Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA) camping trip.

On Monday morning we loaded up our backpacks, jammed coolers full of food and headed up the winding roads toward Golden Gate State Park. On the drive up, some of us slept, some of us daydreamed about building the perfect fire, and some of us watched the tall buildings of Denver and the noise of Federal Boulevard fade into the rear view mirror. We said goodbye to cell phone service and flush toilets and said hello to tall pine trees and marshmallows browned on sticks.

We spent the week learning how to properly build trails and rock walls, how to become successful leaders, and we embedded ourselves deeper into the culture of youth corps, learning the importance and magnitude of being a part of something bigger than ourselves. Each day, we woke with the sun after freezing nights bundled in sleeping bags, packed our bags with PB and J’s, water bottles and rain gear and headed out to workshops.

We were divided into different classes based on the specific crews we will be working on this summer. Some of us learned how to give important environmental education presentations while some us spent the day trying to keep up with 80-something-year-old Steve Austin as he rained his extensive trail building knowledge upon us. We were out in the field using tools, sweating under hard hats and getting a taste of the exciting summer months ahead of us.

On our last night we huddled around the campfire as the stars came out, told ghost stories and — even though some of us didn’t want to admit it — thought about how quickly the week passed. Friday morning we filed back into the vans and headed back to Denver with dirt under our fingernails dreaming of the showers and beds awaiting our arrival. Some of us had their first camping trip officially under their belt. Some of us learned skills we will use this summer and later in life. Some of us still had the grit of cowboy coffee stuck in between their teeth. But all of us survived.

Vanessa Notman, MHYC Corpsmember

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