PORTLAND, Ore. - In response to President Barack Obama's challenge to expand employment opportunities for youth, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced March 24 $4.2 million in grants to support conservation employment and mentoring opportunities for more than 600 young people ages 15-25 on public lands across the country.
The grants, which support the Obama Administration's efforts to develop a 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC), include $1.27 million from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Bureau of Reclamation, which helped leverage $2.65 million from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and $275,000 from Wells Fargo.
"This initiative is a model of how public-private partnerships can both conserve our land and provide opportunities for our young people to obtain jobs skills and broaden their horizons by connecting with the great outdoors," said Jewell. "Through the 21CSC, we hope to expand these partnerships that foster economic opportunities and create a connection with nature for young people that lasts a lifetime."
The 21st Century Conservation Service Corps is a national collaborative effort to put America's youth and returning veterans to work protecting, restoring and enhancing America's great outdoors.
This year, the department plans to provide conservation employment opportunities to nearly 17,000 youth in national parks, wildlife refuges and on other public lands.
Jewell and Portland Mayor Charlie Hales kicked off the summer work season at an event in Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Oregon where they were joined by Krystyna Wolniakowski, Pacific Northwest regional director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), and members of the Northwest Youth Corps, one of this year's grant recipients.
"By providing more than 600 conservation jobs, this partnership will help introduce young people from diverse backgrounds to meaningful employment opportunities, mentorships and the joy of the great outdoors," said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. "Our investment will be matched by more than twice that amount from the grantees, and helps to foster a new generation of conservationists."
In 2009, the department established a department-wide program and strong performance goals with participation of all of the bureaus and offices led by the Office of Youth in the Great Outdoors to engage, educate and employ youth.
Since then, the department has built one of the largest and most visible youth programs at the national level, employing more than 84,000 youth through direct hires and partnerships on public lands.
The grants, announced March 24, awarded through a competitive process, will support 22 projects on public lands throughout the West. They are funded through the America's Great Outdoors: Developing the Next Generation of Conservationists initiative.
In addition to providing valuable conservation work experience, the grants will result in more than 1,000 volunteer opportunities to expose young people to the great outdoors.[[In-content Ad]]
