REI Foundation Invests in Next Generation of Stewards at Mount Rainier

This week The REI Foundation announced an unprecedented $1 million investment in the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC) to inspire, educate and engage the next generation of outdoor stewards. Decades after Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps as part of the New Deal, during which Americans planted more than 3 billion trees and created 800 parks, supporters of the outdoors are contributing to a national effort spearheaded by the U.S. Department of the Interior to establish quality jobs, career pathways and service opportunities for youth and veterans in America's great outdoors.

Inspired by the 21CSC's goal to "preserve, protect and promote America's greatest gifts," The REI Foundation is funding projects in 19 national parks throughout the country, forming part of the co-op's multi-year, multi-million dollar partnership with the National Park Foundation.

 

"This is a once in a lifetime chance for REI to invest in the leaders who will help keep our parks healthy and accessible for the next 100 years," said Jerry Stritzke, REI president and CEO.

 

 

The projects that The REI Foundation is investing in will connect new communities to the outdoors. Young people—including underserved high school and college students, inner-city youth and multicultural groups—will get real-world work experience in nearby parks. They will be paid as stewards of the outdoors, revitalizing the nation's most iconic and inspiring places, building and maintaining trail access and improving safety to help visitors go deeper.

 

"We're grateful for private sector partnerships with companies like REI that encourage a lifelong ethic of stewardship of the great outdoors," said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. "Thanks to REI's generosity, we're putting young people and returning veterans to work restoring and protecting our nation's land, water and wildlife while creating a connection to nature and public lands that can last a lifetime."  

 

Several projects will take place at a specific national park location—from the Santa Monica Mountains in California to Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C.—while others will span multiple national park sites this summer. The REI Foundation also supported four projects last summer at Colorado's Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and in the Flagstaff area's National Monuments. 

 

 

The following projects are made possible by The REI Foundation's investment, in partnership with supporting nonprofit organizations and other donors:

• California (Latino Heritage Internship Program): The Hispanic Access Foundation and Environment for the Americas will host more than 40 college students—including one intern per location—to develop interpretive programs, support museum and archival work, participate in archaeological fieldwork and engage in community outreach. These projects will take place at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park over 10 weeks.

• Colorado (Rocky Mountain National Park): A crew of 10-16 high school and college age youth will join the Rocky Mountain Conservancy to improve the Bierstadt Lake Trail.

• Georgia (Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area): The Greening Youth Foundation will offer an employment opportunity for up to six high school youth to build and maintain trails during this four-week program.

• Montana (Glacier National Park): Spanning four to 10 weeks, 12-24 high school and college age youth will join the Glacier Conservancy to reconstruct the iconic Hidden Lake Trail at Logan Pass.

• Washington, D.C. (Rock Creek National Park): Fourteen inner-city high school students will work with the Student Conservation Association to repair the Valley Trail over eight to 10 weeks.

• Washington (Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park): A group of young people will help restore the iconic Wonderland Trail and Enchanted Valley Trail.

• Various states (Groundwork Green Teams): Groundwork USA will partner with up to 120 youth ages 14-18 to provide summer experiences that combine community service, outdoor recreation and leadership development. Projects range from two to six weeks at up to seven national park sites, emphasizing water-based recreation and work activities.

• Various states (Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiative): The Greening Youth Foundation will work with approximately 50 college students to improve river access, provide ocean sciences education and convey social justice through art across multiple national park locations. This project will also support one to two interns per site to work with the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program to develop case studies for water recreation.

 

 

Secretary Jewell Announces $1 Million Private Funding Commitment to Advance Youth & Conservation Initiative

(January 8, 2014) WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of an ambitious initiative to engage and employ the next generation through America’s great outdoors, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced a public-private partnership with American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. that will help reach Interior’s goal of providing 100,000 work and training opportunities to young people and veterans on public lands.

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO) announced an historic $1 million commitment to develop the next generation of outdoor stewards. The funding commitment is the first in AEO’s philanthropic history and is also the first pledge toward Jewell’s target of raising $20 million from private partners by 2017 to support the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC).

The 21CSC, launched by the Obama Administration as part of the America’s Great Outdoors program, is a national collaborative effort to put America’s youth and veterans to work protecting, restoring, and enhancing America’s natural and cultural resources.

Jewell made the announcement today at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C., in recognition of the Civilian Conservation Corps that President Roosevelt created over 80 years ago.

“What we’re doing today embodies the spirit of President Roosevelt’s CCC – coming together to put young people and veterans to work on our public lands which will instill a lifelong conservation ethic that not only benefits them, but our public lands and our country,” said Secretary Jewell. “American Eagle Outfitters has a long history of philanthropy, conservation and volunteerism and I applaud them for this unprecedented commitment to the youth initiative. This lays a strong foundation toward reaching our goal to provide positive experiences for young people and veterans on our public lands that offer both employment and meaningful connections to the outdoors.”

The $1 million dollars will directly support non-profit corps programs that provide work and training experience to young people and veterans on Interior’s public lands, such as the Student Conservation Association.

“American Eagle Outfitters is proud to support the conservation of public lands through America's youth,” said Helga Ying, Vice President of External Engagement and Social Responsibility, American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. “This public-private partnership is one close to our customers' hearts and directly reinforces our company's community engagement principles. Through this initiative, we are able to provide opportunities for students to work together to protect our planet and improve our country through a deeper connection to nature, civic engagement and community development.”

Already an initial group of nearly 100 organizations have been approved as partner organizations to stand up the 21CSC and provide work opportunities through supervised crews or small teams. In the coming months, the 21CSC National Council, made up of eight federal departments and agencies including the Departments of Agriculture and Interior, will focus on recruiting additional member organizations.

“Partners like American Eagle Outfitters' are critical to the Administration's efforts to conserve our public lands and to connect a new generation of Americans to the great outdoors,” said Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. “We are grateful for this contribution to the 21CSC initiative, and look forward to continuing to build public and private sector support to grow this initiative and engage more young people and veterans in important conservation work.”

Jewell first outlined her youth initiative in a speech at the National Press Club in October where she emphasized the need to bridge the growing disconnect between young people and the great outdoors. The goals of Interior’s youth initiative for the next four years include:

Play: Interior will develop or enhance outdoor recreation partnerships in a total of 50 cities over the next four years to create new, systemic opportunities for outdoor play for more than 10 million young people.

Learn: Provide educational opportunities to at least 10 million of the nation’s K-12 student population annually. In addition to welcoming students into nature’s classroom, we are developing and strengthening new online education resources, to reach more students.

Serve: Engage 1 million volunteers annually on public lands, effectively tripling the numbers we have now. We know that many more people are interested in volunteering at national parks, wildlife refuges and public lands, but there are often insufficient staff resources to coordinate them. In order to achieve the volunteer goal, we will place a renewed emphasis on volunteer coordination and management.

Work: To develop the next generation of lifelong conservation stewards and ensure our own skilled and diverse workforce pipeline, Interior will provide 100,000 work & training opportunities to young people within our bureaus and through public-private partnerships. As part of this effort, we aim to raise an additional $20 million to support the youth work and training opportunities.

###

More on this:

Watch "This Week at Interior" January 10, 2014

Secretary Jewell on the pioneering work of the Student Conservation Association

SCA President Dale Penny on the American Eagle - DOI partnership

Secretary Jewell Launches Ambitious Initiative to Expand Opportunities for Youth on Nation’s Public Lands

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today joined with local business, health, education, non-profit and conservation leaders in San Francisco to launch a national campaign to expand opportunities for youth on public lands. Today’s kick-off comes on the heels of Secretary Jewell’s major speech last week, in which she outlined conservation priorities for Interior, including an emphasis on fostering the next generation of environmental stewards, scientists, and natural resource managers.

“There is a growing disconnect between young people and the great outdoors – and it’s a gap that Interior has the power to help bridge,” said Secretary Jewell. “Through public-private partnerships and in conjunction with all levels of government, Interior will expand its efforts to pass on our nation’s rich conservation legacy and to inspire millions of young people to play, learn, serve and work outdoors.”

In the morning, Jewell hosted a roundtable discussion with local leaders in San Francisco to outline her vision and to hear what efforts are underway in the area to boost youth engagement and employment. Following the roundtable, Jewell participated in a service project with local youth conservation corps members at Crissy Field in Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

“San Francisco is really a model for what can be accomplished when it comes to leveraging public-private partnerships to connect young people to the great outdoors – whether it’s in the classroom, through volunteer work, or with a job working on public lands,” Jewell added. “Through this initiative, we hope to expand that success around the country, so that young people and veterans can not only accomplish meaningful work and gain important professional skills, but they can also build a lifelong connection to the outdoors.”  

The goals of Interior’s youth initiative for the next four years include: 

• Play: Interior will develop or enhance outdoor recreation partnerships in a total of 50 cities over the next four years to create new, systemic opportunities for outdoor play for more than 10 million young people.
  
• Learn: Provide educational opportunities to at least 10 million of the nation’s K-12 student population annually. In addition to welcoming students into nature’s classroom, we are developing and strengthening new online education resources, to reach more students.
  
• Serve: Engage 1 million volunteers annually on public lands, effectively tripling the numbers we have now. We know that many more people are interested in volunteering at national parks, wildlife refuges and public lands, but there are often insufficient staff resources to coordinate. In order to achieve the volunteer goal, we will place a renewed emphasis on volunteer coordination and management. [Emphasis added]
  
• Work: To develop the next generation of lifelong conservation stewards and ensure our own skilled and diverse workforce pipeline, Interior will provide 100,000 work & training opportunities to young people within our bureaus and through public-private partnerships. As part of this effort, we aim to raise an additional $20 million to support the youth work and training opportunities.

Youth engagement has been a signature part of President Obama’s conservation agenda, and today’s initiative will build upon the ongoing partnership with USDA and other members of the federal family through the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC). The 21CSC, launched as part of the America’s Great Outdoors program, is a national collaborative effort to put America’s youth and veterans to work protecting, restoring, and enhancing America’s natural and cultural resources. The 21CSC engages young Americans aged 15-25, and veterans up to age 35. 

An initial group of 91 organizations has been recognized for their commitment to the principles that the 21CSC embodies. All partner organizations have agreed to offer job and training opportunities to young people and veterans in America’s great outdoors.

###