$205,000 federal grant for the Southwest Conservation Corps

The Los Valles Region of the Southwest Conservation Corps (based in Salida) will receive $45,000 of this grant to provide summer service opportunities for 90 Chaffee County youth over the next 3 years. To learn more about the Southwest Conservation Corps visit their website www.sccorps.org -ss

For Immediate Release:
March 16, 2010

Contact: (202) 225-4761
Eric Wortman, Communications Director
Contact: (202) 536-6190
Edward Stern, Deputy Press Secretary

Congressman Salazar announces a $205,000 federal grant for the Southwest Conservation Corps of Durango

Giving disadvantaged youth life experience while helping to conserve the land

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Congressman John Salazar announced that a $205,000 Summer of Service grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service has been awarded to Southwest Conservation Corps of Durango.

The Southwest Conservation Corps will build on its existing community-based programs to implement a Summer of Service program in rural and urban areas across the Intermountain West. A coalition of organizations, comprised of the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, Weld County Youth Conservation Corps, and Western Colorado Conservation Corps, will involve 410 youth from disadvantaged circumstances in summer service-learning activities. These activities will address environmental needs of the region, including restoring land near rivers and lakes, noxious weed removal and habitat improvement. Working in crews of ten youth participants supported by two adult leaders, youth will be provided with the opportunity to develop leadership skills and become actively involved in improving their community by addressing and solving a tangible and pressing local need.

“Programs like Durango’s Southwest Conservation Corps have an impact not only on the communities they serve, but also on the lives of the students who participate,” said Congressman Salazar “I congratulate Southwest Youth Corps for receiving this grant and for continuing to help young people to become engaged, active citizens.”

Harry Bruell, CEO of Southwest Conservation Corps offered this comment on the funding:

“The funding will allow us to provide service opportunities for 410 middle school students to complete environmental projects over the summer. In Colorado we’ll have folks in Durango, Ignacio, Cortez, Pagosa Springs, Telluride, Ridgway, Ouray, Steamboat Springs, Lake City, Grand Junction and Salida. With this kind of funding you have dual benefits; communities will get tangible results on environmental and conservation projects and middle school kids will be engaged as resources and will be trained on how to hold a job and work as a team.”

The Summer of Service grants were awarded by Learn and Serve America, a national service program administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The agency awarded grants totaling $2 million to 17 nonprofit organizations, universities and schools that oversee summer service-learning programs for low-income students in grades 6 through 9.

The grants will support innovative projects like Southwest Conservation Corps that engage young people in addressing local environmental or disaster preparedness issues. More than 4,000 students across the country will participate in a myriad of activities including assessing local environmental issues, planting gardens, “greening” homes, preparing and distributing disaster preparedness kits, and undertaking service projects in local and national parks. In addition to the grant funding, participants in the Summer of Service program who complete at least 100 hours of service will be eligible to receive a $500 education award that can be used to pay for post-secondary education expenses.

Learn and Serve America is the nation’s leading provider of service-learning grant funding. Service-learning is a method of teaching and learning that connects classroom lessons with meaningful service to the community. Students build academic skills while strengthening communities through service.

For information on this funding contact Southwest Conservation Corps CEO Harry Bruell at (970) 259-8607 x 3.

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