About Conservation Corps of Greater New Orleans

The Corps Network – representing Service and Conservation Corps across the nation – is pleased to partner with Greater New Orleans Workforce Investment Boards and JOB1 in establishing a new multi-site youth Corps, with opportunities for young men and women to embark on pathways that lead to promising careers and productive lives while significantly investing in their communities.

The Conservation Corps of Greater New Orleans will engage 800 young people, including formerly incarcerated and court-involved youth, who will focus on environmental restoration, energy conservation, and restoration of historic structures, while building community capacity to re-engage disconnected youth.

The Conservation Corps of Greater New Orleans will be a vehicle for systems change: viewing youth as assets, employers as primary partners, justice agencies as allies, and education as a living connection to solutions for community needs.

Specifically, each Corps will be charged with formalizing relationships with justice agencies, relevant social service agencies, institutions of education, and especially employers. The Conservation Corps of Greater New Orleans will be demand-driven, creating a pipeline for future employees while providing pathways out of poverty and prison for many young people who are ready to change their lives and claim their communities.

Each Corpsmember will serve for four months, gaining work and academic skills, stabilizing his or her life through supports and training, and developing tools including self-confidence, reliability, and practical life skills. While service projects will focus primarily on supporting a “green economy,” they will be flexible enough to accommodate needs, resources, and opportunities as defined by the community.

Teams of Corpsmembers, AmeriCorps members earning Education Awards encouraging subsequent education and training, will improve the health, safety, beauty, and sustainability of their communities and neighborhoods. Crews, under the guidance of caring and demanding Crewleaders, will plan together, serve together, reflect together, and form bonds of pride, shared responsibility, and self-confidence. Young people will serve a brief internship at the end of their period of service, to more firmly connect them to employers. After the term of service, they will be placed in a job and/or continue their educational pursuits, with Corps providing support for at least six months.

The Conservation Corps of Greater New Orleanswill enlist local young men and women to serve in the community and subsequently to be employed and actively engaged in their community.