Gulf Coast Conservation Corps (GCCC)

Click here to visit the GCCC website.

Click here to view a printable document about the GCCC.

Mississippi youth take on the job of long-term recovery from Katrina—rebuilding the Gulf Coast and its communities—while developing job skills, confidence, and hope for a better future.

By recruiting Mississippi’s disconnected youth to restore the fragile ecosystem of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the Gulf Coast Conservation Corps (GCCC) rebuilds both people and places.

GCCC Corpsmembers are virtually all low-income Mississippi youth displaced by Katrina—who have made the decision to return, to give back and, through service to community, to gain workforce skills and an Education Award that opens the door to additional education and certification. Corpsmembers restore damaged natural habitats, construct and maintain trails, restore historic buildings and structures, and complete other projects identified as important by communities.

In its first year, the GCCC has galvanized local interest: community based organizations including the Gulfport Garden Club, public agencies like the Department of Marine Resources and National Parks Service, non-profits ranging from the Land Trust for Mississippi Coastal Plains to the Turkey Creek Community Initiative, and the municipal governments of Ocean Springs, Gulfport, and Biloxi, support the GCCC.

The GCCC is supported by The Corps Network and the Mississippi Commission on Volunteer Service.