We have 35 Crew Leader positions, over 200 Corps Member positions, and 22 full-time AmeriCorps National Direct positions available for Summer 2007. If you or someone you know would like to enroll, lead a crew, or be a national service volunteer, please check our website or contact us for more information! Our staff and crews will complete high priority conservation projects and live in the beautiful Vermont outdoors for the summer. These are incredible positions to build one’s resume, inspire personal and professional growth and be challenged! Our crews operate ten months of the year with new positions starting as early as March 2007. All positions are paid, and an AmeriCorps education award is available for qualified applicants. Visit our website to apply online! For more information, please contact Matt Brantner at 434-3969 ext. 200 or info@vycc.org.

Today’s Burlington Free Press contains a front page article featuring long-time VYCC supporters Wendy and Scott McArdle, who chose to give each other a $1,000 brick to support the West Monitor Barn restoration project in lieu of traditional gift giving. From the Ben & Jerry’s Alternative Gift Fair on December 6, at which the VYCC was a designated charity, to one of our donors who made 21 gifts of $50 in honor of each of his employees, the VYCC has been touched by the swell of people’s desire to give to the VYCC in honor of someone they care about for the holiday season! Click here to read the article.

From a gift to the VYCC of a WoRD book ($10 gift), a shovel ($28 gift) or a personalized engraved brick ($1,000 gift), every dollar given as an alternative gift counts as we expand our programs and complete our West Monitor Barn Capital Campaign. Please make a gift to Vermont’s youth this holiday season, and help us reach more youth in new and exciting ways! For more information, please contact Kate Villa at 434-3969 ext. 110 or kate@vycc.org.

VYCC continues to send crews to help support Hurricane Katrina victims as part of the VYCC’s Disaster Relief program. Our fourth nine-person VYCC Crew this year departed Vermont for the Gulf Coast on November 30th, joining crews from Florida, Utah, and Minnesota as part of a Gulf Coast Recovery Corps sponsored by the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps (NASCC). The Vermont crew is currently working at Buccaneer State Park, a 398-acre Mississippi State Park that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, where they are helping to restore the park by hauling debris, restoring trails, rebuilding fences and barriers, and performing other critical work.

The crew will return home on Wednesday, December 20. In addition to the work they have completed, we are hoping to send another crew in February, if funding allows, to continue helping to rebuild and repair areas that are still devastated one year later. This holiday season, please support our Hurricane Katrina Recovery Crews and make a donation to help send another crew to the Gulf Coast. For more information, please contact Kate Villa at 434-3969 ext. 110 or kate@vycc.org.

On November 13th, 11 students from Mount Mansfield Union High School (MMU) and Lamoille Union High School (LUHS) began as interns in the fully accredited Youth in Agriculture and Natural Resources Program. The program is a comprehensive and intensive hands-on learning environment that is structured as a job with a very different set of rules, standards, and expectations from a traditional high school and from which students will earn a small daily participation stipend during the school year, and minimum wage in the summer. The program features projects ranging from helping design a crop rotation plan for the Intervale Healthy City Garden in Burlington, to helping a UVM researcher with a bobcat study, to learning more about the Abenaki culture and its agricultural and naturalist roots. The LUHS program is based at the school in Morrisville, while the MMU program is based out of the Youth Leadership, Education and Training Center at the West Monitor Barn.

This project is a statewide collaboration between UVM Extension, Smokey House Project, and the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps. Our project partners include the State of Vermont, Mount Mansfield High School, Lamoille Union High School, and AmeriCorps VISTA.

If you would like to learn more about this program, or stop by the Barn to see our students in action, please contact Thomas Hark at 434-3969 ext. 100 or thomas@vycc.org.

The Field Assistant position is an eight-month, full-time temporary position with potential for full time status that will involve supervisory, field, and administrative responsibilities. The successful candidate must feel at home both in the field and in the office and will help manage the 26 crews that currently comprise the Summer Field Program of the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps. This position will focus on development and support of Wilderness, Roving, and Community crews. The Field Assistant is supervised by the Field Crew Manager.

The Field Assistant will work as part of a highly motivated professional team to manage all aspects of the VYCC Summer Field Program which may include but is not limited to areas such as Field Staff hiring and supervision, Corps Member recruitment, and work project management. The right candidate will be confident, have the ability to work independently as well as within a close team, and have a strong desire to manage a statewide conservation work and education program.

The Field Assistant will work closely with the Summer Program Director, Field Crew Manager, and Education and Training Manager to gain a full understanding of the program mission, goals, and processes. During the pre-season planning months, the Field Assistant will focus on Crew Leader recruitment and hiring, Corps Member recruitment, and Crew Leader and Corps Member training (planning and preparations). During the field season, the Field Assistant will serve as front-line trainer and field support for crews, will supervise and evaluate Crew Leaders, lead training and educational sessions for Crew Leaders and Corps Members, and manage logistics. The Field Assistant must possess exceptional time management skills, the ability to effectively juggle competing priorities, follow through with multiple on-going responsibilities, and have a strong desire to take a leadership role in a dynamic and challenging program.

This position is now closed.

For more info: Conservation and Community Leadership Positions

A crew from the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) arrived in Hancock County, MS, yesterday. This is VYCC’s second deployment as part of the NASCC Gulf Coast Recovery Corps! The crew of ten will continue work on the volunteer housing site located at the St. Augustine Retreat Center in Bay St. Louis, MS. They will also continue to help rebuild the Hyman family’s home in Waveland with the goal getting them into their home before Christmas. A crew from Minnesota worked on these two projects during the month of October and was highlighted on the New Orleans news. To watch the video, please visit the WWLTV website.