Earlybird tickets purchased before August 1, 2007 will receive a 10% discount for the second annual Denim & Diamonds event on Saturday, October 13th, 2007! This event will support program expansion since our move to the Leadership, Education & Training Center. With a seated dinner by Dish Catering, live music by the Chrome Cowboys, a fabulous Silent Auction, and Games of Chance, it’s an event not to be missed!

We are looking for donations of items for our silent auction – gift certificates, tickets to sports or cultural events, and other fabulous items that will help us raise much needed dollars for our year-round and summer program expansion — so please keep the VYCC in mind when at your favorite business, and ask them to donate to the silent auction!

Check our event website for silent auction donation forms, to purchase tickets, or for more information, or contact Polly Tobin Goddard at 802.434.3969 ext. 130 or polly@vycc.org.

Building on the success of the 2006 Leadership Retreats, VYCC hosted a mid-session retreat for all Community Crews during which each crew planned sustainability projects that Corps Members can complete in their home communities in the coming months. Corps Members designed six projects, including cleaning up a local park to create a skateboarding park, holding a Fall Sustainability Festival at the Statehouse to educate legislators and the general public, and highlighting river cleanup by hosting a press conference while removing a junk car from the Winooski River.

If you would like to learn more about the Montpelier Community Crew’s Sustainability Festival, attend, or have your organization host a booth, please let us know and we will put you in contact with organizers!

To learn more about our Community Crews, and the work they do to conserve and improve Vermont communities, please click here!

In early June, the VYCC Agriculture & Natural Resource Crew and other volunteers transplanted thirty 10-15 foot spruce and maple trees to the Leadership, Education & Training Center. In the spring of 2006 when her piglets were threatened by rising water, Richmond farmer Mary Houle called on VYCC for emergency assistance. Help arrived quickly and moved the piglets to safety, and this month she returned the favor by donating trees to VYCC for one of the last remaining landscaping projects at the Center. Installation of the trees was completed by student-interns from the Center for Technology – Essex, who worked alongside professional landscapers to accomplish this highly visible property improvement. Thanks to Mary Houle and Chittenden Bank, whose generous donations made this project possible, and to the crews from CTE for all of their hard work!

We are working to raise the last $200,000 required to fully complete the West Monitor Barn restoration and provide the finishing touches such as landscaping. If you would like to make a cash or in-kind donation to help us complete our $3.7 million campaign, please contact Kate Villa at 802.434.3969 ext. 110 or kate@vycc.org.

On Saturday October 13th, 2007, VYCC will host the second annual Denim & Diamonds event to support VYCC’s program expansion since our move to the Leadership, Education & Training Center! The 2006 event was met with such rousing applause that we just have to do it again! With a seated dinner by Dish Catering, dancing and live music by the Chrome Cowboys, a fabulous Silent Auction, and Games of Chance, it’s an event not to be missed! Earlybird tickets purchased before August 1, 2007 will receive a 10% discount.

Demin & Diamonds information, or contact Polly Tobin Goddard at 802.434.3969 ext. 130 or polly@vycc.org.

Traditionally, June marks the exciting beginning of a new field season at VYCC, as crews fan out across the state to begin their summer conservation work. For three VYCC crews and staff this year, June also marks the end of an equally exciting but new VYCC experience – the year-round school programs. The VYCC Youth in Agriculture and Natural Resources Program, in partnership with Mount Mansfield Union HS (Jericho, VT), Lamoille Union HS (Hyde Park, VT) and the Center for Technology at Essex (Essex, VT), accomplished many things this year! While engaging in the work-based learning program, Corps Members in this program worked with local farms, completed work on the Richmond Community Trail, made ten pairs of snowshoes, beautifully re-handled and maintained tools, created GIS maps of the community, and documented a landscape history of the West Monitor Barn all while earning academic credit towards their high school graduation. Congratulations to all for a wonderfully successful pilot year that will serve as the model for continued growth in this program.

For 21 years, VYCC crews began their experience in parking lots across Vermont, but thanks to our new home, that is history! On June 16th, VYCC launched our first session from the Leadership, Education & Training Center, sending more than a dozen crews to every corner of the state to complete high-priority conservation work. Summer Program Director Brian Cotterill, VYCC veteran of six years and many Start Ups said, “For the first time ever, we had this big, beautiful barn as a beacon for Corps Members from across the state to come join their crews. And also for the first time ever, rain wasn’t even a consideration for Start Up since we had the spacious Hay Mow to shelter us in the event of rain… but none threatened the horizon… another first!”

To volunteer for the second session Start Up on Saturday July 21st, contact Brian Cotterill at 802.434.3969 ext. 132 or brian@vycc.org.

The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, in collaboration with Camp DREAM, was awarded the “Environment and Wildlife Compatibility Award” at the recent 2007 Recreational Trails Program Annual Achievement Awards Ceremony in recognition of outstanding use of federal Recreational Trails Program (RTP) funds. Camp DREAM representative Macon Philips accepted the award in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the two organizations.

The VYCC/ Camp DREAM collaboration involved establishing a safe, one-mile beginner mountain bike/cross-country ski trail as well as the construction of a quarter mile-long boardwalk to provide educational access to a Class-II wetland, which will be used as an interpretive trail. VYCC and Camp DREAM, which is a Vermont youth mentoring organization that builds communities of families and college students that empower children from affordable housing neighborhoods to achieve their dreams, are continuing this successful partnership again this season with funding from the Recreational Trails Program funds administered by the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation.

The Fundraising and Events Coordinator is a member of the Development Department, and is devoted to increasing general operating support for the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC). Together this team leads a multi-faceted annual fundraising and longterm relationship-development campaign that includes events, private foundation and government grant proposals, individual solicitations, and corporate solicitations and proposals.

The Fundraising and Events Coordinator will be directly responsible for the coordination of all Training Center facility and event rentals and VYCC fundraising events. In addition, they will coordinate all direct mail projects, work to secure private foundation and corporate grant proposals, coordinate the development section of the website, and manage Development databases and systems. Other responsibilities include assisting the Director of Development and President in government, corporate, and major donor development projects, and coordinating public relations related to donor and program events. The right candidate will possess excellent written and oral skills, be confident and have the ability to work independently as well as within a close team. Attention to detail is critical, as well as a high degree of personal organization.

Fundraising and Events Coordinator Job Description

The VYCC experience rests in the hands of highly trained, capable, and passionate leaders. The quality and success of our program is due in a large part to their leadership and commitment. Meet our 2007 Community, Roving and Wilderness Crew Leaders.

The role of the Youth in Agriculture and Natural Resources Instructor is to work with a team of professionals to develop and deliver an applied learning model which schools statewide can adopt to enrich their own educational programs. This position’s primary role will be to lead a team of ten to twelve students, day-to-day, in a series of work based learning units. In addition, this position will play a leadership role in developing these educational units, tying them to Vermont’s Educational framework, and evaluating student performance. The Instructor will work with school partners to support students including the recruitment, hiring and orientation for crew members.

Youth in Agriculture and Natural Resources - Instructor

The role of the Youth in Agriculture and Natural Resources Crew Leader is to work with a team of professionals to develop and deliver an applied learning model which schools statewide can adopt to enrich their own educational programs. This position’s primary role will be to assist the Instructor with a team of ten to twelve students, day-to-day, in a series of work based learning units. The Crew Leader will play a supporting role in developing these educational units, tying them to Vermont’s Educational framework, and evaluating student performance. In addition, the Crew Leader will work with school partners to support students including the recruitment, hiring and orientation for crew members.

Youth in Agriculture and Natural Resources - Crew Leader