Transforming lives, communities, and country.
Transforming lives, communities, and country.
The VYCC is a statewide, multi-million-dollar organization that includes an 18,000 sq. ft, 3.5-million-dollar training center that bears his name, and is responsible for projects that enroll 300 youths annually, half of whom are at-risk.
The success of VYCC was based on the values Thomas learned in his own Youth Conservation Corp days, as a 19-year old. Thomas learned, as a Minnesotan in Georgia, that no matter where your family comes from, no matter the color of your skin: hard work, personal responsibility, education, good leadership, and contributing to valuable projects in local communities, binds diverse individuals into strong teams.
The mission of the Civilian Conservation Corps, USA is to infuse a whole generation with these same values. CCCUSA is a vehicle to provide our youth with leadership and problem-solving skills— and to deliver needed, high-quality infrastructure projects to local communities.
These are projects young people will be proud to have contributed to their whole lives. And the lessons learned will guide a lifetime of personal decisions that will impact themselves, their families, and community, for generations.
The goal of the Civilian Conservation Corps, USA is to create a more civil society. We will do this by creating a common national service experience that builds values of personal responsibility, self-reliance, education, conservation, public service, and servant leadership in a million young people annually. We will engage a whole generation to bring about a more hopeful future and a stronger nation.
Our model is based on the traditional Youth Conservation Corps model of small diverse teams, trained leaders, important work, and an intensive learning experience.
Every community that desires to positively engage its young people will have an opportunity to create a local CCCUSA program. These will be established as social franchises, governed locally, supported nationally, and bound together by both common goals and a National Service Leadership Academy, which will train and advise all our community partners.