We Believe
We believe every young person in every community, nationwide, should have the opportunity to develop strong ties to the land, build life-long values, and give back to their communities, through their local Civilian Conservation Corp, all across this nation.
A forester who sponsored crews for years told the story of teens who came to the YCC get a paycheck and left with a set of values around the land that was priceless.
He explained the crews carried their tools to the worksite, worked all day, as the sweat poured off their brows and was then soaked up by the earth. These beads of sweat were a deeply personal investment in the land. An investment that grew each day; and continued to build for the rest of their lives.
Time Tested
We have a time-tested, proven model; a national structure; a robust fiscal plan that generates positive cash flow in less than five years and enough revenue to rigorously fund on-going expansion by year eight. Out model ensures seasoned professional leadership, with the tools to deliver.
Next Steps
The next step is to identify national partners who are as passionate as we are about fundamentally improving our nation and creating a more civil society. They will share a commitment to build values in successive generations of young Americans, one person and one community at a time.
Together we will create a national network of local, entrepreneurial, self-sufficient social franchises that can withstand the test of ever-changing federal and state policies, funding, and will have the resiliency to impact many generations to come.
Our goal is to finish developing the specific services new enterprises will need, and then beta test them on current local corps partners in Michigan, and the new national Service Corps model which will become the primary training vehicle for developing the needed leadership. As we fine tune our operational services, we will launch the National Service Leadership Academy whose primary function will be to train the Corps leadership for the national expansion.
How It Started
The general lack of public civility, which stems from individuals who lack respect for others views, dominated a conversation with friends a few years ago – all of us seeing how this issue has polarized friends, families, neighbors, and our nation.
What should we do about it? How could we help create a more civil society? The issues were immense and overwhelming. What was clear was that true lasting change would only come when enough individuals cared deeply enough and acted on a personal set of values each and every day of their lives.
“Conservation Corps” became the focus, likely because I founded and led the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps for 30 years, a social enterprise which today is a multi-million-dollar, multi-state, organization with more than 6000 alumni. At its core, VYCC builds values, develops character, and teaches the kinds of everyday leadership skills that are lacking in today’s society.
However, to have the desired impact a million young people would need to be enrolled annually.
A grizzled old marine, forester, and Vermont State Director of Forestry, held a meeting with all his foresters and told them in his gnarly colorful language that they would be hiring VYCC crews from now on.
He said, “anyone could build the water bars, but only VYCC, in addition to building damn good water bars, instilled values critical to their department’s mission.
Traditional Program – New Delivery Model
We have reimagined the federal Civilian Conservation Corps program of the 1930’s, founded to create employment, encourage education, and solve infrastructure needs, as a locally governed, public-private, national social franchise, with a financial model that can fully fund its year-round operations, additional seasonal crews, without the need for public dollars.
A national team will recruit, train, and support leaders to launch local Corps which will be called “Community Conservation Corps”. Mission and model, as well as services such as financial, HR, fundraising, marketing, legal, and operational training and support will be provided as franchise services.
A young woman who had finished a stint at VYCC, dressed in black with more metal piercing than I thought possible was not happy that she had to share a tent with the head cheerleader from her school. She explained they really hated each other though now, while not friends, had lunch together a few times a week.
They learned while they looked different, traveled in completely different circles, they never the less had more in common than they ever imagined.
If enough citizens had a shared experience which instilled values that helped inform a lifetime of decisions and which taught them to respect each other’s differences we have a different world.
Thomas Hark
President & Chair, CCCUSA
802.922.0266
thomas.hark@cccusa.us