Service Learning

Service-learning, by getting Corpsmembers to define needs, ask questions, and create solutions, improves Corpsmember outcomes and community outcomes.

Through service-learning, Corpsmembers gain stronger workplace skills, engage in and become more committed to learning relevant to their formal education, become empowered as active citizens, and learn the satisfactions of mature relationships and shared problem-solving. Through intellectual and hands-on engagement, service-learning builds Corpsmembers as assets in their communities. In addition, projects completed through service-learning are more valued and valuable to communities.

Often Corpsmembers will identify needs and create service projects that meet those needs. At other times, service projects are not initiated by Corpsmembers but rather by the community, local organizations, or agencies. Using the analytic tools of service-learning, Corpsmembers shape these projects, purposefully maximizing their value to community and environment.

Service-learning raises educational achievement: At Conservation Corps North Bay, just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, teachers go out on the service site regularly, and hold classes there in a two-hour-weekly program of field education, which has made a significant difference in raising educational motivation among Corpsmembers. The curriculum is site-specific or project-specific, with everything aligned to the California State Standards, and includes topics like the effects of removing garbage on waterways, geofluvial morphology, community recycling, and non-invasive native plant species, among others.

Service-Learning provides workforce skills and the chance to make a difference for disconnected youth: When Jason Carroll came to Ohio's WSOS Quilter Conservation Corps he was homeless, he had previously been incarcerated, and his girlfriend was pregnant. But it's clear that all Jason needed was a chance. The Corps took away Jason's barriers to achievement by providing housing, training, reliable support, and a structured program that combined service and learning to train him in skills that prepared him for a green job in weatherization. Jason became a highly-qualified worker and teammate-and now is one of the best employees in WSOS' weatherization program, enabling low-income residents in northern Ohio to spend less on energy costs. Today, Jason is able to provide his young daughter-who is the light of his life-with all the things he never had.

Service-learning creates better results for communities and the environment: Local parks approached the Arc of Greater New Orleans, a site in the Conservation Corps of Greater New Orleans. To assess the needs of the parks, Corpsmembers had to learn which plants were invasive species, and which plants helped with wetlands restoration. They planted gardens, seeded plants in City Park to restore wetlands, and beautified parks from Bayou Segnette to the New Orleans Nature Center. Each day, during the hour long drive back to the Corps, Corpsmembers reflected on their accomplishments and discussed ways to improve performance with their Crew Leaders.

Service-learning creates stewards of the land: When Linnea Heu joined the Hawai'i Youth Conservation Corps, she had very little knowledge of or concern for Hawai'i's environmental preservation. "I had always loved the outdoors and nature, but I'd never seen the environment as the responsibility, which I now realize it is." She actually joined the Corps out of cultural consciousness and pride when she heard the Corps was going to spend a week on Kaho'olawe Island. This island, a place of great cultural significance for many native Hawaiians, was used for military live-fire training and was in the process of being "regreened". During her term on her home island and her second term at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens, Linnea was involved in dry forest, stream, and beach restoration projects, including removing invasive species, propagating seeds, and installing irrigation. During both terms, supervisors and peers were impressed by her drive, eagerness to learn, and enthusiasm for service. Linnea is currently pursuing a degree in Environmental Science and plans to be an active participant in environmental restoration in the future. "Luckily for me, a passion for the Hawaiian culture led me to an equally engrossing care for the environment and the islands I call home."