Marin Conservation Corps

Provides high-risk young adults, ages 18-28, with the job training and education needed to transform their lives, while making a difference in local communities and parklands.

Why do we exist?

Today many young people—especially from communities of color and immigrant populations—face overwhelming economic and social barriers that prevent them from obtaining the education and employment opportunities needed to break the cycle of poverty.  Diverse communities are plagued by high unemployment rates, drug dependency, urban blight, significant language barriers, violence, and a substandard educational system.  In these communities more than half of all African American and Latino youth drop out of high school.  Without a high school diploma, positive role models, or family support, many of these young people find themselves permanently caught in the cycle of poverty and/or incarceration, and easily influenced by negative forces such as drugs and gangs.  In addition, young people now face an additional barrier to obtaining their high school diplomas, the new California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).  In 2006 and 2007 approximately 65,000 high school seniors—predominantly from low-income communities of color—failed CAHSEE, leaving them without high school diplomas and very limited life options. 

Marin Conservation Corps (MCC) was established in 1982 as America’s first local conservation corps and is a national leader in the local corps movement.  Its mission is to develop youth and conserve natural resources for a strong, sustainable community.  For the past 26 years, MCC has helped thousands of young people break the cycle of poverty, while improving local parklands and communities, cultivating strong environmental leaders, and promoting environmental sustainability and service.

Each year MCC provides more than 120 high-risk youth, ages 18–28, with the job training, education, and social services needed to transform their lives, while making a difference in local communities and public lands. This year-long experience is attractive to young people because it is one of the few youth development programs that offers participants higher-than-minimum-wage for their participation, while giving them the opportunity to obtain their high school diplomas, gain new job and life skills, and receive valuable career and educational counseling.  In addition to getting an education and mapping out their career and/or college education plans, corpsmembers also gain the satisfaction of giving back to their communities.  Each year our corpsmembers play an important role in reducing fire and flood hazards, constructing and maintaining trails, restoring riparian and wildlife habitat, and collecting more than 150 tons of recyclable materials. 

MCC also provides environmental education and service opportunities for middle and high school students and recent college graduates.  Each summer 140 youth, ages 11–17, participate in Project ReGeneration, a unique month-long service, recreation, and outdoor education program designed to foster environmental stewardship, teamwork, and civic engagement. Through our AmeriCorps programs, AmeriCorps members teach more than 7,500 middle and high school students each year about important environmental issues and lead them in hands-on recycling, gardening, and conservation projects during their year of service.  They also work with resource management agencies to complete ecosystem restoration and monitoring projects, as well as to recruit volunteers for environmental projects. 

What have you accomplished?

Although each young person comes to the Marin Conservation Corps with a different set of obstacles and dreams, all corpsmembers have one thing in common—they are ready and willing to do what it takes to build a better life.  Tamika dropped out of high school at the age of 16 when she became pregnant with her first child.  As the oldest child of a single mother who struggled with drug addiction, Tamika had to grow up early—she was already helping raise her four younger siblings.  After years of trying to support her daughter and siblings on minimum wage and government assistance, she became pregnant with her second child in 2002. 

Still a single mother, she began looking for ways to create a better life for herself and her children.  After discovering MCC through friends, Tamika (age 24) and her younger brother Mark (age 18) joined MCC’s training program in August 2005.  Unfortunately, a few months later Mark was randomly shot and killed on a Richmond street.  He was only two months away from earning his high school diploma when he was killed. 

Despite the devastation of losing her brother, Tamika kept showing up to work at MCC, determined to gain the job skills and education needed to turn her life around.  She greatly benefited from the community support of fellow corpsmembers and staff, including weekly sessions with a counselor from the Center for Attitudinal Healing arranged by our staff.  She said she felt safe at MCC, for one of the first times in her life.

Two years later, we are happy to report that Tamika is thriving.  She is actively pursuing a career in Early Childhood Education, thanks in large part to MCC’s Education program.  She earned her Certificate of High School Completion through MCC’s partnership with John Muir Charter School.  In January 2008 she started her Early Childhood Education coursework at Contra Costa College with the aid of an AmeriCorps scholarship which she earned during her time at MCC.  Tamika wrote the following about her corpsmember experience, “The Marin Conservation Corps is making a change in my life, for my kids and me.  It helps us to make good choices and change our lives, be better people, and to stay away from trouble.”

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