Wildfire is a risk that impacts everyone and is just one of the environmental challenges that Civicorps Corpsmembers are training to mitigate.

Erica Bradley

Sol and Erica each honed their skills in Civicorps’ Wildland Firefighter/Fuels Management Career Pathway, and each of them left Civicorps for a coveted job on the Fuels Crew with East Bay Regional Park District. You can read more about Erica’s Corpsmember journey in our 2023 Annual Report where we wrote about her transformation from shy fast-food worker to conservation powerhouse.

Sol Ruiz

Being at Civicorps was transformational. It gave me a sense of direction and I’m very thankful.

– Erica Bradley

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As fall approaches and children go back to school, they’re not the only ones enjoying new learning experiences. Civicorps is launching multiple new opportunities for our youth to lean into conservation careers.

Thanks to a first-time grant from the California State Parks Foundation, we’ve created a new internship and training curriculum at Mt. Diablo State Park. These opportunities will provide robust exposure and create a bridge for Corpsmembers to career pathways at our State Parks and public lands.

Tommy Kauffman
Inaugural intern Tommy is the first to benefit from the Career Pathways grant, which will help expand training pathways to careers in parks and public lands.

Crew Leader II Tommy Kauffman began his internship at Mt. Diablo State Park after Labor Day. Tommy started his tenure at Civicorps over 2 years ago and quickly earned several promotions; he ultimately helped lead a crew at our Pittsburg site. Tommy has accomplished a lot at the Corps, and his final month is ending with great flair.  A couple weeks ago he helped welcome Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10) to a project site at Waterbird Preserve in Martinez!

Ultimately, we share a fundamental goal with Parks California: to ensure that our parks are welcoming, inclusive and climate-resilient spaces where all people can truly feel at home.  We hate to say goodbye to Tommy, but love to see him assert his natural leadership skills and move on to a burgeoning career in conservation.

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Civicorps is proud to participate in Oakland Forward, a job corps program launched by CalVolunteers in 2022.  This spring, Oakland Forward produced a video featuring several grantee organizations for local TV station KTOP.  When we were offered the opportunity to showcase not only the Corps but a Corpsmember, of course we sprang into action!

We asked our outstanding Operations Intern Anrice Murcia to step into the spotlight….and step in and step up he did!  Anrice appears several times throughout the 6-minute video.  His poise, knowledge, and confidence truly shine through!  Here’s a video excerpt:

Anrice’s star turn subsequently earned him a spot at Mayor Thao’s Oakland Youth Jobs Roundtable, alongside Josh Fryday, CalVolunteers’ Chief Service Officer (photo above). Appearing at the Mayor’s Youth Jobs Roundtable and starring in a video was all in a day’s work for Anrice.  We love watching him grow into such a confident and compelling voice for our movement.

We are so proud of Anrice and thankful that Civicorps was able to be a part of a chapter in his life. As he advances in his career, we look forward to witnessing his continued growth and success.

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Qur’An, Jazmyn and Naudika

Civicorps staff and Corpsmembers gathered this week at the Together Bay Area Spring Conference in San Francisco.  We posed and pondered the question: how do we meet the region’s time-sensitive climate needs while also investing in long-term solutions?

Here at Civicorps, we know the future depends on the success of our youth.  We were honored not only to sponsor this event, but to provide three panelists for the closing plenary session “Stories of Transformation.”  Corpsmembers Jazmyn Patterson, Qur’An Smith and Naudika Williams spoke movingly about their conservation impact.

“When I think of climate change, I understand it is not a situation that can be fixed in a lifetime. But while I am alive and able-bodied, and while I can still go outside in safe conditions, I can lend my hands to the land and make a difference…And I look to my crew, and to my Corps, and to everyone who came here today, and I know I am not alone in this feeling. With many hands, we make light work.”

With these and other words, our young adults had the conference in awe, in laughter and in thrall. Thank you to Jazmyn, Qur’An and Naudika for their time, energy and stories. We are proud to call them our Corpsmembers.

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On Sunday afternoon, a happy group from Civicorps gathered at the annual Bay Nature Local Hero Awards in Berkeley.

Civicorps’ very own Conservation Crew Supervisor Naji Lockett received the Young Leader Award in recognition of his commitment to conservation. This award celebrates “an environmental leader, 25 years old or younger, who is making significant contributions towards understanding, conserving, and/or connecting people to the natural world of the Bay Area.”

We are deeply honored by Bay Nature’s decision to recognize Naji’s leadership. And of course, we couldn’t agree more that he is uber award-worthy! Leading our Corpsmembers, he reminds them that “you’re making a big difference doing this type of work, for the safety of others and the earth.”

We are so proud of Naji and happy that Civicorps can equip young adults like Naji with paid job training and coaching support as they pursue their career pathways. In this beautiful instance, that pathway has led to a job at Civicorps itself.  

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Did you know that Civicorps Recycling provides single stream collection services to over 1,200 businesses in Oakland, collecting 166 tons of recycling materials and 11 tons of E-waste every month?

Recycling Interns who are on a pathway to become commercial truck drivers perform seven daily routes. Civicorps pays for all training hours on the road, behind-the-wheel training, and in the classroom. Once our Interns get their Class B commercial driver’s license, they’re eligible to transfer to Waste Management as a Teamster apprentice.

We are so proud to announce that Santiago Galvez-Flores is the newest Recycling Intern promoted to an apprenticeship with WM.  After training with Civicorps for two years, Santi was selected for this highly competitive position.

Keep an eye out for Santi in his WM truck and be sure to give him a congratulatory wave!

The post Another Grade A Class B Driver appeared first on Civicorps.

Tamara Sherman a reporter from Bay Nature magazine had the opportunity to spend the day with Conversation Crew Two, led by Jeff Chilcott, Naudika Williams, and Martha Alva.

Sherman’s article highlights the daily functions of the Civicorps Job Training Center, displaying everything from physical training in the morning, to the van ride back to the Job Training Center at the end of the day, and everything in between. Crew two heads up into the Oakland Hills to meet the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) supervisor at the Swainland Reservoir. Crew Two’s focus of the day is to clean an invasive plant species, sinkwort. They use weed eaters for most of the day, clearing every weed in sight. Sherman highlights the crew’s diversity, capturing their conversations and interactions over lunch. The Corpsmembers and Crew Leaders of Crew Two display the diversity, positivity, and effective leadership all present at Civicorps

Additionally, Sherman spoke with Executive Director, Tessa Nicholas and Director of Development and Communications, Rachel Eisner. Nicholas and Eisner provided insights into the cohesiveness of the program. Over the 40 years of Civicorps, we have served over 5,000 young people, ages 18-26. Civicorps provides everything from job training, meals and weekly groceries, high school diplomas, driver’s licenses, and much more. Civicorps equips young adults with the skills to thrive in the workforce and their communities. 

Check out the full article in Bay Nature Magazine. 

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Written by: Corpsmember, Naudika Williams

The Sierra Mountains seemed like a place I only read in history class. It was an out-of-reach fantasy. Something that belonged to those who crossed it and renamed the land or the wild backpackers who could afford to wander in the wilderness, so when I was offered a chance to work and live in the Inyo forest, my imagination severely underestimated the greatness I would see in the backcountry.

I remember seeing the stars on my first night and thinking, I must have never truly seen the stars before. I wanted to bring them back to Oakland. I wanted to show everyone how bright the moon really was and how I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be looking at it, but I couldn’t help staring.

As trail workers, we spent our days maintaining stock trails and restoring illegal campsites. We hiked up switchbacks with shovels and rock bars until we reached the destination of the next site that we would transform.

Being in the backcountry gave me a chance to work on the land and live and be fully immersed in my environment. Every night, we slept to a constant choir of crickets and the roaring water crashing, and that followed us back to camp. We were in bear country. The snow determined how far we could go, and the lightning and rain decided our weekend plans. All of these things shaped my summer. This experience makes me rethink how I live now in Oakland, and how working and living with and for nature is one of my core values.

Stay tuned for a full feature on Naudika Williams and their unique journey as a corpsmember in our FY24 Annual Report. 

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