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THE MCCC OFFERS A GREAT DEAL

The Conservation Corps entered into two important partnerships last year, one with Americorps through the National Association of Service & Conservation Corps and the other with the Woodland Job Corps Center. These partnerships are now paying big dividends to the corpsmembers.

            Seventeen corpsmembers will have earned Americorps educational grants of up to $4,725 by June 30th and two are currently enrolled in college. In addition to Americorps grants, all corpsmembers receive a free financial aid assessment and may come away with additional grants including the Pell Grant. The opportunity to continue post-secondary education with the help of this financial aid is, for many corpsmembers, the only realistic avenue for entry into a viable and fulfilling career.

            The other new partnership is with the Woodland Job Corps Center located just outside Laurel, Maryland. We are the first conservation corps program in the country to form an alliance with a Job Corps center. Like Americorps, the majority of MCC corpsmembers quailify for co-enrollment in Job Corps. Here are some of the benefits available.

• Provide monthly stipend of up to $100
• Provide bonuses of $250 for GED attainment and $750 for trade completions and $1,200 for both GED and trades completion
• Provide stipends every two weeks of up to $80
• Provide clothing allowance of up to $300
• Provide free on-site medical and dental care
• Provide child care allowance of up to $90 bi-weekly
• Provide program graduates with job and post-job placement assistance

Tall Tales from the Bronx

The period, June 18-21, 2000, will long be remembered by the seven-person MCCC crew that participated in the Corps Work 2000: A National Environmental Education & Service Project Conference held in New York City.Among the many splendid memories of our trip are, but certainty not limited to, staying at Manhattan College in the Bronx, dinner at Liberty Island and a tour of the Statue of Liberty, another dinner the next evening at the Bronx Zoo, working to build four row boats in 48 hours, hauling tons of debris out of the Bronx River, meeting other corps folks from all over and gripping anything on our chartered school buses as we careened at warp nine through the bustling streets of New York City.

            Corps Work 2000, hosted by the New York Restoration Project founded by Bette Midler in 1995, brought together over 354 corps members and program staff from around the country.The Conference was organized by the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps (NASCC). NASCC, located in Washington, D.C., represent over 100 services and conservation corps in the nation of which the MCCC is a founding member.

            The basic goal of this year’s NASCC conference was less talk and more action. So we had only a few training sessions and performed a lot more work.  In fact, we put in over 5,000 hours of community services on five restoration projects in the Bronx.  Six crews worked on various sections of the river to clear blockages, remove invasive plant species, removing graffiti along bridge walls, install Jute Matting on shorelines, and pull out debris, some of which was unclassifiable.  Another crew transformed a rat-infested, over grown vacant lot-that was sandwiched between a light industrial building and a scrap metal lot- into a riverside park.  This crew also constructed a 12 x 12 floating dock so the locals could access the river for the first time in 60 years.

            While the seven crews were cleaning up the Bronx River and creating a park, another crew raced to build four, 12-foot riverboat skiffs with in 48 hours.  MCCC Crew Supervisor Ahmad Manray, who originally was selected by NASCC as one of the 12 conference field supervisors, was quickly transferred to the boat building venture after his wood working credentials became known.  And they beat the deadline.  Ahmad was so enthusiastic about this project that he wants to build a couple of boats in our woodshop this winter.

            For me, perhaps the most unforgettable event was attending a benefit concert by Bette Midler who donated the tickets to Corps Work 2000 participants.  The “Devin Miss M”, who also donated her performance fee to the New York Restoration project, dedicated her hit song, “Wings Beneath My Wings” to the corps members and staff who labored for two days on five restoration projects.  There we were, about 30 of us seated in the third balcony level of the theater, in odoriferous yellow conference “T” shirts (we didn’t have time to get cleaned up from the day’s work), and grubby pants seated around Newark, New Jersey’s finest in their finest attire.  And what a performance she gave!

            Of course, for the five MCCC corps members who went to New York, the conference no doubt will be one of the highlights of their young lives.  New friends were made, corps attire and badges were exchanged, famous New York sights were seen and adventures were experienced that will be remembered in years to come.

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Pulling debris in the muck of an inlet just off the East River

Have you seen MCCC corpsmember Isabel Moreau smiling with her newly acquired congo gorilla.  The photo was taken at the Bronx Zoo.

In this photo MCCC crew supervisor Ahmad Manray is seen stenciling
the stern of the boat he helped to build.