Urban Corps NEWS

26 Youth Corps Programs First to be Provisionally Accredited by Corps Center of Excellence

March 20, 2013

WASHINGTON, D.C. — 26 Youth Corps programs from across the nation are the first to have obtained provisional accredidation from the Corps Center of Excellence, an independent program of The Corps Network that is governed by an independent Advisory Committee made up of retired / former conservation corps leaders, retired/former federal land management agency staff, and other experts.

Youth Corps (also known as Service and Conservation Corps) are programs that enroll young people in a crew-based experience where participants complete service projects while receiving paid job training, educational development, mentorship, and support services.

The Corps Center of Excellence is dedicated to the promotion of high quality programming and standards for Youth Corps across America. The Corps Center of Excellence (CCE) ensures that programs have the capacity to meet the desired outcomes for participants as well as meet the high quality and production requirements of resource management partners.

The provisional accreditation allows potential sponsors to have the confidence that the provisionally accredited organizations meet the standards recommended by the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC) Federal Advisory Committee. This accreditation will be good for at least one year, and may be extended as the Committee continues working toward a transition to a full accreditation process. Youth Corps can apply so that numerous programs within their operations receive the provisional accreditation.

"We are very pleased with the number of programs qualifying for accreditation," said Ira Okun, Chair of the The Corps Center of Excellence Advisory Committee. "It speaks to the willingness of Youth Corps to do what it takes to continuously improve their programs, commit to best practices and better serve the young people and their communities. Corps, by their adherence to high standards, enable Corpsmembers to become more successful in their life and career choice."

The Corps programs that have who been provisionally accredited include

· American Youth Works
· Anchorage Park Foundation — Youth Employment in Parks (YEP)
· Civicorps
· Coconino Rural Environment Corps (CREC) — CREC Youth Conservation Corps (YCC)
· Coconino Rural Environment Corps (CREC) — Northern Arizona Conservation Corps (NACC)
· Conservation Corps North Bay — Natural Resources Program
· Conservation Corps of Long Beach
· Larimer County Conservation Corps
· Los Angeles Conservation Corps — Conservation Division
· Mile High Youth Corps — Land Conservation
· Montana Conservation Corps — Big Sky Watershed Corps
· Montana Conservation Corps — Veterans Green Corps
· Montana Conservation Corps — Youth Service Expeditions
· Montana Conservation Corps — MCC Field Crew Program
· Northwest Youth Corps — Leadership Development Program
· Northwest Youth Corps — Out Door Oregon
· Northwest Youth Corps — Spring, Summer, Fall Conservation Corps
(Youth Corps Programs)
· Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (NM)
· Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (CO)
· Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps
· Southeast Alaska Guidance Association — Alaska Conservation Corps
· Southwest Conservation Corps — Environmental Stewards (ES)
· Southwest Conservation Corps — Conservation Corps
· Urban Corps of San Diego County
· Vermont Youth Conservation Corps
· Western Colorado Conservation Corps

For more information about The Corps Center for Excellence and provisional accreditation, please visit www.21csc.org


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Urban Corps Graduate Raghda Raphael named National Corpsmember of the Year; Student to Speak at Corps Network Annual Convention in Washington, DC. representing 300,000 corpsmembers nation-wide

Click here to view Raghda's award letter.
Click here to read CorpsNework article on Raghda.

Urban Corps Cleaning up San Diego River in Santee

Crews from the San Diego Urban Corps have been working the past two months to remove the nonnative water primrose from the San Diego River in Santee. The Urban Corps’ Habitat Management Services will continue to be along the Mission Creek/Mast Park section of the river, working through the early part of December to get rid of the invasive plant with yellow flowers and green leaves. The plant, native to South America, grows in thick mats that slow the river’s flow, reduce the water’s dissolved oxygen level and raise the water temperature. The vine-like plant is also a habitat for mosquito larvae.

“Water primrose has been a problem since I’ve been here, eight years, and probably for more than 20 years (altogether),” said Annette Saul, the city’s parks and landscape supervisor. “We’re always trying to manage it. We’ve worked with Urban Corps in the past, and this is their third time out. ”

Sam Lopez, director of operations for Urban Corps, said working along the river in Santee has been a steady endeavor.

“We’ve been working for about four years, first with a summer youth program and then about two years ago, with Prop. 84 dollars, we did trail work to cut down some of the palm trees there,” Lopez said. “You know how they say, ‘Build it and they will come’? Well, we say that if we clear it, the ducks will come. They will be able to waddle freely.”

The project was made possible through a grant of nearly $50,000 from the county Department of Environmental Health, Vector Control Division. The city was OK’d for the grant in September, Saul said.

Additionally, eight youth Urban Corps members have worked at nearby Santee Lakes, learning conservation skills, earning a paycheck and attending Urban Corps Charter School to earn a high school diploma, Urban Corps spokeswoman Klara Arter said.

Urban Corps is a nonprofit organization that provides education and job training to at-risk youth and disadvantaged young adults.

Karen.Pearlman@utsandiego.com; (619) 293-1829; Twitter @karenpearlman

City Flood Control System Under Siege



By Mike Lee
Click here for PDF version of article.

When a sinkhole bigger than a commuter bus opened up on a University City road earlier this month, it created a headache for people who work nearby. The cause was traced to a corrugated metal storm water pipe, which today is known for chronic failures. Most residents only think about such things when heavy rains roll across the region and expose weaknesses in the storm water system. But just out of sight, water continually erodes San Diego’s sprawling flood-control network and sediment continually reduces its capacity.

“The potential exists for problems like this — maybe not with the same level of impact, but the same underlying cause — to occur in places throughout the city,” said Bill Harris, a spokesman for the city’s Storm Water Division. The maze of pipes and drains needs a city-estimated $246 million for patching spots with known and suspected problems, including areas where buckling pavement suggests the potential for more sinkholes. The other major issue facing the city’s stormwater system is that San Diego lacks critical environmental signoffs for maintaining open channels and creeks that residents depend on for protection from seasonal flooding. At 2 p.m. Monday, the Storm Water Division will seek approval from the City Council to clear out many of the waterways that have become clogged with dirt, rocks, garbage and plants. Councilmembers signaled sympathy for such efforts on Tuesday when they approved more work in the flood-prone Tijuana River Valley despite concerns about ecological impacts.

That work could cost $3 million a year, including disposal costs for up to 30,000 cubic yards a year of contaminated trash and sediment removed from the channels. “We need the channel clean before somebody does get killed,” said Dan Winne president of Happy Trails Horse Rentals, who has witnessed catastrophic flooding in recent years. “At least it will drain the water away from the ranches, away from the people and will protect them in some way.”

San Diegans for Open Government, a nonprofit advocacy group, challenged the city’s plan on several fronts, saying that it will damage wetlands and did not undergo adequate public review. The council unanimously upheld the staff’s plan, which means sand dredging could start by late November if rain doesn’t make the site impassable. “I appreciate the statements about protecting the environment, but we have to protect business and homes and lives, too,” said council member Marti Emerald. “In many ways, this kind of … ongoing maintenance is probably healthier for the environment than doing nothing.” San Diego’s challenges with money and environmental permits are mirrored across the country, where key pieces of water infrastructure are falling apart due to lack of investment and environmentalists advocated for rethinking management of creeks and channels that drain urban areas to the ocean.

The city and other local governments have struggled for years to find a balance between flood control and protection of rare wetland habitat, much of which has been lost to development. The stakes are particularly high this fall given the acrimony that erupted last winter when San Diego and environmentalists battled over flood control projects while the region was under a deluge. City crews ended up removing debris from some bottlenecks, but green groups were able to thwart work at other spots with lawsuits that said the city was improperly using emergency exemptions in places where problems have been known for years.

On Monday, the debate at City Hall will center on a 20-year blueprint for improving the flow of water through 32 miles of channels that city officials and environmentalists have debated over the past two years. City officials estimated the overall cost at $60 million, including extensive environmental restoration to make up for damage done by the work. San Diego is seeking the overarching permits in hopes of streamling the permitting process for each stretch of channel, what can be a costly and time-consuming process. The city’s goal is to start work under the master permit in September.

Environmentalists have opposed the need for some of the city’s proposals, which they say are unnecessary for flood control and damaging to streamside habitat. They also said the city hasn’t done enough cumulative review of the projects and they want the Storm Water Division to be more accountable to the public as detailed work plans take shape. “The biggest issue … is accountability,” said Gabriel Solmer, advocacy director for San Diego Coastkeeper. She said the city hasn’t gone far enough to invite public comment on site-specific plans. “I don’t think that is the message the city should be sending to residents who want to be involved,” she said.

At the Storm Water Division, Harris said the city made major revisions to appease conservationists, including a pledge not to clear vegetation in about one-third of the flood channels and providing detailed descriptions of staging spots and access routes where work is planned. “We will be performing surgical maintenance,” Harris said. “It’s a huge commitment, but a commitment that is born out of the understanding of the priority our community places on these areas.” Whatever the council decides about the open waterways, San Diego still will have a long list of failing pipes that typically are costly to replace but not controversial. The most problematic ones are made of corrugated metal, which came into vogue during the 1950s and remained popular for decades because it’s lighter than other options and easier to use for corners and other tight spots. Today, the city prefers reinforced concrete pipe. But storm water managers still count about 38 miles of corrugated metal pipe — which the city banned in 1992 — and acknowledge that there could be other stretches that may only be found when they fail.

Even though the $246 million bill for deferred maintenance seems huge, Harris said San Diego has been making solid progress given the citywide budget cuts. Over the past year, for example, the storm water agency has spent about $10 million from a bond to make upgrades such as pump station retrofits in flood-prone Pacific Beach. Corrugated pipe replacement is the top priority for roughly $30 million the Storm Water Division is seeking in the next city infrastructure bond issue expected in the spring.

The Corps: Building a Better Personal Future and Stronger Community

So what is this "Corps" exactly? It's a little bit Marine Corps, a little bit Peace Corps, and a whole lot of San Diego "esprit de corps" blended together to create the Urban Corps (UC) of San Diego County.

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Urban Corps Plants School Garden at Morse High School

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Introducing... The Gateway Mural Project

The Gateway Mural is a 5,000 square foot mural project under development as part of a Redevelopment Plan to revitalize and beautify the Midway and Rosecrans area. The mural is being made possible by:

  • The North Bay Redevelopment Committee (NorthBay PAC)
  • The Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Diego
  • Urban Corps of San Diego County

The mural is being installed on the wall of the underpass of Interstate 5 located on Rosecrans Street and on the adjoining embankment wall on Jefferson Street.

For questions, please contact us at (619) 235-6884.

Urban Corps Wins Energy All-Star Award

We are proud to announce that Urban Corps was recently presented with the 2011 Energy All-Star Award for Community Leadership from the California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE). The award is presented to individuals or organizations who demonstrate outstanding achievements in the community on environmental issues, affecting positive change toward more sustainable living.

Urban Corps was honored for its environmental service work in the community and for creating a green campus which includes a host of energy and water efficiency features, a green roof, sustainable vehicle wash and a solar voltaic system.

Keynote speaker Panama Bartholomy, Deputy Director of the California Energy Commission, singled out Urban Corps in his address saying: "Hearing about Urban Corps was inspiring…They are one of the bright stars in our efforts to (create a sustainable future)."

Urban Corps' Recycling Eco Center featured in KNBC News segment

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A tree - actually, 900 new ones - grows in Lemon Grove Urban Corps is preparing to plant 900 trees by the freeway

BY KAREN PEARLMAN THURSDAY
APRIL 28, 2011

The city named in the early 1900s for its large citrus groves — most of which were lost around World War II when suburbanization started — will soon get 900 new trees. Hundreds of young members of the Urban Corps of San Diego will plant trees along State Route 94, from Federal Boulevard to Lemon Grove Avenue, in October. The tree planting is part of $12 million in funding from the California Transportation Commission approved for nine local projects. In addition, County Supervisor Dianne Jacob secured an additional $10,000 through a Neighborhood Reinvestment Grant. “Most people don't even know that there's a beautiful city down the 94 and now we're going to make it official,” said Jim Ellis, a Lemon Grove resident since 2005. The group from Urban Corps, made up of 18- to 25-year-olds who need a second chance in society, will also plant another 900 trees along state Route 94 in Spring Valley and Casa de Oro by the beginning of 2012.

The trees will help mitigate the noise and emissions from the extension of state Route 125. “Drivers on this stretch of Highway 94 have been waiting a long time for landscape improvements,” Jacob said. “These trees will improve roadside aesthetics, bringing the character of the highway in line with the surrounding community.” The Urban Corps also plans to adopt the portions of the freeways where they are planting trees, said Klara Arter, Urban Corps communication manager. “This is like the great days of Plant Lemon Grove, a city sponsored event we had back in the mid-1990s,” said longtime Lemon Grove resident Helen Ofield, president of the city's Historical Society. Ofield said she remembers when Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, city council members, city staff and a host of other volunteers planted pepper trees, bougainvillea and more at the Lemon Grove Avenue exit off the 94. “It's critically important to have trees (near the freeway) with the constant roar of traffic,” Ofield said. “The presence of the span of the 125 has changed the lives of everybody here.”here.” The California Transportation Commission gave $330,585 to the Urban Corps and the San Diego Association of Governments to plant 600 trees along the almost 3-mile stretch of the freeway from Federal Boulevard to Lemon Grove Avenue. But Arter said the group adjusted the size of the trees they were purchasing so more could be planted, adding 300 additional Sycamore, Coast Live Oak and Torrey Pine trees. “When I first heard there were going to be 600 trees, I thought, "That's a forest!'” Lemon Grove City Councilman George Gastil said. “Now it's 1,800' That's incredible. And that's not even the best part. The best part is that they're native trees, trees remarkably appropriate for our area. It will really be like driving through the forest, like (state Route) 163. It's going to look really pretty. And the trees help keep the environment clean.” The Urban Corps' first projects included erosion control on Cowles Mountain in 1989 (the year Urban Corps began) and installing temporary survey markers in Balboa Park in 1991. “The Urban Corps is so much more than a job training program for the youth who participate,” Arter said. “It is a second chance to turn their lives around, earn a high school diploma and contribute to the community in the process. “Twenty years from now, these young people will be able to drive down the 94 freeway, see the mature trees and say to their kids,"I helped plant those trees.'

” The Urban Corps is responsible for maintaining the trees, including replacing and trimming, for three years after they're planted. At first, a low-volume irrigation system will be used to water the trees, but that will be discontinued as they grow since all trees selected are drought tolerant, Arter said. Sycamores, loved by hummingbirds and butterflies, reach an average height of 75 feet. The Coast Live Oak reaches heights of 20 to 40 feet and attracts more than 30 kinds of birds. Torrey Pine grows from 25 to 60 feet tall and over the years has adapted to challenging environments of poor soil and little moisture.

Karen.Pearlman@uniontrib.com; (619) 293-1829; Twitter@karenpearlman

Wall gardens growing in popularity

Bringing beauty and a green bounty to the county

By Mike Lee, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

SAN DIEGO — When employees of the Urban Corps of San Diego County gather for staff meetings at their building near Old Town this summer, they hope to sample salsa from one of the region’s most unusual gardens. It’s suspended from a wall so that herbs, fruits and vegetables are hanging out in thin air, their leaves arched skyward to catch the sun as drops from an irrigation system trickle through the frame and moisten the roots.

“We are just getting the first batch of ripe tomatoes, so we will have everything we need” for salsa, said Klara Arter, development coordinator for the Urban Corps, which trains at-risk youths for the workplace with an emphasis on green jobs such as recycling.

Of course, the inspiration for one of the first vertical gardens in the region is bigger than salsa. The idea is to cultivate urban residents’ interest in homegrown food, explore new ways of adding plants to the landscape and introduce a practice that is popular in Europe but is just starting to take root in the United States. “My vision was to have these cornstalks so high that they can be seen from the freeway,” Sam Duran, CEO of the Urban Corps, said as cars whizzed past on Interstate 5.

Besides the group’s headquarters, there are “living” walls at a downtown law office, a Point Loma hotel and a few East County homes where residents grew tired of rabbits grazing on their conventional gardens. Perhaps the most famous vertical garden in Southern California adorns a pair of pizzerias in Hollywood operated by celebrity chef Mario Batali.

“Roof gardens seemed to be hot about five years ago. Vertical gardens seem to be hot now,” said Ty Sterns, an Urban Corps official who helped create the new showpiece.

Jim Mumford, president of GreenScaped Buildings and a self-described “eco-warrior,” is behind many of the region’s wall gardens, including the one at the Urban Corps office. He attracted attention in 2007 for installing a green roof on his Kearny Mesa warehouse as a demonstration project.

That idea works in some places — a large “living” roof is being installed on the new Fallbrook library — but it often requires major structural support and can be a hassle to water and maintain. Plus, Mumford said, roofs are only viewed by a limited number of people.

So he turned the concept on its side — literally.

“Why (vertical gardens) are catching on is you see them. They are right there,” Mumford said. “It’s art.”

At the B Street office of Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP, managing partner Tom Turner said a new green wall with roughly 200 square feet of suspended plants is a sign of the firm’s commitment to green initiatives such as natural lighting and reduced paper use.

The ornamental garden has no salsa ingredients, but it still creates a striking conversation piece for parties.

“It’s beautiful. It’s different,” Turner said. “It’s working very well, and we don’t have any qualms about it.”

A growing field of vendors hopes make a buck on the trend. Startup costs for a vertical garden range from $50 to $150 a square foot, Mumford said.

“The market is expanding exponentially,” he said. “But it’s going to shrink back to what is really practical, what has stood the test of time.”

The garden crew at the Urban Corps spent months planning their foray into the new farming techniques, which include a rooftop garden, plants that hang in saddlebags on low walls and about 28 square feet of gravity-defying greenery.

They built the scaffolding from a kit sold by Tournesol Siteworks in Fremont and placed more than a dozen varieties of plants into it, along with soil, large staples to secure the roots and landscaping material to keep the dirt from falling out.

Sterns and his colleagues acclimated the plants to vertical life by raising one edge of the frames a few inches at a time with blocks. Every week or so, the workers would add more blocks and force the plants to hang on more tightly.

The garden includes oregano, scallions, small cornstalks shooting out from the sides of the frames and several tomato vines that are starting to droop under the weight of ripening orbs.

The irrigation system runs for two hours a day, soaking the soil and splattering on the flat roof below. A drain funnels the runoff to a street-level garden so water isn’t wasted.

Duran’s vision is to finish the entire wall with more than 400 square feet of plants, keeping high-maintenance edibles on the lower sections and placing low-hassle, low-water decoratives up high.

“We are doing green-job training, so when you drive by, you should be able to see the evidence,” Sterns said.

Mike Lee: (619) 293-2034; mike.lee@uniontrib.com