Addressing Climate Change Through Our Nation’s Service Corps

Addressing Climate Change Through Our Nation’s Service Corps

July 26, 2024

Project Summary

This project evaluates nationally-coordinated service corps programs as they expand their work to care for the environment and diversify their workforces. Funded by the Department of the Interior/National Parks Service, the USDA/US Forest Service, AmeriCorps, and the Hewlett Foundation, our research maps the constellation of service corps programs, their organizational partners, and their relationships with local communities and national parks and forests.

This project works to develop measures that capture the positive impacts service corps programs have on three primary areas: their host communities, the natural environment, and the participants in the programs themselves. Programs included in our study are:

Traditional Trades Advancement Program (National Park Service)
Scientists in Parks (National Park Service)
Resource Assistants Program (US Forest Service)
Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers Program (US Forest Service)
NCCC AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps Summer of Service (AmeriCorps)
Various state-led Climate Corps programs (AmeriCorps)
Various programs coordinated by AmeriCorps Seniors

Data collection across the various service programs involves 5 sources of data: 1) Surveys with program applicants, 2) Member surveys with program participants, 3) Interviews and surveys with representatives from organizational partner organizations, 4) In-depth interviews with a subset of program participants, and 5) Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of the programs.

In 2025, we will also begin the DataCorps Fellowship program at American University, which will train and support two cohorts of students to evaluate the effects of climate-focused service and activism across the US during the summer months.