Annual Report 2018 Mission
Rocky Mountain Youth Corps engages young people in the outdoors, inspiring them to use their strengths and potential to lead healthy, productive lives. We teach responsibility for self, community and environment through teamwork, service and experiential education.
Vision
Rocky Mountain Youth Corps will be the leader in NW Colorado to provide diverse opportunities for young people to participate in outdoor based service and education for their growth, respect and responsibility to self, community and environment. We will do this through strong sustainable collaborations with project, program, and funding partners and the creation of a youth development center.
Dear Friends of Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, What a great year 2018 was!
The board, staff, supporters, members, participants, and alumni celebrated a quarter century of service in numerous ways. The highlight was a big celebration at our new headquarters in Steamboat Springs in September.
It was great to see so many “Champions” of RMYC come together after decades to celebrate all the greatness that our organization has provided to youth and young adults, communities, and land management agencies over the years. We celebrated 40 individual and 40 agency Quarter Century Champions who had a significant impact on the success of the organization over the years. Many of these Champions travelled long ways to celebrate with us, and we thank you all so very much!
The connections we make get thicker and stronger each year, with the goal to best serve all our youth participants, regardless of socio-economic or demographic backgrounds. Last year, together, we helped 755 youth and young adults to learn, grow, and experience success. Now more than ever, we are realizing the importance of providing young people opportunities to develop resiliency, job skills, career objectives, civic engagement, and higher education resources while contributing tens of thousands of hours to preserving and maintaining our natural lands. Our success and longevity would NOT BE POSSIBLE without YOUR support! It takes a village, a community, a unified movement to raise a generation of educated, productive and healthy citizens. We are proud to be a part of that effort, and are very appreciative of the time, energy, funding, and advocacy that you all contribute. Nothing tells their story like they do, so look for their quotes throughout this report!
Board of Directors
Thank you for being an important part of the solution.
Margi Briggs-Casson
president
DeB proper
vice-president
GreGory henion
treasurer
pauL sachs
secretary
susan petersen
past president
aDam aLspach paiGe Baker heiDi BarBee aVrom FeinBerG meLrose kuusinen suzanne munn keLLy northcutt sherri sweers Darcy owens-trask scott wither
Staff
Gretchen Van De Carr Executive Director
Gretchen Van De carr executive director Margi Briggs-Casson mark wertheimer associate director Board President chrissy Lynch finance & human resource director kate warnke development associate ryan Banks program director Liz DoBy administrative & intern program coordinator aLan chapman operations manager roB DuDDy conservation corps program manager Lauren GLass youth program manager Lauren VanDenhurk youth program manager
2018 Impact
52 bags of trash
5,522 Trees Thinned / Removed / Mi gated
55 campgrounds maintained
57 Miles of Fence Constructed / Removed / Repaired 286 Hou rs Const ruc ng Li Up's Greenho use
6,891 Feet Water diversion structures installed
Revenues and Expenditures
Earned Income 67%
Foundations 7%
Government Grants 18%
Program Fees 2%
Donations/Special Events 6%
revenues $3,009,951
Program Staff 24%
Program Operations 14%
Program Participants 35%
Capital Expenditures 7% Program Administration Transportation 14% 6%
expenditures $2,896,320
Highlights YVSS 2018 yampa VaLLey science schooL
280 sixth grade students spent 5 days and 3 nights getting dirty while learning about the natural world through our hands-on, experiential learning curriculum.
Personal Development Highlights
Demonstrated an increase in education understanding of 47% based on the pre-post education test results, with final scores on average of 88%. Students enjoyed games and activities that help build social skills and teamwork. Increased excitement for science! .
Project Highlights
Visiting Elkstone Farm to dissect a flower, examine biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem, and experience what it takes to grow a successful food garden in NW CO. Traveling to Buffalo Pass to view soil layers and hypothesize about how and when certain rock structures formed. Testing the local water quality and discovering that our Yampa River has healthy water flowing.
Completing service projects at Legacy Ranch - mulching garden beds for winter, cleaning up wetlands at RMYC, micro trash cleanup at Perry Mansfield, and managing the Fish Creek Aid Station for the Run Rabbit Run race.
“I liked how there were a lot of field trips and that we got to learn using hands on science.”
Moonshine Ski & Dine
The 12th Annual event was held at a new location in 2018, Historic Howelsen Hill in downtown, Steamboat Springs, Colorado. We had over 250 guests attend, a record number! The evening delivered a unique mix of world class cross country skiing and snowshoeing under the full moon paired with a great social evening of food, drinks, and a senstational silent auction. We raised over $18,000 for our local youth corps programs and Yampa Valley Science School. Thank you to our sponsors, silent auction donors, board members, volunteers, and event attendees.
Youth Corps HIGHLIGHTS
2018 youth corps
Youth Corps programs provide consistent steppingstone experiences for youth ages 11-18. Service Learning Crew (ages 11-13), a comprehensive community service program that provides education about citizenship, volunteerism, and selfdevelopment, engaged 96 youth in 2018, including continued SLC programming in Lake County, Summit County, and the Yampa Valley. In 2018, 115 Community Development Crew participants (ages 14-15) were paid while gaining valuable skills. CDC expanded to Moffat County in addition to operating in Routt, Summit, Rio Blanco, Garfield, Lake, Eagle and Pitkin Counties. Camping throughout northwest Colorado, 41 Regional Service Crew participants (ages 16-18) spent 2-4 residential weeks working on habitat restoration and trail projects.
Personal Development Highlights
As a result of their participation, youth increased resiliency, self-esteem, healthy life skills, and job readiness. Youth Corps education consists of lessons, activities, and reflection focused on job readiness, healthy life skills, environmental education, substance use and risks thereof, and civic and social responsibility. It is designed with continuity, building on lesson content and complexity throughout the age-level crews. Residential camping offers opportunities for deeper engagement in social learning and to connect with non-profit, government, and other local agencies.
Project Highlights
Lake Community Development Crew spent 4 weeks working on Mt. Elbert, the highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America. This crew partnered with the Colorado 14ers Initiative, Leadville Ranger District of the Pike San-Isabel National Forest, The National Forest Foundation, and Great Outdoors Colorado’s Get Outdoors Leadville! Crews restored and built several miles of trails and constructed buck and rail fences to close unwanted social trails.
Regional Service Crew spent 2 weeks working with the United States Forest Service Rifle Ranger District. Crews partnered with the USFS and Great Outdoors Colorado Generation Wild campaign in Garfield county to clean up and restore campgrounds and do forest fire mitigation work.
2018's inaugural Moffat Community Development Crew spent 2 weeks working with the Bureau of Land Management Little Snake Field Office in Craig, CO. This crew built and maintained mountain bike trails on Cedar Mountain in partnership with BLM and Moffat County. “I most enjoyed a sense of self-accomplishment after helping the community.“
Conservation Corps Highlights
2018 conserVation corps
Rocky Mountain Youth Corps engaged 112 members, 25 leaders and 4 field coordinators over the course of the Summer and Fall this season.
Personal Development Highlights
126 total participants received AmeriCorps Education awards for completing their full season totaling over $278,147! Crewmembers demonstrated significant increases in resiliency, confidence, job skills, and healthy lifestyles choices.
Project Highlights
Some highlights from the season included having a crew work in partnership with the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, the National Forest Foundation and the US Forest Service to complete the reroute of a portion of the South Elbert summit trail above tree line. Mt. Elbert is the tallest peak in the state of Colorado and is a highly trafficked mountain that is host to a large expanse of fragile, beautiful and unique alpine terrain. Through the same partnerships, crewmembers were able to complete an additional 8 weeks of maintenance and re-construction work on the Mt Evans summit trail as well.
In the late Summer and Fall RMYC's Fire Crew was deployed on two live firefighting assignments. The first was right outside Steamboat Springs' backdoor at the Silver Creek Fire for 2 weeks. The second was on the Rocky Mountain Region - Bender Fire in Northern Utah.
In addition to these high profile projects, crews completed a total of 25 weeks of work with the Forest Service in the Dillon Ranger District based in Summit County, 4 weeks of signage and trail maintenance data inventory on the Continental Divide Trail in partnership with the Forest Service in Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, and 5 weeks of Historic Preservation work with Grand Teton National Park in addition to many other meaningful Conservation Projects!
“My experience gave me important skills and valuable tools that will help in obtaining professional employment in the future.”
internship prograM
In 2018, our internship program continued to make connections with area land management agencies and grew to host 31 interns. These positions included Archaeology, GIS, botany and soils, hydrology, and trails and engaged youth as young as 16, inspiring them to pursue a career in natural resources. 20 interns worked with the Bureau of Land Management, 3 with the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, and 8 with the United States Forest Service. One of our Archaeology interns declared: "Due to the experience and training I received through the RMYC's internship program, I exceeded expectations and received a GS-05 Archaeology Technician position with the Forest Service."
Christopher Merino
RMYC CORPSMEMBER OF THE YEAR Chris Merino grew up in Rifle, Colorado and participated in the first Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (RMYC) Community Development Crew (engaging ages 14-16) that was based in his hometown. After successfully completing that first term, he joined the Regional Service Crew (engaging members ages 16-18) where he excelled amongst his peers. These positive experiences led him to join the adult conservation corps – a meaningful advancement from the two- and four-week programs to the 3-month commitment of being with the crew 24 hours a day. This new challenge drove Chris to recognize a new sense of confidence, tenacity, and grit in himself.
Jessica Nicolosi, Chris’ assistant crew leader, shared that he was incredibly receptive to feedback and that he built upon the strong work ethic and passion he showed in the previous corps terms. Jessica noted that Chris was often able to express what many on the crew felt about the impact of a moment or the overall experience; and that his openness to share his thoughts and feelings about being on trail crew set a magical tone for the whole crew. Currently Chris is attending school in Glenwood Springs at the Colorado Mountain College supported by his AmeriCorps Education Award.
Program + Project Partners
RMYC values the many organizations and agencies that we partner with to fulfill our mission. We would not have success for our participants or the communities and environments we serve without our diverse and strong collaborative partnerships.
aMeriCorps Engaging young adults in intensive community service work with the goal of meeting the critical needs of the community and environment, we are proud to partner with AmeriCorps, providing service opportunities to young adults across the country.
the Corps netWorK RMYC is a proud member of The Corps Network, providing critical leadership to the corps movement and to the nation’s service and conservation corps as they tackle some of America’s greatest challenges.
CoLorado Youth Corps assoCiation Transforming lives and communities through service, personal development, and education statewide, CYCA aspires to be the leader in conservation and service and empowers corps to change lives statewide. RMYC is honored to be a partner.
21st CenturY Conservation serviCe Corps RMYC is proud to be a member of the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps. The 21CSC is a bold national effort to put thousands of young Americans and veterans to work protecting, restoring, and enhancing America’s great outdoors and cultural and community resources. The program is operated through a public-private partnership between government, industry, non-profit and community organizations, working together to foster the next generation of community leaders and resource stewards.
nationaL Forest Foundation Engage Americans in promoting the health and public enjoyment of our National Forests, which are at the core of America’s natural riches, and yet, today these treasures are threatened by unprecedented challenges. RMYC is proud to partner with the National Forest Foundation.
Ace Hardware Aspen Snowmass Environment Foundation BLM Colorado River Valley BLM Kremmling BLM Little Snake BLM National Operations Center BLM White River BookTrails Boulder Mountainbike Alliance Carpenter Ranch Nature Conservancy Casey’s Pond Senior Living Community City of Craig City of Leadville City of Rifle City of Steamboat Springs Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed CO Department of Natural Resources CO Divison of Reclamation Mining/ Safety CO Fourteeners Initiative CO Mountain College-Timberline Campus CO Parks and Wildlife CO State Land Board CO Youth Corps Association CPW - Colorado State Forest State Park CPW - Elkhead Reservoir State Park CPW - Radium State Wildlife Area CPW - Rifle Falls State Park CPW - Stagecoach State Park CPW - Steamboat Lake State Park CPW - Sylvan Lake State Park CPW - Yampa River State Park Craig-Scheckman Family Foundation CSU Routt County Extension Office Denver Water
DOW - Piceance/Little Hills SWA DOW - Radium SWA Foundry Treatment Center Friends of the Dillon Ranger District Friends of the Lower Blue River Friends of the Yampa Friends of the Eagles Nest Wilderness Friends of Wilderness (Zirkel) Garfield County Get Outdoors Leadville! Grand Teton National Park Greater Arkansas River Nature Assoc. Hayden Lake Village Headwaters Trails Alliance High Mountain Institute Historic Routt County HistoriCorps Lake County Lake County Mineral Belt Trail Committee Main Street Steamboat Maryland Creek Ranch Middle Park Land Trust National Forest Foundation NPS - Dinosaur National Monument NPS - Grand Teton National Park NPS - Rocky Mountain National Park Oak Creek Parks and Recreation Parachute Recreation District Pitkin County Prima Ranches, LLC Public Lands Service Coalition Rio Blanco County River Valley Ranch Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers
Rockies Rock Roundup Riders of the Rockies Routt County Humane Society Routt County Riders Routt County United Way Steamboat Sunlight, LLC Summit County The Corps Network The Greenlands Reserve Town of Battlement Mesa Town of Breckenridge Town of Carbondale Town of Eagle Town of Granby Town of Gypsum Town of Hot Sulphur Springs Town of Meeker Town of Minturn Town of New Castle Town of Oak Creek Town of Parachute Town of Winter Park USFS - Arapaho - Roosevelt NF USFS - Bridger-Teton NF USFS - Medicine Bow-Routt NF USFS - Pike-San Isabel NF USFS - White River NF Walking Mountains Science Center Western Center for Historic Preservation Wildlands Restoration Volunteers Yampa Valley Austism Program Yampa Valley Sustainability Council Yampatika
Chainsaw Level
$10,000+
Pulaski Level
John and Suzanne Munn Myrtle L Atkinson Foundation Routt County Routt County United Way Tony and Emily Seaver The Shadek Family Foundation Steamboat Springs Education Fund State of CO - Office of Behavioral Health
$1,000-$ 9,999
Anonymous Aspen Community Foundation Russ and Carol Atha BAP! Big Agnes Steve and Kelly Bloom Tim and Janet Borden Central Park Liquor Daniels Fund The Duffey Foundation Friends of the Dillon Ranger District Heart of Steamboat Foundation Honey Stinger Iconic Adventures The Lawrence Foundation Luck Family Foundation The MacArthur Family
Hard Hat Level
Old Town Hot Springs Lyman Orton and Janice Izzi Sonny and Donna Petrie The Porches of Steamboat Springs Bill and Barbara Sanders Hans and Susan Schell Ski Corps Employee Environmental Fund Marilyn Staff Steamboat Pilot & Today Steamboat Sticker The Summit Foundation Denny and Joy Swanson Three Moon Fund Mona Warren Yampa Valley Community Foundation 14th Judicial Collaborative Mgmt Program
$500-$ 999
Anonymous Alpine Bank of Steamboat Springs Carol Baily Peggy Bass Berglund Grayson Bauer Bryan and Karen Bomberg Community First Foundation Fox Construction, Inc. Gerber Berend Design Build Hawkridge Endowment Bob and Melrose Kuusinen Phil and Anne Lauinger Susie Leeson Randy and Lisa Lewis Life Essentials Day Spa Liman Family / Twin Enviro Services The Mohn Family The Morris Family
Victor Padilla and Laurene Maxwell Sam and Lindsey Reznicek Katie Jane Riemenschneider Rise Steamboat Stu Roberts and Lulu Gould Robinson-Bouquet Foundation Tom and Pam Ruehle Run Rabbit Run, Ltd. Steamboat Powdercats Steamboat Sotheby's International Realty Community Foundation Stout Studios Backdoor Sports Walmart David Patterson and Lance Whitner Northern Lights Jewelry Yampa Valley Bank Yampa Valley Brewing Company
SUPPORTING AGENCIES & INDIVIDUALS
Anschutz Family Foundation Environment Foundation of Aspen City of Steamboat Springs Corporation for National and Community Service Craig-Scheckman Family Foundation Valerie Gates GOCO - Garfield County GOCO - Get Outdoors Leadville!
SUPPORTING AGENCIES & INDIVIDUALS
Trailblazer Level
$250-$ 4 99
Anonymous Alpine Lumber B&K Distributing Andy and Betsy Baur Courtney Berry Alan Chapman & Sandy Boston Rich and Gabrielle Coffman Brad and Lara Craig Jay Culver and Kristine Johnson Mark and Vanda Dyson Fred Emerich Paul and Bridget Ferguson Brad and Kathy Hoefer Terry Huffington and Ralph Dittman
Jellyfish Bart and Nancy Kounovsky Joan Lazarus Dobkowski Gavin Malia Dave and Corrine Moody Ken and Deb Proper Curtis and Wendy Rogers Bill Schell Ski Town Lions Club S'more & Milan Jack Sprengle Tredway, Henion, Palmquist, & Kusy, P.C. Otis and Oliver Van De Carr Robert and Carol Wertheimer
Groundbreaker Level Anonymous Adam and Pearson Alspach Alex and Ann Ayad Brad and Paige Baker Angie Banks Heidi Barbee and Norbert Samlowski Zirkel Wireless Cam and Jill Boyd Margi Briggs-Casson CO Group Realty Charitable Foundation Chaos Ink Sally Claassen and Mark Darlington Jerry and Kathy Craig Joan Curran Win and Elaine Dermody Dave and Jacqueline Desposato Chris and Eileen Diamond Patrick and Mary Duddy Jack Dysart and Carole Milligan Bob and Audrey Enever Avrom Feinberg and Erica Gallagher Paul and Barb Feinberg Helen Fiedler Richard Florence Kimberly Fox Betsy Frick Greg and Kate Friedman Donna Garth Mona Gibson Glas Deffryn Ranch Fund
Friend Level
$100-$ 249
Sara Gorevan Julie Green Rich and Kristin Hager Doug and Ellen Hayes Michael Holcomb & Terry Ford - Holcomb Mike and Barbara Hughes Judith Janec Christian and Laura Karch Keith and Sandra Miller Tom Krabacher Ron and Sue Krall Kevin and Ann Kvols Penny Lewis Sheila Martin Dean and Karen Massey Robert and Sharon Mattison Loretta McEllhiney Meissner Family Keith Miller David and Tresa Moulton Mountain Home Stove & Fireplace Greg and Susan Nealy Danielle Nelson David and Monica Niedermeier Lisa Nutkin Darcy Owens-Trask Todd and Kathryn Pedersen Rob and Erin Perlman Billy and Susan Petersen Andy and Janice Poirot
$1-$ 99
Anonymous Amazon Smile Foundation Skeet Armstrong John Baer Ann Baker Easley Steve and Janet Banks Trinitie Beckner Lawrence and Ursula Berkowitz Joe and Lynne Bier Paige Blair Geoff and Betsy Blakeslee Jacquelin Buratovich Nelson Carmichael Go Alpine Jim and Meg Caulfield Chovan Family Susan and Kelly Colfer Ron and Sue Chen Davies Fred and Kristen DeMicco Erin Dickerson Steve and Pinky Downs Steven and Michele Dunklin Ryan and Dana Duran Nicolien Eckelboom Robert Ellsworth and Sarah Katherman Gary Engel Mark Fischer Gardner and Millie Flanigan
Kevin and Shannon Fonger Scott and Sherri Ford Kenneth and Debra Freeman Pascal and Deb Ginesta Deborah Gooding Samuel and Sarah Grayson Stephen and Kaycie Grigel Joe Haines Emily Hines Sarah Hoover Mette Hyldgaard Frani Jenkins Sam and Sarah Jones Fred Honebin & Anne Kakela Emily Katzman Pete Kenney Tamra Kenyon Angie Krall Kroger Audrey Kuykendall Diane Letson Janine Lodico Kerry and Chrissy Lynch Kevin Marks Mile High United Way Jesse Miller Erica Miller George Blau and Linda Miller
Art Pope and Leslie Kent Chuck and Maria Porter Nathan Proper Janice Richter Bud and Jane Romberg Paul and Annie Sachs Scott and Lola Schlapkohl Tom and Lesley Schuldt Linda Sheean Patrick and Claire Sollars Steamboat Springs Middle School 8th Grade Class Paul and Arianthe Stettner Rosalie Summerill Sherri Sweers Jerome and Connie Thisse Kathleen Titus Mountain Tap Brewery Norbert and Melanie Turek Eric Uhlberg Carl and Julie Warnke Carrie Warren-Gully Kevin and Cynthia Weeks Robert Weiss Randall Wert Scott Wither Pete and Barb Wither
Lois Mitchell Dr. John and Dorothy Montgomery Kelly Northcutt Emily Osterman Mike and Michelle Petix Charlie and Karen Pharris Powder Day Donuts Adolfo Prieto Jason and Reall Regan Carrie Sabin Valerie Savoie David and Renee Seibel Alan and Lynn Sidman Peter Smith and Abigail Hoverstock Steamboat Lightscapes Jodie Steiner Stoller Family Benjamin and Adrienne Stroock Wesley and Laura Trimble Jimmy and Lauren VandenHurk Bob and Paula Weaver Josh Weber Mark Wertheimer and Kim Brooks Glenn and Cathy Wiedemer Andrew "Fuzzy Dandelion" Wilkinson Wade Wykert Yampa Valley Engineering
Boots on the Ground
Special thanks to our crewmembers, leaders, ďŹ eld coordinators, interns, and science school students. Last year rocked because of you!
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991 Captain Jack Drive Steamboat Springs, CO 80487