Your donation creates life-long changes! www.RockyMountainYouthCorps.org
What a great year 2022 was for RMYC as we served 820 youth and young adults in bolstering their personal and professional attributes while improving the accessibility, safety, and integrity of our beautiful natural resources.While it is impossible to share all of the heartfelt stories with you in this short letter, we hope this helps you understand and appreciate what these young people are experiencing.
Thank You from the 12,000+ youth and young adults engaged over the past three decades!
Donations of $250 or more are eligible to receive 25% tax credit on CO State Income Tax!
YAMPA VALLEY SCIENCE SCHOOL
Returning to our overnight program model, 249 sixth graders from Routt County schools gained a greater excitement for school while increasing their knowledge of the local ecology by 65%!
YOUTH and CONSERVATION CORPS, NATURAL RESOURCE INTERNS
• 158 young adult Conservation Corps members • 281 Youth Corps members • 82 Natural Resource Interns
Participants overcame adversity while giving back to local environments and communities. 50 �ield staff and crew leaders spent 5-6 weeks training in preparation for providing the most impactful and safe environment for these young participants to thrive.
Conservation Corps member highlights:
Jonah and Erik were crew members in 2020 and co-lead a crew this year. They shared their own experience by guiding a crew of �irst-timers. As Jonah blogged, “That fresh-faced, young, largely inexperienced group that arrived on the �irst day is forever changed. They are now a group of crosscut pros, outdoor survivalists, and dynamic experts. Boundaries of comfort have been permanently expanded. As the end of season nears, the crew will disperse, but will return to their lives forever changed for the better.”
Natural Resource Intern highlight:
Rachael Barnett worked as an RMYC Natural Resource Intern with the USFS and BLM in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 before being hired on as a year-round AIM (Assessment Inventory Monitoring) leader with the BLM in May of 2022. Rachael and her team provide highly detailed vegetation and soils monitoring to identify and measure plants and dig soil pits to evaluate soil quality. This work informs land management decisions such as grazing permits, burns, and sage grouse habitat. We are so proud of Rachael!
Youth Corps member highlight:
Madelyn Yamashita is a role model for our younger participants. Madelyn worked her way up from a youth corps member in 2019, 2020, & 2021 to a long-term Regional Youth Crew member, a Junior Leader for the younger crews, and a Yampa Valley Science School Junior Leader this year. Madelyn earned experiences, wages, and an AmeriCorps Education Award to use towards higher education of her choosing. Way to go Madelyn!
Senior Staff highlight: Congrats to Ryan Banks, newly elected “Mayor of Hayden”