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”
INDIVIDUAL GROWTH
Participants gained personal and professional assets including: • Increased resiliency, leadership, self-ef�icacy, planning & decision making, interpersonal skills, job skills, career exploration, and civic engagement. • Decreased alcohol & marijuana use.
PARENTS OF YOUTH CORPS MEMBERS: “My child’s confidence grew by participating in a program where he didn’t know anyone else. He pushed himself out of his comfort zone and his confidence grew as a result.”
ENVIRONMENTAL & CONSERVATION PROJECTS
Project accomplishments ranged from trails and fences, archeology, and historic preservation, to wildland �ire prevention, rehabilitation, and suppression.
Here are some highlights from our 2022 program season:
• East Troublesome Fire Rehab: Conservation crews spent 35 crew-weeks (over 11,500 person-hours) rehabilitating the extensive Stillwater Pass and Grand Lake trail systems. Crews rebuilt structures such as bridges and fences to keep recreationists out of delicate areas.
• Newly formed Strike Teams (smaller crews of 5 members) worked on USFS land clearing over 1,500 trees on many miles of the Continental Divide Trail and improving a whole network of trails in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. • Our younger Service Learning Crew members worked on fencing projects at the Warhorse Ranch to provide a safer environment for the veterans, �irst responders, and trauma survivors as they utilize this Equine Assisted Therapy program to reduce PTSD effects.
NATURAL RESOURCE INTERN:
OVERALL ORGANIZATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCE
RMYC provides a free, live, virtual mental health resource called Talkspace to all participants and staff. 56 have engaged including 32 who are new to therapy.
CERTIFICATIONS
Youth corps members and Junior Leaders ages 16-18 earned CPR/First Aid certi�ications!
All conservation corps leaders received these certi�ications: • Chainsaw Safety Certi�ication • Wilderness First Responder or Wilderness First Aid • Medical Protocol Training • Harassment Training • Mental Health First Aid
EQUITY: GEAR ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Thanks to partners such as Big Agnes we assisted 65 conservation corps members with their individual gear needs this year including tents, sleeping bags and pads, and personal attire! STAFF
Gretchen Van De Carr Chief Executive Of�icer
Mark Wertheimer
Chief Operating Of�icer
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Paige Baker
Chrissy Lynch
Chief Finance Of�icer
Lisa Nutkin
President
Human Resources Director
Frank Mayer
Program Director
Vice-President
Gregory Henion Treasurer
Paul Sachs
Ryan Banks Jay Moore
Marketing & Development Director
Sarah Brock
Operations Manager
Secretary
Kate Warnke
Adam Alspach Margi Briggs-Casson Jenny Carey Avrom Feinberg Loretta McElhinney Lucas Mouttet Darcy Owens-Trask Timothy Redmond Scott Wither
Lauren Hewitt
Development Manager Accounting & Payroll Manager
Alex Guerra
Internship Program Manager
Liz Hartstein
Data Systems Manager
Lauren VandenHurk
Assistant Program Director
Ashley Roscoe
Conservation Corps Program Manager
Paul Boronow
Asst Conservation Corps Program Manager
Meghan Loury
Youth Program Manager
Sara Duft
Assistant Youth Program Manager
“I believe this internship has absolutely put me in a better position to obtain a job in the natural resource industry.”
WWW.ROCKYMOUNTAINYOUTHCORPS.ORG
Schedule your CO Gives donation for December 6th