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Eat your veggies!

Conservation Corps North Carolina members assist a community garden; help build unity in Durham.

Typically, teams working with Conservation Corps North Carolina spend a lot of time building and improving hiking trails and outdoor recreation spaces in rustic locales. But this assignment was community-based as the crew worked to benefit an urban farm in the heart of Durham. Durham’s Urban Community AgriNomics program (UCAN) partnered with Conservation Corps North Carolina (CCNC) to take on an unconventional project: giving the growing space a little extra ❤️.

The CCNC crew spent over 1,255 combined hours working at the UCAN farm. They helped build a new chicken coop to replace a dilapidated one. ?They also repaired an “intergenerational sharing deck” to be used as a community gathering space, complete with a wheelchair ramp, safety railing and properly secured posts for structural integrity.

A work in progress: construction of UCAN’s intergenerational sharing deck, which will foster community and conversation among Durham residents who visit the farm.

“I wanted some land in Northern Durham where I could bring community together and help people,” UCAN founder Delphine Sellars said. “Because I know that a lot of the kids, for example, are being bussed from inner city Durham. And they bring their drama and their traumas.” 

The team worked safely, efficiently and with dedication to enhance a space that would engage the surrounding community, build relationships and enable UCAN to better support Durham residents – because when people gather around fresh food and good conversation, there’s nothing they can’t accomplish. ???

Happy gardening! The CCNC crew stands with UCAN founder Delphine Sellars (middle) on the Catawba Trail Farm site.

Conservation Trust for North Carolina is proud to support strong, resilient communities through Conservation Corps North Carolina work. Because, when our lands and communities are experiencing threats, we need conservation solutions powered by people. And if we’re searching for rejuvenation in our communities, there’s not much fresh air, good food and a little exercise can’t accomplish.

If you’d like to see the team in action and learn how their work with CCNC has enhanced their personal and professional community, check out this video.

And, as always, we’d love to see you join our own community and keep you updated! Consider signing up for our email list to receive future updates about our work.

Americorps

CTNC AmeriCorps Members Gather Hundreds for MLK Day of Service

Each year, CTNC AmeriCorps members join a nationwide movement to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by participating in the annual Day of Service. In partnership with six host organizations in western North Carolina, the Triangle and coastal region, CTNC’s AmeriCorps members organized events that drew hundreds of volunteers to spend time outside and contribute to conservation projects in their local community.

Scroll down to see photos from each of the events where staff, AmeriCorps members and volunteers cleaned up a public nature preserve, collected oyster shells for a living reef installation, reforested open fields to revitalize habitat for wildlife and much more.

Anne Maxwell Ellett
Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association

Eighty people attended a clean-up event organized by Anne Maxwell to support stewardship of Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association’s Beaver Creek Marsh Preserve. The group worked on clearing invasive species (ivy and privet), collected multiple truck-loads of trash, and mended fences. More CTNC AmeriCorps members joined Anne Maxwell for the event including Emily Goetz, Bald Head Island Conservancy; Ashley Meredith, Durham Hub Farm; Joy-Lynn Rhoton, Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust; Kate Conery, NC Coastal Foundation; Reilly Kelly, NC Coastal Foundation; Lauren Huffstetler, Piedmont Triad Regional Council; Kayla Kohlmann, Piedmont Triad Regional Council; Molly Richard, Triangle Land Conservancy; Jade Woll, NC Coastal Land Trust.

Click here to see photos!

Kristin Gibson
North Carolina Coastal Federation

In partnership with Leadership Carteret, AmeriCorps member Kristin Gibson organized an event for 12 students to bag oyster shells. The effort totaled 200 bags that will help construct a living oyster reef. Volunteers were so dedicated, they stayed longer than necessary to get all the work done!

April Hausle
North Carolina Arboretum

AmeriCorps member April Hausle participated in a workday at Shiloh Community Garden in Asheville. Residents of the historically black community added mulch to the garden and completed a social justice art project where children cut out magazine photos to design a mural of the United States. Michelle Durr, who is serving at Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, also attended.

Jannette Morris
Eno River Association

An old farm field along the Eno River will be restored to its natural habitat after 100 volunteers gathered to plan 200 hardwood trees. Jannette Morris organized the tree-planting, which will contribute to cleaner water flowing from the Eno River into Falls Lake, the main drinking water source for Raleigh and eight other reservoirs.

Click here to see photos!

Bethany Sheffer
Balsam Mountain Trust

Representing CTNC AmeriCorps, Bethany Sheffer volunteered with Conserving Carolina’s Project Conserve members at Asheville’s Burton Street Community Peace Gardens. The event was led by DeWayne Barton, founder of Hood Huggers International, which offers sustainable strategies for building support pillars for resilient historically African American neighborhoods, providing a framework for community capacity building while increasing the effectiveness of existing service programs. The Burton Street Peace Gardens is a sanctuary for positive action, designed to create neighborhood food security, community cohesion and a vibrant, sustainable local economy.

Click here to see photos!

Jonathan Hill, Keep Durham Beautiful

In partnership with Duke Roundtable, a Duke University student service group, Jonathan Hill organized a litter clean-up recruiting 100 volunteers to participate in the Keep Durham Beautiful event.

Click here to see photos!

Dawn Keyser
Keep Durham Beautiful

AmeriCorps member Dawn Keyser organized two tree plantings that put 120 trees in the ground. Many of the 70 participants were students of the School of Science and Math and Emily K. Center volunteers.

Click here to see photos!

CTNC AmeriCorps is a 10-month national service program in environmental education and outreach. This program, along with CTNC’s N.C. Youth Conservation Corps and the Diversity in Conservation Internship Program are part of CTNC’s Emerging Leaders Program, which seeks to reconnect people with the outdoors and to develop future leaders in conservation. AmeriCorps members develop service projects that help remove barriers to environmental education throughout North Carolina, as well as help expand the diversity of backgrounds among conservation leaders in our state.

CTNC AmeriCorps Year 2 – The Numbers Are In!

AmeriCorps and national service programs unite people of all backgrounds, offering a transformative opportunity, and bringing unprecedented skills and willpower to solve local problems. AmeriCorps is essential to North Carolina’s positive quality of life.

CTNC AmeriCorps recently completed year 2 (2015-2016) of our AmeriCorps program, which seeks to reconnect people with the outdoors and to develop future leaders in conservation.

See what our 21 members achieved in the past 10 months!

  • Served 30,898 children and adults in environmental education
  • Recruited and managed 3,472 volunteers totaling 8,167 volunteer hours
  • Volunteer hours equated to a $192,408 donation of services to North Carolina communities

These members exceeded expectation – greatly expanding the number of individuals who showed an increase in knowledge of environmental issues. And AmeriCorps host sites achieved greater organizational capacity on volunteer management best practices because AmeriCorps members utilized volunteers in their programs.

Our members’ work spanned rural and urban communities reaching residents in 38 counties from Sylva to Durham to Manteo. Focused on environmental education and outreach, our AmeriCorps members develop service projects that help remove barriers to environmental education throughout North Carolina, as well as help expand the diversity of backgrounds among conservation leaders in the state.

AmeriCorps works!

In 2017, CTNC launched year 3 of the AmeriCorps service program. Meet our 2017 AmeriCorps members!

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