MPCA is accepting applications for 42 full-time AmeriCorps members!
Members serve with local governments, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions statewide. Members serve 40 hours a week for 11 months, from late September 2018 through late August 2019.
Learn more and apply. Application deadline extended to June 29
Currently there are 40 Minnesota GreenCorps members serving at 40 host sites around the state.
Project summaries: Program Year 2017-2018 (p-mgc1-09)
2017: Member - Allison Bender
About me. Originally from Wisconsin, I came to Minnesota to attend St. Olaf College. I spent my summers during college working at various Minnesota and Wisconsin State Parks, and was told by a colleague this summer, “Once you start working in Parks, you never really leave.” I laughed then, but maybe it’s true—engaging communities with their public lands has become very important to me. When not at Whitewater, I can be found exploring the Driftless Region and I’m happy to discover how, along the Mississippi River near my host site, both Minnesotans and Wisconsinites commune like family.
About my service. I’m a Living Green member hosted by Whitewater State Park. The Whitewater River Valley has an incredible history of transition: within 100 years, the valley went from non-developed forests and streams, to the site of several bustling communities, back to forests again. Harmful land-use practices and devastating floods spurred conservation efforts in the area. My role is to use this story as a model for bolstering place-based watershed education in the region. I’m coordinating a teacher training to help equip educators with the resources and confidence to teach about watersheds, and I’m currently working with a traveling exhibit called We Are Water Minnesota.
Why I serve. After graduating with a B.A. in Environmental Studies, I knew that I wanted to do something that would align with my values; I wanted to use my time to help connect people to each other and to their environments. Minnesota GreenCorps gave me that opportunity. I feel very grateful to be receiving so many opportunities to learn and meet others in the environmental field during this year of service.
My favorite place to visit in Minnesota. Buffalo River State Park. I spent a formative summer at Buffalo River living in a camper while interning after my sophomore year of college. I got pretty attached to the acres of prairie, the winding river, and the magnificent oaks and cottonwoods.
Giant Lego watershed helps teach water science
A group of volunteers built a 26,000-piece topographic model of the Whitewater River Watershed in southeast Minnesota.
The Minnesota GreenCorps program is a statewide initiative, coordinated by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, to preserve and protect Minnesota’s environment while training a new generation of environmental professionals.
The program places AmeriCorps members with host organizations around the state to assist communities and local governments in addressing a variety of statewide needs, aiming to:
- Reduce solid waste and increase recycling in Minnesota communities.
- Reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and other air pollutants.
- Reduce water runoff and improve water quality.
- Assist community members to take eco-friendly actions.
- Increase community resilience and build local capacity to respond to the threats of climate change.
- Train new environmental professionals.
Minnesota GreenCorps is an AmeriCorps program. Funding is provided through a grant from ServeMinnesota and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Members serve at their host sites for 11 months, from mid-September through mid-August. More than 240 GreenCorps members have served at over 130 organizations across Minnesota. Former and current host site organizations include cities, counties, public schools, universities, watershed districts, and non-profit organizations.
Since the program’s launch in 2009, Minnesota GreenCorps members have engaged and educated nearly 200,000 volunteers in communities around the state through service projects, including assistance with environmental fairs, multi-modal transportation events, energy benchmarking, waste sorts, tree inventory/citizen foresters, invasive species removal, tree planting, and building rain gardens. Many of these projects help to increase resilience of Minnesota communities to the impacts of climate change, such as increasing heat and heavy precipitation.
For more information
For more information, please email: mngreencorps.pca@state.mn.us