ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH OUR NATION’S SERVICE CORPS
This project evaluates federal service corps programs as they expand their work to care for the environment and diversify their workforces. Funded by the Department of the Interior/National Parks Service and the USDA/US Forest Service, our research maps the constellation of service corps programs, their organizational partners, and their relationships with local communities and national parks and forests.
This project works to develop measures that capture the positive impacts service corps programs have on three primary areas: their host communities, the natural environment, and the participants in the programs themselves. Programs of study in 2023 include:
- Traditional Trades Advancement Program (National Park Service)
- Resource Assistants Program (US Forest Service)
- Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers Program (US Forest Service)
- NCCC AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps Summer of Service (AmeriCorps)
The current wave of data collection (2023) across federal service programs involves 5 sources of data: 1) Surveys with program applicants, 2) Member surveys with program participants, 3) Interviews with representatives from organizational partner organizations, 4) In-depth interviews with a subset of program participants, and 5) Assessment of the Environmental Impacts of the programs
Project Team:
Dana R. Fisher, PhD
Professor of Sociology
Department of Sociology and Program for Society and the Environment
University of Maryland
drfisher@umd.edu
Erika Svendsen, PhD
Research Social Scientist
Forest Service
USDA Forest Service
Erika.svendsen@usda.gov
Brianna Castro, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Sociology and Program for Society and the Environment
University of Maryland
Bbcastro@umd.edu
Dana R Fisher 