Colorado Youth Corps Association

12/09/2025

It's Colorado Gives Day! 🐾 Birdy (my trail-loving sidekick) would be eternally grateful for your support to keep her trails safe: https://www.coloradogives.org/organization/CYCA/welcome

It's been a uniquely challenging year and yet the Colorado Youth Corps Association continues to show up for our lands, waters, and communities. Your gift today supports wildfire mitigation, invasive species removal, outdoor recreation access, and life-changing service for youth and young adults.

If you’re able, please consider donating today—and THANK YOU for supporting any organization this Colorado Gives Day. You help make Colorado an incredibly generous and kind-hearted community.

Youth corps engage youth and young adults in meaningful land, water, and energy conservation projects while developing their participants' work and life skills.

12/04/2025

Next Tuesday, December 9th, is Colorado Gives Day!

https://www.coloradogives.org/organization/CYCA/welcome

Your support helps CYCA keep communities safe from wildland fire, conserve Colorado’s iconic landscapes, and maintain the outdoor recreation infrastructure we all rely on.

Every gift truly matters. You can help change lives and protect some of the most beautiful places in America.

💚 Please consider scheduling your gift today!

04/22/2025

For every dollar invested in AmeriCorps, the communities and landscapes where these volunteers serve gain $17 in value. If that's not efficiency, I don't know what is! Please, reach out to your US Senators and House members - tell them how impactful AmeriCorps is, how it bridges so many gaps in our social safety net. Service to others may not be profitable, but it builds community, helping people where they live.

03/27/2025

𝗔 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱! The organization I serve, Colorado Youth Corps Association, was just awarded a 𝟭𝟬-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 with Colorado Department of Natural Resources, ensuring our partnership continues well into the next decade.

Millions of dollars will flow through this agreement, creating more than 5,000 jobs and funding projects such as mitigating wildfire, protecting our outdoor recreation infrastructure, and eradicating invasive species.

This agreement represents the best of government--allocating resources into proven solutions that improves lives across the entire state.

12/10/2024

Welcome to Colorado Gives Day! https://www.coloradogives.org/donate/CYCA Thank you for supporting what you care about, and we hope stewardship of our iconic public lands is one. Please consider giving to CYCA this year to support youth and young adult unemployment while conserving what makes Colorado special!

07/31/2024

01/31/2024

Congratulations to Allie Reed, the 2023 Corps Member of the Year from Weld County Youth Conservation Corps!

She arguably demonstrated the greatest amount of improvement in her leadership skills of any participant in recent years. When she started in 2022, she was reserved, timid, and self-conscious. By the end of 2023 she was beaming with confidence, had successfully led her own crew, and was engaging with others amicably and professionally. In total, Allie completed over 2,500 hours of service with the Weld County Youth Conservation Corps (WCYCC).

Allie joined our AmeriCorps program already being able to push herself, proving time and time again that she could set the pace for those around her. What she wanted the most out of our program was the social interaction, experience working as a team, and learning how to become a more effective leader. She already had training as a diesel mechanic and wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do with this. During her time with WCYCC, Allie was able to explore her interests, build her skills, and form lasting relationships with her peers and project partners as well.

Allie completed her most recent term and immediately found employment at the City of Greeley’s Island Grove Regional Park. Our standing relationship with the City of Greeley makes Allie a lasting role model and inspiration for generations of AmeriCorps members to come!

01/26/2024

Congratulations to Mary Hemgesberg, the 2023 Corps Member of the Year from Western Colorado Conservation Corps!

Mary Hemgesberg embodies everything it means to be an AmeriCorps crew member. She is inspiring, concise, persistent, patient, and funny. While serving allows everyone to grow their skills and knowledge, Mary utilized her time with us to grow as a person and help others grow.

Though she has always been one of the hardest working members of a project, she also became the member others went to for guidance and a morale boost. Mary grew into a fantastic leader within her crew and other crews. Mary selflessly volunteered to take on the undesirable parts of projects for the team's betterment or volunteering for camp chores "just because." The terrain and weather proved to be trying for many members, but Mary persevered enthusiastically. For her crew, Mary set the example and tone for the project by the way she reacted to conditions outside of their control, such as blazing hot temperatures and broken tools.

She is outspoken regarding conservation and the continuance of programs such as ours because of the impact it has had on her life. Mary has been a pillar for Western Colorado Conservation Corps throughout the 2023 season. She is a reminder for everyone here why we do what we do and that providing an opportunity for America's youth to serve in communities is beneficial in countless ways. Mary plans to use her AmeriCorps Education Award for an avalanche course to further knowledge about the outdoors.

01/25/2024

Congratulations to Caitlin Gardner, the 2023 Corps Member of the Year from Mile High Youth Corps!

Through four terms of service across multiple corps organizations, Caitlin has had a remarkable impact on her community and the environment. Corps members, peers, and staff recognize her as someone that is unconditionally supportive, intensely hard working, and incredibly generous. In nominating her to this honor, almost every person named her as a positive role model.

Caitlin's story is one of continuous growth and impactful leadership. Starting as a corps member at Southwest Conservation Corps in 2021, she quickly became a beacon of dedication and resilience for her crews. She returned in 2022 to participate in the Crew Leader Development Program, falling in love with chainsaws, crosscut saws, and intentional mentorship of others. This year marked a significant chapter in Caitlin's AmeriCorps journey as she took on the role of Land Conservation Leader at Mile High Youth Corps. This summer, she co-led a backcountry trail crew, overseeing the construction and maintenance of trail on the iconic Pikes Peak. This adventure not only showcased her technical skills but also her ability to unite a team in extreme conditions. In her fall season, she co-led a saw crew dedicated to enhancing the environment through fire mitigation, improving nearly 9 acres of land.

Caitlin's impact transcends project outcomes; it is most evident in the personal growth of corps members and the positive culture she cultivates. One corps member simply stated, "Cait builds leaders," reflecting the transformational influence she has on others. Her community is grateful for her service and excited to see how Caitlin continues to grow her positive impact in her next endeavors.

01/24/2024

Congratulations to John Auther, the 2023 Corps Member of the Year from Rocky Mountain Youth Corps!

John Auther first joined Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (RMYC) as a member in 2021, then returned in 2022 as an assistant crew leader. He assisted in AmeriCorps disaster relief in New York that year and then returned to RMYC in 2023 on a wildland fire crew as part of the Natural Resource Internship program.

Throughout his time at RMYC, John has led by example as a member, leader, and intern. His interest in corps service came to him while he was in college and everything went online during the height of the pandemic. With a desire to be outdoors, he learned about corps from a friend’s father and immediately submitted his application to RMYC. “It’s super awkward at first, joining 9 other strangers and spending all of your time with them,” John said, but he settled in well and speaks passionately about how eye-opening the experience is, learning how resilient he could be, as well as being open and accepting with others.

John’s time with RMYC has encouraged others to find what they truly enjoy, learn about themselves, and return in various capacities with the same passion. He’s accepted a permanent, full-time position with the U.S. Forest Service in the Yampa Ranger District as a wildland firefighter and looks forward to continuing service on public lands in Colorado and around the country.