Please visit our new website and blog!

Be sure to check out TreeTrust's recently redesigned website at www.TreeTrust.org! The new website features tons of helpful information about our job opportunities, who we partner with, what kind of work we do, and how you can get more involved.

The Tree Trust blog will continue to be updated frequently on the new website. Check it out today, and bookmark it for the future!

Work With Tree Trust This Summer!

Tree Trust has many employment opportunities this summer. If you are interested in working outdoors on a landscape crew, Tree Trust may have the job you're looking for!

Summer Youth Employment Program

This program is for lowincome and at-risk youth ages 14-21 from Dakota, Washington and Hennepin Counties (not Minneapolis) and provides an opportunity for many young people to have their "first job." This is a 9-week, part-time (average 20 hours per week) program that pays $7.25 per hour and is perfect for youth who plan to return to school in the fall. Most jobs are outdoors with the Youth Conservation Corps and involve building environmental improvement projects like retaining walls and staircases, and doing landscape projects like  erosion control and trail maintenance. There are also limited individual placement opportunities in Dakota County with local businesses and other organizations for positions that include administrative, retail, customer service, and janitorial work.

Please note that this program does not serve youth from Minneapolis, Saint Paul or Ramsey County. If you live in Minneapolis you must apply through the STEP-UP program. We will not work in Saint Paul this year, but if you are seeking a job there, please see the Youth Job Corps website.

  

Applications are available on our website, and as in past years, program participants are chosen through a lottery system. The program is NOT first come, first served so  as long as you complete an application and submit it (online or by mail) by March 21 and meet the eligibility requirements for the program, your application will be considered. This is a popular program and we do not have enough positions for all youth who will apply, so there is no guarantee that you will get a job with Tree Trust.

Young Adult Conservation Corps

This program is for low income and at risk young people ages 18-21. It is an opportunity to gain real life work experience in a supportive setting. This program is more intensive than the Summer Youth Employment Program. It is 39 hours per week for 12 weeks on an entry-level crew. Successful participants have the opportunity to continue for another three months on the advanced crew, and following that for three more months as an intern. These promotions are merit-based and not all participants will continue beyond the entry-level stage.

There is a 3-month cohort that begins on March 11, and another that will begin in June. If you're not returning to school next fall, this program is a better fit for you than the Summer program since you have the opportunity to advance to the next level in the fall and continue your job with Tree Trust. If this sounds like the right opportunity for you, please view the learn more and fill out an application. Employment is not guaranteed.

Crew Leader for the Summer Youth Employment Program

If you enjoy working in the outdoors and have a passion for youth development, consider applying to be a crew leader with the Summer Youth Employment Program this year. You must be at least 18 years old, have a high school diploma or GED and two years of work experience. Learn more about the requirements of the job here and apply if it looks like a good fit for you.

YACC is Recruiting Participants

Transform lives, transform landscapes, transform you! Tree Trust's Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) program is currently recruiting participants for its next 3-month session which starts on March 11, 2013. 

YACC is an employment training program that is based in landscaping and construction work. More specifically, YACC helps to improve the environment and the community by maintaining and developing green spaces while helping  participants to build transferable job skills. We help you to reach future employment and educational goals while you earn a paycheck!

The work schedule is, Monday – Thurday (8am to 4pm) and Friday (8am to 3pm). Starting pay is $7.25 per hour with room for advancement.

To be eligible, you must:

• live in Hennepin County
• be low-income or at-risk (if there is any question as to what this means, please contact keithw@treetrust.org)
• be between the ages of 17 and 21
• be ready and able to pass a standard drug test
• have proper work ID (i.e. school ID or State Issued ID and either a Social Security Card or Birth Certificate, etc.)

If this position sounds like a fit for you, please fill out a YACC application and return it to Tree Trust at 2231 Edgewood Ave. S. St. Louis Park, MN 55426, fax it to 952-767-3650, or email keithw@treetrust.org. If you need help filling out the application, contact Keith at 952-767-3917 or keithw@treetrust.org.

The next available start date is fast approaching and we are excited to connect with enthusiastic applicants, so apply as soon as possible or share this with anyone you know who may be interested!

Additionally, if you would like more information about our program, see our website, email Keith, or contact Keith via Facebook. 

Changes to the Summer Youth Employment Program

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) will undergo some changes for the summer of 2013. If you have participated in the past or are familiar with the program, make sure you read the following article because some of the changes will affect all program participants.

Application
Tree Trust is going from a paper application to an online application. The application will be available on our website, www.treetrust.org, on February 19, 2013. The online system will make it easier and quicker for participants to get their applications completed and in to us on time. It will also help ensure accuracy of entries into our system. If you don't have internet access or would prefer to complete a paper application, please email Allyson or call 952-767-3880 to have one mailed to you.

Hennepin County
Suburban Hennepin County participants will no longer be offered Individual Employment Experiences. The only jobs available in suburban Hennepin County will be crew member positions on the Youth Conservation Corps.

Dakota County
The program in Dakota County will be offered as in previous years with Individual Employment Experiences for participants who are 16-21 as well as the Youth Conservation Corps for ages 14-21.

Washington County
The program will remain the same in Washington County with only Youth Conservation Corps positions available.

Saint Paul
Tree Trust will not work in Saint Paul this year, so for participants of the Saint Paul Youth Job Corps, you will no longer see Tree Trust as an option for employment.

Minneapolis
If you live in Minneapolis, as in previous years you must apply through the STEP-UP program and your application must be received by STEP-UP by March 4, 2013.

This article only covers the changes that have been made to the program since last year. If you are unfamiliar with the program or need more information, visit our website, email info@treetrust.org, or call 952-767-3880 to learn more.

Let it snow...

YACC participant shoveling snow

Tree Trust's Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) spent much of the week shoveling snow from last weekend's snow storm. YACC participants provide snow removal for Hennepin County Libraries, Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority, and foreclosed properties in the metro.

Over the past week YACC crews, along with other Tree Trust employment programs,  cleared snow from 205 properties and 9 staircases along the Midtown Greenway.

Yesterday advanced participants took a break from snow removal to attend the Economics for Success training, for which the curriculum is provided by partner Junior Achievement. Today entry-level participants will be in training on Construction Math and Measuring.

Participate in Give to the Max Day!

Give to the Max Day is on Thursday, November 15. Consider making a contribution to support Tree Trust's employment training, community forestry, and environmental education programs this year.

Give to the Max is a great way to see the impact that your gift can have when it's joined with the gifts made by thousands of other people on the same day. Learn more about Give to the Max Day and make a contribution to Tree Trust or another great nonprofit on November 15. 

Youth Voting Registration Event

In an effort to encourage young people to vote, Tree Trust is hosting a nonpartisan event to register youth ages 18-21 to vote. The event will take place at the Brookdale Library in the Brookdale Room on October 8 from 4:30 to 5:30 PM.

Youth will be assisted in determining if they are already registered or not, and they will learn where their polling place is so that they know where to go on Election Day.

There will also be a short presentation called “How Voting in the US Works…in Under Five Minutes” to help educate youth on the Electoral College. 

Pizza will be served to youth participants at the event, and the first 25 youth who register to vote will receive a gift card for Godfathers Pizza.

End of Summer at Tree Trust

Though the summer isn't technically over yet, Labor Day marks the unofficial end of the season for most Minnesotans. At Tree Trust, our summer season ends in August with the completion of the Summer Youth Employment Program, the summer cohort of the Young Adult Conservation Corps, and the YouthBuild advanced crew. All of the youth employment training programs work with youth in the summer months, and some work with youth year-round.

Summer is a busy time of year for our youth programs. Youth who are not in school for the summer have more time on their hands and greater need of guidance and positive activities than they do during the school year. Every summer for the past 36 years, Tree Trust has been here to provide youth with work experience, educational enrichment, and a paycheck for their summer work experience. 

So while most Minnesotans have been out enjoying the summer, Tree Trust staff have been here helping our participants find positive direction. Now that summer is closing and many of our youth participants have returned to school, we take a little time to catch our breath before we hit the ground running with fall forestry events, new crews of YouthBuild and Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) youth, and just generally preparing for the upcoming 2013 year.

By October, we’ll have nearly 50 youth participating with YouthBuild and YACC crews and Community Forestry has a busy autumn with Green Futures and Learning with Trees plantings. Thanks to all who have provided funding for Green Futures plantings this year – and especially to our anonymous donor who matches all of these contributions. 

Public plantings will be held in parks in Eden Prairie and Fridley in early October. Learning with Trees projects at schools in Orono and Brooklyn Park are being funded by CenterPoint Energy and Beim Foundation. We will also work with Wells Fargo and their volunteer team and a generous anonymous donor to plant more trees in selected parts of tornado-damaged North Minneapolis.

Tree Trust had a busy summer working with over 600 youth, and the break between seasons is short as we shift gears and move into our fall projects starting... now.

A Summer Well Done

The YouthBuild program is an employment training program for at-risk youth primarily from Hennepin County. Participants rehab and rebuild homes in low-income neighborhoods with our housing partner, Urban Homeworks. During the school year, the program operates in conjunction with alternative schools so that youth attend school and work during alternate weeks. 

This summer, Tree Trust offered an extended program to participants who earned a spot on an advanced crew through their work ethic and attitude during the school year program. Advanced crew participants worked five days per week from June through August with the daily guidance, support and encouragement of their crew leader. The advanced crew finished their summer work on August 24 and the following article is written by their crew leader, Ty Nelson. 

Learn more about the program or apply here. 

It was near program’s end when I was asked for a highlight of the 2012 YouthBuild Advanced Summer Crew. But I couldn’t provide a single example; not for the reason that my group had done nothing memorable in ten weeks, but because their accomplishments were countless. I simply couldn’t narrow their achievements down to one crowning point. Therefore, like a proud poppa, I rattled off a highlight reel instead of a lone capstone. 

From June 18 till August 24 the ambitious contingent worked on various Urban Homeworks properties in North Minneapolis. They set the tone instantly, fleetly finishing the garage they started from the slab up this past April. In fact they shingled, sided, and installed the stall’s soffit and fascia in less than a fortnight. And during the Dog Days to follow, the five-member squad completed many challenging tasks, such as tearing down a four-story chimney, spending three days reroofing another garage, siding two more, and putting in the drain tile around an entire basement in just one day. Due to their efficiency and consistency, the summer crew was appropriately deemed the “A-Team” by Urban Homeworks staff.

Though the A-Team’s construction skills were excellent, what I found more impressive was their character. They took a lot of pride in their work. There were numerous moments, for instance, when I saw a YouthBuilder remove a length of siding or tear off a shingle in order to realign the piece perfectly. They also displayed great teamwork. On a couple of occasions my group collaborated with the Quicksilvers—Urban’s longtime lineup of mostly retired professionals—successfully installing several new windows on two different houses. Last but not least, the crew members proved their tenacity time and time again. Despite the difficulty of the project, the umpteen wasp nests they uncovered, or whether the weather was sweltering, they were rarely fazed. Attendance was normally 90% or better. 

The YouthBuilders sought ways to grow off the jobsite too. Not only did they earn their CPR/First Aid certifications, but they volunteered for a morning in the Food Bank at Second Harvest Heartland as well. Interested in furthering their education, they also toured the campuses of Hennepin Tech and Saint Paul College.

Regardless of their aforementioned feats, however, I’d say the best part of my experience with the Advanced Summer Crew (if I had to choose) was witnessing this group accomplish so much in such a short amount of time. Because of their remarkable resolve, I’m naturally excited for what the future has in store for these five go-getters. I’m sure there are many more highlights to come. 

—Tyrel Nelson, YouthBuild Crew Leader

Youth Conservation Corps

There have been some questions on social media lately regarding the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) and the work that Tree Trust participants do in public spaces around the metro – primarily public park and recreation areas and the Midtown Greenway.

This work, which is enhancing public spaces and benefiting the community at minimal cost to the municipalities, is being done by the Tree Trust Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), which is part of the Summer Youth Employment Program. The majority of program participants are 14-17 years old and this program provides a first job experience to these youth, all of which have special needs, are low-income, or have other at-risk characteristics.

Youth build projects in Twin Cities parks and recreation areas such as retaining walls, stairways, timber edgers, and paver pathways. This program provides a learning experience that youth would not otherwise have and provides them an opportunity to spend 16-24 hours per week being positively involved in their communities.

In addition to providing worthwhile enhancements to public spaces, the projects that YCC participants build are a means to an end; they provide the method by which youth learn teamwork, accountability, and responsibility, as well as landscaping and construction skills. Youth are learning these skills while on the job and do not work as quickly as experienced adults. Additionally, they cannot operate power tools or heavy equipment, which significantly speed up projects at many construction sites where trained adults work.

As the Youth Conservation Corps is a job training program, youth do not work the entire time they are on a job site. In addition to their projects, youth participate in TeamTech lessons via laptop computers at work sites that allow them the opportunity to earn high school credit. These lessons are taught by trained instructors. Additionally, Tree Trust abides by all labor laws and provides water and lunch breaks according to regulations.

Tree Trust has worked closely with parks departments and municipalities all over the metro for 36 years. These partners provide projects to participants that fit the skill set of inexperienced workers and can be finished in the nine weeks that the program operates each summer. Additionally, parks departments and municipalities provide only the materials for the project and do not pay Tree Trust or its participants for their time. The projects are supervised by trained adults and meet Tree Trust's, and our partners', high standards. 

Please visit our Facebook page to view project photos or our website to learn more. If you have specific questions, please feel free to call our office at 952-767-3880.

Youth Conservation Corps picnics

Tree Trust will recognize and honor participants from our Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), which is a sub-program of the Summer Youth Employment Program, at five picnics in the metro area this week and next week. This summer, the program served more than 300 at-risk, special needs and low-income youth, ages 14-21, from the Twin Cities metro area.

Throughout the nine week program, participants have made improvements to local parks and recreation areas in Minneapolis and Saint Paul and in Hennepin, Washington and Dakota counties. The Youth Conservation Corps provides a summer employment experience to participating youth, and also helps participants to create lasting, positive changes in their communities and in their own lives.

Working from June to August, Youth Conservation Corps crews completed numerous improvement projects in approximately 25 Twin Cities parks and recreation areas, including the Midtown Greenway, Como Park, Westwood Hills Nature Center, French Regional Park, Square Lake Park, and North Valley Park. The picnics will be held to celebrate the accomplishments of these youth, including the presentation of Governor’s Awards to a number of youth who demonstrated outstanding leadership on their crews.

View photos of projects and participants on our Facebook page!

Individual Employment Placements

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) has two sub-programs, the Youth Conservation Corps and Individual Employment Placements. You have already seen a blog entries about the Youth Conservation Corps, but probably know less about Individual Employment Placements. For the individual placement portion of the program, SYEP staff works with a variety of community partners like libraries, governmental agencies, businesses, and nonprofits that are able to provide employment experiences to youth participants. Youth work in these community organizations and learn skills in the areas of customer service, childcare, janitorial, and administrative, among others.

Some examples of organizations where Tree Trust youth are placed this summer include ARC's Value Village in Richfield, Intermediate School District 287 in Plymouth, South St Paul Library in Hastings, Feed My Starving Children in Eagan, Independent School Districts 192 and 196 in Rosemount and Farmington, and the City of Brooklyn Center. There are 89 sites in total and 317 youth participants from Dakota and Hennepin Counties in the Individual Employment Placement portion of SYEP.

Providing this program allows Tree Trust to increase the number of youth we serve, provide more variety of experience, and work with youth who may not be able to participate on the Youth Conservation Corps. If you are interested in hosting a Tree Trust participant at your workplace next summer, please contact us.

Summer Projects

Tree Trust's Summer Youth Employment Program is working in parks and recreation areas all over the metro. We have been out taking photos to document the progress of some of the projects. Have a look at some of the work that young people are doing in your neighborhood!

Father Hennepin Park 6.28.12

Father Hennepin Park 7.5.12

Crews at Father Hennepin Park in Minneapolis are building a tiered retaining wall along side a staircase that was build by Tree Trust crews last year.

Three Rivers French Park 6.20.12

Crews at Three Rivers French Park in Plymouth are doing a construction paver installation.

McMurray Fields 6.28.12

Crews at McMurray Fields in Saint Paul are building a retaining wall.

Midtown Greenway 6.28.12

Midtown Greenway 6.28.12

Crews along the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis are building a retaining wall along the bike path.

North Valley Park 6.29.12

Crews at North Valley Park in Inver Grove Heights are building a 33-step timber staircase at the disc golf course.

Schmidt Lake Park 6.20.12

Schmidt Lake Park 6.20.12

Crews at Schmidt Lake Park in Plymouth are building a retaining wall at a playground.

The Summer Youth Employment program has youth crews working all over the metro on the Youth Conservation Corps. Keep an eye out and perhaps you'll see some of their work up close! We will continue to document their projects over the course of the 9-week program. See more photos on our Facebook page.

Summer Youth Employment Program Session Starts

YCC crews building a boardwalk

IP youth at job site

The Summer Youth Employment Program will employ 604 youth, many of whom will begin work on Monday, June 18. Half of youth involved in the program are part of the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) and each youth is part of an 8-person crew that works 2-3 days per week. Crews are assigned to one of 19 job sites in Dakota, Hennepin, or Washington Counties, or in Minneapolis and Saint Paul parks. From 8am to 4pm crews work as a team to complete trail maintenance work, construct timber walls and stairs, install pavers, and construct retaining walls, and assorted other environmental improvement projects, all while earning wages.

The other half of youth participating in the program are placed in businesses, nonprofits, schools, libraries, and governmental agencies in Hennepin and Dakota Counties. Through these Individual Placements youth gain skills in retail, customer service, childcare, custodial, administrative, and assorted other types of work.

Not only do youth in both parts of the program gain transferable skills to take with them to future jobs, but the community benefits too. Residents near the job sites see improvements in their parks and recreation areas. Businesses also benefit through the assistance of young people who are eager to work.

Youth employed by the Summer Youth Employment Program are 14-21 years old and must meet eligibility requirements. Learn more about the program here. Applications were due in early April and youth were selected for positions by lottery in May. Over 1,130 applications were received with 53% of youth receiving jobs.

YCC began in 1976 and is Tree Trust's longest-standing program. It continues to serve young people across the Twin Cities to better prepare our youth for future careers.

YouthBuild Graduation

Eighteen members of  Tree Trust’s YouthBuild program graduated Thursday, May 31 after spending nine months furthering their education  and learning the basics of the construction trade. Many participants graduated with honors.

The YouthBuild program provides hands-on construction training to economically disadvantaged students (age 17-21) who are at risk of dropping out of school. Participants of the program attend alternative high schools while working in order to complete their high school diploma or GED.

2012 YouthBuild graduates

Construction skills learned by YouthBuilders include demolition; framing; painting; repairing foundations, garages and roofs; and installing insulation, windows, doors and cabinets. Participants also complete OSHA 10 Hour Construction Safety training. 

In addition to continuing their education and learning construction skills, graduates developed leadership skills and participated in their communities.

Many graduates are going on to further education or employment following their graduation. Some graduates will participate in this summer's advanced crew, which will be a crew of five participants. They begin work on June 18. Partcipants will build on the knowledge and skills they already have by learning more advanced techniques and completing more difficult projects.