Environmental Internship

Abstract

The Friends of Van Cortlandt Park created the Environmental Internship program to allow young people to learn work-related skills while improving New York City's Van Cortlandt Park. Interns leave the program as park stewards, willing and able to teach their peers to respect parks and the environment. During the first phase of the internship, the interns explore the forest that the John Muir Trail transects -- a trail created by previous Environmental Interns. During the second phase, the interns offer education programs for other internship program participants in the community, and plan a schedule of outreach efforts to make the community more aware of the park. Each year this program serves 18-20 high school students within the community, for whom such education and employment opportunities rarely exist. Interns reflect the demographic composition of the communities that surround the park, with the majority being Latino and African American.

The Environmental Internship addresses three vital community needs, while focusing on issues that will affect area teens and the local community. Firstly, few opportunities exist for young people to contribute to their community and local environment while gaining valuable job skills and experience. Likewise, children are not given an opportunity to learn firsthand about their urban environment; nor do they understand the role that they can have in protecting these valuable natural resources. Finally, on-going budget constraints have limited the ability of New York City's Department of Parks to manage its valuable natural resources.

The Friends Environmental Internship program allows teens to make a tangible difference in their community by involving them in real-life environmental issues, during which they develop practical skills and use them. For many interns, this program is their first "work experience" and they use this program as a stepping stone for future jobs and college. In order to complete the program, the interns must accomplish the following: attend at least 75% of the scheduled days of work; call in if they are unable to attend a day of the program (three unexcused absences means expulsion from the program); report to work on time (six unexcused tardies means expulsion from the program); complete all tasks they are given satisfactorily; and come away with an increased knowledge of both Van Cortlandt Park and the environment -- both of which are measured by quizzes given at both the beginning and the end of the program.

* 2007 Drucker Innovation Award Entry