The mission of Greenwich Land Trust’s Youth Corps is to train and inspire the next generation of conservationists. Through a partnership with the Town of Greenwich Department of Human Services, GLT’s Youth Corps provides 14 local teenagers with a unique summer experience focused on work, learning, and service.

Program Goals:

• Provide local teenagers with a paid job in a professional and supportive setting.
• Care for Land Trust nature preserves and improve local habitats.
• Develop job skills and foster a sense of teamwork.
• Expose Youth Corps participants to career opportunities and issues in environmental-related fields.
• Learn about native/invasive plant identification, sustainable trail maintenance, beekeeping and pollinator conservation, community service and food insecurity, land and water
  resource management, and more.
• Connect Youth Corps participants to their community through meaningful work with the Land Trust and partner organizations.

GLT’s Youth Corps maintains the Land Trust’s vegetable garden at the Mueller Preserve where they plant, grow, and harvest a wide variety of vegetables while learning about horticulture.

Youth Corps participants take ownership of this space and quickly learn that the success of the garden depends on dedication and teamwork. Each summer, the Youth Corps donates more than 1,300 pounds of fresh produce to the Neighbor to Neighbor food pantry. The teens are able to see the impact of their hard work first hand while making weekly harvest deliveries and stocking food pantry shelves.

As one of their many stewardship projects, the Youth Corps cares for hundreds of trees at the Land Trust’s American Chestnut Sanctuary, contributing to a national restoration effort spearheaded by the American Chestnut Foundation. Past projects have included building drip irrigation systems, removing invasive species, and collecting scientific data in an effort to help bring a vital native tree back from the edge of extinction.

GLT’s Youth Corps program relies on private funding and grants. For more information, contact info@gltrust.org.