History
• The organization was modeled after Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s and centered around small teams, diverse conservation projects and life changing experiences.
• MCC was established in 1991, by the Human Resource Development Councils in Billings, Bozeman and Kalispell. At that time, it was primarily a summer program serving disadvantaged youth.
• In 1993, the AmeriCorps National Service Program began funding the Montana Conservation Corps and enabled the progression to a year-round program. In 1995, the Montana Board of Crime Control granted the MCC funds to develop CorpsLINK, a program aimed at utilizing Corpsmembers to supervise youth performing community service and to mentor at-risk youth. These programs began utilizing Corpsmember’s to perform service projects addressing community needs in addition to performing natural resource projects.
• A small staff in Bozeman manages the agency and a volunteer Board of Directors governs the organization. MCC crews do a variety of projects for natural resource agencies including: recreation area management, trail construction and repair, fence building, cave restoration, wildlife habitat improvement, stream rehabilitation, and playground construction. Community service projects performed by MCC crews include repairing senior citizen homes, distributing food to the needy, and building community gardens.
• Support for the MCC comes from many individuals and organizations that have a keen interest in the energy and enthusiasm of our young people. Over 200 public and private agencies sponsor MCC projects each year, with most of the financial support coming from City, County, State and Federal land management agencies. AmeriCorps funding through the Governor’s Office of Community Service accounts for a little over half the budget with project sponsors providing the bulk of the remainder.
• MCC dispatched crews to hurricane relief in Florida in 2003 and 2004, and to Hurricane Katrina relief in 2005.
Read more about this topic: Montana Conservation Corps
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