32 | NATIONAL RECREATION AND PARK ASSOCIATION BEST PRACTICES: SITE CONSTRUCTION an AmeriCorps initiative that engages 100 young adults every year in environmental stewardship work with Philadelphia Water and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation.101 The program was designed to support the City’s “environmental stewardship initiatives, youth violence prevention and workforce development priorities”.102 PowerCorpsPHL provides various training opportunities such as green stormwater infrastructure and OSHA construction training. Participants gain work experience by serving with organizations across the city. Corps members have been involved in installing rain gardens, stormwater planters, and stormwater tree trenches, and in invasive species remediation. They also provide community outreach to residents.103 • Also in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Horticulture Society’s Community LandCare ProgramReentry Initiative hires and trains ex-offenders to perform landscape maintenance services in their communities. This and the PHS Roots to Re-Entry provide models for maintenance programs directed towards maintaining vegetated green stormwater infrastructure practices. • In Prince George’s County, Maryland, a public-private partnership known as The Clean Water Partnership was formed to implement sustainable stormwater management solutions in the County. One of the major objectives of the Partnership is to employ local companies. The partnership terms require that small, local, minority- and women-owned businesses account for 30-40% of the total project scope. The partnership is building capacity through offering mentorship opportunities and by providing a course at the local community college to train contractors in the installation and maintenance of green stormwater management practices.104 • In Seattle, Washington, Seattle Public Utilities contracts with theSeattle Conservation Corps to maintain GSI capital improvement projects. Seattle Conservation Corps provides opportunities to “adults who are homeless or in transition to learn and work in a structured, salaried, and supportive program to develop transferrable job skills and accomplish mission-critical [work] for Seattle Parks and other agencies”105. RESOURCES: • American Rivers and Green for All: Staying Green and Growing Jobs: Green Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance as Career Pathway Stepping Stones. • McEwen, Brendan, Tara Aubuchon, Harriette Crawford, Micah Davison, Karl Seidman: Green Infrastructure & Economic Development: Strategies to Foster Opportunity for Marginalized Communities. • The Corps Network: Service and Conservation Corps: Development in Green Infrastructure. • Jobs for the Future: Understanding the skills, credentials, and potential of the U.S. green infrastructure workforce. PowerCorpsPHL participants receive skills, training, and education in green stormwater infrastructure installation, operation, and maintenance Philadelphia Water Department
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