Connecting our Corpsmembers to Conservation Careers
How are Black folks building community power in East Oakland? How do you get a job at East Bay Regional Park District? Do you like refurbishing electronics? Ever thought about majoring in Conservation & Resource Management at Merritt College? These are just a...
A Journey to Racial Equity
Spring is just around the corner and of course, this month marks the anniversary of the Bay Area shutting down due to the pandemic. Throughout these past 12 crazy months, Civicorps has stayed focused on supporting our young people with education and paid job...
Committed to Conservation: Steven Addison, Job Training Coordinator
Civicorps is very proud to announce that our very own Job Training Coordinator Steven Addison was recently appointed as a board member for both the Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps (ESCC) and the California Invasive Plant Council (CAL-IPC). As Job Training...
Presenting our 2020 Winter Graduate, A Dash of Real Nice
In a year marked with challenges, one Corpsmember is closing out 2020 on an uplifting note. We are elated to announce Enoc Peraza Garcia’s graduation from Civicorps Academy! Last Friday, Enoc presented his research report, marking the completion of his portfolio....
Building a Climate Army: an Interview with Bob Doyle
Robert E. Doyle is a 43+ year veteran of the parks and natural resources field, currently serving as General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District. Doyle has received numerous awards and recognition for his many decades of leadership in conservation, park...
Got E-Waste? We Got You.
Conservation, youth development, education and job training. These have been the key components of Civicorps’ mission since 1983, with our Recycling program added in 1987. Did you know that we added E-waste collection to our Recycling services in 2017? ...
#WalkforBLM
It’s another eerily smoky, hazy day in the Bay Area. We continue to live through challenging times – a time of wildfires and COVID-19 – and the country also continues to be rife with racial injustice. While we are unable to resolve these crises...
From Corpsmember to Board Member
Eduardo J. Chaidez spends his days providing the public with meaningful connections to the natural, social and cultural history of California. Creating hands-on educational programs, leading tours and conducting outreach, Eduardo is a multi-faceted...
Journey to Graduation – Civicorps Grads June 2020
Last week, Civicorps was honored and humbled to share messages of hope and joy as we celebrated the enormous achievements of eight students who received their high school diplomas at our June 10, 2020 graduation ceremony. We congratulate our Spring 2020 graduating...
Thoughts on Justice for our Black Communities
by Tessa Nicholas, Executive Director In solidarity, we want to add our voice to the many speaking out against police brutality and the systemic oppression impacting our communities of color. As we all deal with the reality of yet another Black man (#GeorgeFloyd) and...
Climbing the Distance at Pinnacles National Park
Guest blog by David Jaeger David Jaeger, one of Civicorps’ 2019-2020 Jesuit Volunteers, recounts a three-day camping trip with ten Corpsmembers at Pinnacles National Park. We’re now almost two months into the COVID shelter-in-place in California. Though I’ve...
Spotlight on our Jesuit Volunteers
Every August, Civicorps has the privilege of welcoming two new Jesuit Volunteers (JV’s) into our ranks for a full year of service. As our new volunteers cycle in, we bid farewell to the two JV’s completing their year of service. In August 2019, we had the pleasure of...
A New Job He’s Passionate About
Civicorps said farewell to a fantastic member of our family recently. Sharif Ahmad started a new job, and we couldn’t be more thrilled! During his time at Civicorps, this talented young man served as a Conservation Intern and an Operations Intern at our Job...
Backpacking and Camping in Point Reyes
By David Jaeger Jesuit Volunteer, David Jaeger, had the opportunity to co-lead an outdoor trip with 8 Corpsmembers to Point Reyes National Seashore. I will quickly admit that I am not the best driver in the world. After receiving this warning, six Corpsmembers...
MLK 25th Annual Day of Service
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Across the country, thousands of Americans participated in service activities on January 20 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This...
Journey to Graduation – Civicorps Grads December 2019
Join Civicorps’ December 12th Class of 2019 Graduation Ceremony at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts | RSVP Xiana I really hope I don’t trip on stage when I receive my high school diploma. It’s been a journey to finally accomplish it. For me growing...
Corpsmember of the Quarter: Jesus Fernandez
Jesus has been able to manage a demanding school schedule on top of his full time position at the JTC. He is one of two Operations Interns, and is excelling. He has a strong work ethic, is reliable, punctual and has great attendance. In his time at Civicorps, he has...
To participate or to really participate?
What is democratic participation and why is it important? That’s a question many of our students have when they see it listed on their graduation requirements. Simply put, it’s the participation in democracy. This graduation requirement permits Civicorps students to...
Corpsmember of the Quarter: Sharif Ahmad
Sharif is someone who is consistent, punctual, dependable, and above all, has a mature and positive attitude. A natural born leader, his peers and fellow Corpsmembers listen to his counsel, and often ask for his guidance. He is our Job Training Center’s...
Five Fabulous Interns, Eight Amazing Days at Yosemite Spike
by guest blogger Danny Swift, Job Training Supervisor A week ago, five Conservation Interns – Avante, Joshanette, Isiah, Rosalinda, and Ta’ron – returned to the JTC mentally and physically exhausted, but above all, proud. They had just returned from an...
What’s new at the Job Training Center?
A new parking lot! Stop by and check out the new parking lot at our Job Training Center. We refurbished our parking lot, removing existing pavement and installing new asphalt, restriping new parking lines, and installing a 7′ high heavy grade iron fence and...
“Just Keep Doing You”
Like many of our current staff, Monique “Mo” Williams joined the Civicorps family as a Corpsmember (technically, she joined the East Bay Conservation Corps, as we were called in 1999 when Mo first came through our doors). Over the following 20 years, she...
#NoFilter, Just Nature
“This is beyond me!” Mani* shouts as she realizes how tough carrying a 65L backpack is while hiking up a mountain. Corpsmembers ahead of her would hear her and shout back, “but you’re doing it!” The support and encouragement to move forward was the highlight of this...
Got E-waste?
Got E-waste? Are you an Oakland resident? Come to Oakland’s Bulky Block Party on the last Saturday of each month, where you’ll find Civicorps Recycling collecting all your E-waste. This partnership with the City of Oakland allows residents to remove E-waste...
Another Grad Goes Wild
It’s exciting to introduce a new guest blogger, Civicorps’ Lead Counselor Natasha Vinakor, who shares another story about the backcountry: Road Trip to the Eastern Sierras It was a great road trip. I tagged along with Job Training Coordinator Steven...
A Backcountry Graduation party
The Klamath Crew Celebrates One of Their Own Earlier this month, we saluted our Spring 2019 graduates as they prepared to walk the stage to receive their high school diplomas. Here’s a little secret we’ve been keeping: while 19 students graduated on June...
A Journey to Graduation
Here at Civicorps, we witness daily moments of resiliency and determination among our students. Because our program is year-round, we have the privilege of being with our Corpsmembers day after day, month after month and in many cases, year after year. Their personal...
Book Club: Wisdom from Playwright, August Wilson!
“Something is not always better than nothing.” – August Wilson, How I Learned What I Learned Civicorps’ book club meets every Wednesday during lunch to share insight and discussion of the book selected for the term. We recently read August Wilson’s Fences, a play...
Corpsmember of the Quarter: Monique Peña
As Food Intern, Monique has done an incredible job with Civicorps’ food program, bringing in savory, delicious foods, and offering a variety of healthy meals to Corpsmembers. She is consistently concerned about quality and about the well-being of the community....
Oh, The Places You’ll Go
A guest blog by Steven Addison, Job Training Coordinator at Civicorps On Sunday, April 21, Civicorps said goodbye to Corpsmembers Sahsae Robertson and Josh Ballard as they took a leap of faith and joined the California Conservation Corps’ 40 year old Backcountry...
Civicorps goes to Sacramento
They left Oakland at the crack of dawn outfitted in their Corps gear and prepped to tell their personal stories. They arrived in Sacramento early but bright-eyed, enjoyed the beauty of our state Capitol building and got ready to spend the day repping Civicorps. Along...
College and Career Fair 2019
Every spring, Civicorps holds a College and Career Fair to inspire and inform our Corpsmembers as they consider their futures after graduation. We held our latest College and Career Fair on Friday, April 5. During a series of presentations, students learned about...
Just Jobs for Waste Workers featuring Civicorps
If you live in California, you’re probably already used to the fact that the rest of the country follows our lead on innovations in everything from tech products to the entertainment industry to environmental policy. We’re proud to say that...
#MadeinAmeriCorps
While our Corpsmembers work in job training serving our community environmentally, they accumulate hours and money towards their AmeriCorps scholarships. During job training, youth work on contracts for some of the largest employers in the East Bay such as Caltrans,...
Welcoming our new Executive Director
The Board of Directors of Civicorps is thrilled to announce the appointment of our next Executive Director, Tessa Nicholas, effective Friday, March 1, 2019. With nearly 25 years committed to youth and community development, Tessa has spent her career in alternative...
Backpacking to Point Reyes
Friday morning, February 22nd, Corpsmembers and staff met at Civicorps for our first annual overnight backpacking camping trip. We assigned backpacks, sleeping bags and pads, hiking boots, tents, warm layers, and evenly distributed food to pack into our 65 or 75 Liter...
Reconnecting Youth Campaign
Unleashing Limitless Potential Yesterday, Civicorps Corpsmembers, alumni, staff, and community partners conducted a meeting at the Oakland offices of Congresswoman Barbara Lee. We were thrilled to help represent constituents of California’s 13th congressional district...
Corpsmember of the Quarter: Francis Sanson
Francis exhibits outstanding leadership skills and demonstrates an earnest commitment to service and civic engagement. A dedicated member of the community, he volunteers with homeless shelters on the weekends and in his very first term, has already completed all...
Civicorps Ski Trip 2019
What do you get when you have a detective, an angel, 3 mafiosos, and a cabin full of Corpsmembers? Mafia! This party game of deception, intuition and storytelling was so much fun during this year’s Civicorps weekend ski trip. This past weekend Corpsmembers...
Civicorps Alum, Tyneisha Crooks in the East Bay Times
Share the Spirit: Woman who got help at Civicorps to turn her life around now wants to help others By Thomas Peele | Bay Area News Group December 15, 2018 OAKLAND — Tyneisha Crooks’ late father didn’t want his children “stuck on stupid,” she said. It was his way of...
Corpsmember of the Quarter: Aaron Chanthavong
Mr. Chanthavong has done an excellent job at using his resources at Civicorps to help launch him into his career path. He is currently an intern at Tech Exchange where he leads the sales of refurbished computers; and he has taken it upon himself to guide, train...
A Second Chance Opportunity
A Second Chance Opportunity By Dennis One of the first things we learned in our Civicorps orientation is that being here is a “second chance opportunity.” And if you see an opportunity, you should always take it. Civicorps gives us opportunities that a lot of places...
Season of Giving with the Warriors
Five Civicorps families were selected for a holiday shopping spree courtesy of the Warriors, Lucky and 18 Reasons’ Shop and Learn. Corpsmembers were part of an instructional store tour and participated in a friendly interactive shopping challenge in which the families...
A glimpse at our December 2018 graduates
Join Civicorps’ December 13th Class of 2018 Graduation Ceremony at the Oakland Museum of California | RSVP Moniqué By graduating, I am proving to myself that “si se puede, YES YOU CAN!” Even though it’s taken me longer than planned, I am graduating,...
KQED Podcast: Stories of Persevering for a Diploma
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, NPR One or wherever you get your podcasts to hear three Civicorps graduates share their stories: why they didn’t graduate high school, what convinced them to come back to school, and how they made it through. “On a sunny...
Health and Wellness Fair 2018
Civicorps once again had a successful Health and Wellness Fair sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. Many thanks to our guest presenters SambaFunk for energizing Corpsmembers with African dance; Rose Sharon Oates for guiding students in the practice of stress-relieving...
Corpsmember of the Quarter: William Cordova
Civicorps is delighted to recognize William Cordova as Corpsmember of the Quarter for Spring 2018. William goes above and beyond both in and out of the classroom to achieve his goals. He has the intrinsic motivation of a lifelong learner. His eagerness allows him to...
Connecting Youth to the Outdoors
Civicorps provides outdoor trips to our Corpsmembers as part of our Connecting Youth to the Outdoors (CYO) program, which introduces our students to the wonders of nature through trips that teach leadership and courage, foster healing from trauma, and build peer...
A New Chapter at Civicorps: Executive Director’s Transition
AUGUST 1, 2018 After seven years of leading through a period of intense growth and change, our Executive Director, Alan Lessik, leaves Civicorps. Alan has been instrumental in evolving the organization, developing public and private relationships throughout the East...
A Weekend at Yosemite National Park – 2018
June 15-17, 2018 Civicorps students and staff spent a weekend at Yosemite National Park, enjoying the outdoors and helping to keep the landscape beautiful. This year, we camped at Wawona Campground, where we set up tents, made s’mores and played games around the camp...