2017 Groundwork USA Annual Youth Summit

: Groundwork USA is a national non-profit organization that coordinates, supports, and strengthens local Groundwork trusts operating across the United States. Each local trust is dedicated to renewing and restoring distressed neighborhoods through environmental projects and programs that bring local residents, government, youth, and businesses together. Groundwork trusts, which are independent non-profits, are established in places with an industrial past that have been largely left behind by economic growth in the last few decades. Groundwork USA was established in the United States through the leadership of the National Park Serviceâ¿¿s Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance (RTCA) Program and the USEPA Brownfields Program. To further this work, in collaboration with the National Park Service, Groundwork USA will recruit 60 youth ambassadors and youth leaders to attend a multi-day training program, October 11-15, 2017, in Richmond, Virginia. The purpose of this training is to recap the ways NPS has engaged Groundwork Green Team and Corps members at 16 National Parks over the past year, to evaluate the roles and jobs Groundwork youth have played at each park (including the skills necessary to complete the work), and to codify recommendations for future Groundwork training and expansion of competencies. Groundwork youth will also hear of other NPS programs such as Urban Archaeology and Mountains to Main Street to learn how the skill sets they utilize advance the mission goals of the National Park Service. During the training, Groundwork youth will visit a various national parks and learn from NPS officials how the Service uses federal lands for Americansâ¿¿ enjoyment and edification, and about how Groundwork corps programs can become stepping stones for careers in conservation, recreation management and preservation both in the public and private sectors. These parks will include Fredericksburg National Military Park, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Tradegar Iron Works National Historical Monument, as well as sites with work and training programs run by other federal agencies.