Now Hiring Program Coordinator

The Anchorage Park Foundation is currently seeking a program coordinator for Youth Employment in Parks 2010. For more information, please read the position description.

 

What is YEP?

 The Youth Employment in Parks (YEP) program is a program of the Anchorage Park Foundation, the Anchorage Parks & Recreation Department and Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, a program of the National Wildlife Federation. The goal of the YEP program is to positively engage a new generation of diverse youth leaders with the environment and the Anchorage community through meaningful training, employment, and outdoor recreation.

Each summer, YEP hires Anchorage teens to complete park improvements and offer recreation programs in Anchorage parks. Teens learn valuable natural resource management and recreation job skills by building trails, restoring stream banks or leading neighborhood children in content-based play. In addition, youth learn from civic engagement and leadership training and participate in "Career Week" at the end of the program to link their new skills to future careers. YEP puts teens to work making a difference in their community!

In summer 2009, the Youth Employment in Parks (YEP) program hired more than 80 Anchorage youth to offer high quality recreation programs in eight park and school locations and complete improvements in Anchorage parks. The YEP crews also made their annual visit to the Anchorage Assembly to introduce themselves and talk about the YEP program.

Please check out the YEP summary report and the week-by-week summary to see how YEP made a difference in a park near you!

YEP Goals

YEP seeks to:

1) Create a meaningful "first job" experience and career pathway for diverse youth to work in the outdoors and natural resources fields.

2) Expose youth to the outdoors and connect them with nature to support healthy lifestyles.

3) Provide youth with community action skills and character development so they may become effective citizens.

4) Build community through enhanced recreation opportunities, parks and public spaces.

YEP Partners

YEP is a partnership between the Anchorage Park Foundation, the Anchorage Parks & Recreation Department and Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, a program of the National Wildlife Federation. YEP receives major support from:

• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• U.S. Forest Service
• Rasmuson Foundation
• Division of Business Partnerships, State of Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development
• Municipality of Anchorage