The Chattanooga Youth Corps plans to complete six environmental projects to improve human services, conservation, and urban development. The majority of the projects benefit organizations that emphasize the sustainability of the earth, the environment, and the community. Participants attend two seminars that challenge them in their pursuit of excellence in environmental service. The goals of the seminars are to teach participants how to do needs assessments, to make them aware of environmental issues germane to their communities, and to give them an opportunity to brainstorm project ideas and put them into action. Participants also learn how to use the YESC Web site to record their work and as a means of communications for networking.
Training also is offered in leadership development and team building.
A World Wide Web site that documents the experiences of the group provides much of the content of the program to a larger audience. The Ecovillage Children s Program is designed to immerse 50 to 70 children of low-income families living in shelters for the homeless in the benefits of cultivating sustainable lifestyles. Six four-day sessions provide housing and instruction for 8 to 12 children. To develop knowledge of and hands-on experience in practices that contribute to sustainable life styles, the children conduct experiments in monitoring the generation of waste and the use of energy and water. This project trains 100 teachers from Memphis and Shelby County to use Project Wild and Project Learning Tree in cooperation with the Tennessee Department of Education.