Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps

Program Contact

Julia Pelton

Phone: 902-420-7932

Fax: 902-424-5334

Email: jpelton@clean.ns.ca

Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps

Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps


The Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps provides young Nova Scotians with opportunities for hands-on experience in environmental projects. These projects range in topics from climate change, watershed management, waste, energy and transportation.

 

The three main components of the NSYCC are:

1. Youth: Nova Scotia students, equity groups, and the unemployed, ages 17 – 30

2. Community: communities throughout Nova Scotia who are interested in putting together a summer environmental project proposal for submission to the NSYCC; this project will provide work opportunities for local youth

3. Environment: work relates to the conservation and enhancement of Nova Scotia’s environment, community environmental education and awareness, and public participation.

 

 

Youth Employment: Youth are the future and instilling an environmental conscience in them is invaluable. The NSYCC provides youth with work experience through a variety of community projects within the province. Empowering youth by providing paid employment also gives them a chance to save for their future education while opening doors to becoming environmental leaders.

 

Building Capacity in Community-Based Organizations: The NSYCC provides an opportunity to build capacity for community organizations to carry out ecological projects throughout Nova Scotia. Work includes having youth drilling digger logs for stream restoration projects, wading knee-deep in rivers while leaning about fish habitat, planting native gardens based on knowledge shared by elders, and travelling from festival to festival as environmental ambassadors. These unique, hands-on experiences plant the seeds for a life-long commitment to the environment and instil a passion for making the right environmental choices as well as implementing long-term positive environmental change for the community.

 

Green Jobs in Nova Scotia: The work carried out by the NSYCC is crucial to the future environmental and economic sustainability of the province. The jobs created through this program allow youth to be employed in the environmental field in Nova Scotia, which allows them to develop a sense of local environmental problems and solutions.

 Not only does the NSYCC program have a long-lasting effect on the communities they take place in, they provide participating youth with opportunities to grow, explore and learn valuable environmental practices that stay with them for life.