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Pathways to the Future Youth Program

The Program Offering for the Pathways to the Future Youth Program :

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Pathways to the Future (PTF) Urban Community Forestry program in eastern Arkansas, initiated by the Arkansas Human Development Corporation (AHDC) in partnership with Minorities in Conservation, and supported by strategic partners including the East Arkansas Regional Youth Employment Initiative and the Great Rivers Education Service Cooperative.

 

The PTF program is designed as a pilot initiative with a scalable strategy aimed at empowering individuals, groups, and organizations in disadvantaged communities to actively participate in urban and community forestry planning, planting, and management.

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The Summer Preparation (SP) program will be a 16-week program for high school students to get them ready to apply for the Youth Summer Work program. Each week will consist of different subjects around educating them on the program, professional development, and job education/exposure in the urban forestry and conservation space. The last two weeks of the program will be reserved to help interested youth fine tune and apply for the summer program. After submission the chosen candidates will be paired with summer work/internship/apprenticeship in the urban forestry and conservation space.

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The Youth Summer Work (YSW) program will be a 10-week program for high school students in North East Arkansas.

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The program will conclude with a closing ceremony that will provide the opportunity to highlight students and student accomplishments, and more broadly expose students to career and educational opportunities in urban forestry during a Workforce Career Expo and keynote presentation.

Activities

  • Trail construction/maintenance,                    

  • Tree planting/removal                                          

  • Corridor clearing

  • Preservation of commemorative resources    

  • Habitat restoration               

  • Educational outings                                   

  • Additional professional development.

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The UCF-PTF program is an educational pathway program working to:

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Introduce youth ages 16 - 18 to career opportunities related to urban forestry through curriculum-driven experiential
learning and career exploration.

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Provide work-based learning opportunities (e.g. internships or apprenticeships) to eligible youth ages 16 - 18 to combine
paid on-the-job training with classroom instruction to prepare students for urban forestry careers and beyond.

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Support enrollment in credential trainings at certified post secondary institutions.

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Connect employers (public & private sector) to highly-skilled talent to address industry needs. Strategy : To accomplish the objectives outlined above, our team will execute a strategy across three programmatic elements

 The UCF-PTF Youth Summer Preparation program, and Youth Summer Work program, in distinct ways  ,

Will accomplish the shared purpose of fostering individuals, groups, and organizations in disadvantaged communities to become engaged participants in urban forest planning, planting, and management.

110 Early Street, Forrest City, AR 72335

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