Greg Clary wrote an outstanding piece in today's Journal News about the Historic Hudson Valley Youth Conservation Corps. The piece, which ran on the front page of the "Your World" section, comes complete with great photos, too.

With the seven-week program ending this Friday, the article is perfectly timed to be a great memento for the participants. Kudos to all the students who took part this summer!

Read Greg's piece here.

So what was the motivation behind launching the Youth Conservation Corps? As fans of the organization know, Historic Hudson Valley has long been committed to environmental conservation.

Now,  the YCC is a way to use its historic sites as contemporary learning laboratories with an environmental focus. Goals for the project include instilling the values of hard work, responsibility, service, respect for the environment, and education.

In the program two teams of six students, each with their own supervisor - Rebecca Watkins of Nyack and Travis Mockler of Plesantville, each working with the assistance of Elizabeth Wilkins of Red Hook and all under the aegis of Thom Thacker, site director at Philipsburg Manor - are engaged in a curriculum of environmental education, career and leadership training, and recreation activities.

Over the course of seven weeks this summer, the program's students are helping to restore the walking trails at Sunnyside, originally designed and used by author and ambassador Washington Irving in the mid-19^th century. At Philipsburg Manor, they are removing brush and other debris from the bed of the Pocantico River. They are also participating in the annual rye harvest.

Fridays are reserved for field trips to locations such as the Hudson River Museum, Beczak Environmental Education Center, Breakneck Mountain, and Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, places that help reinforce the lessons learned here.

Big rounds of applause go out to the programs supporters, which are The Thomas and Agnes Carvel Foundation, Entergy's Environmental Stewardship Program, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey, and the New York City Environmental Fund.

Want to see the Corps in action? Drop by Sunnyside on a Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday. The program's season ends on Aug. 15.

Coverage of Historic Hudson Valley's recent Hudson Valley Hero Gala honoring Joseph Cotter and his National RE/sources is starting to turn up in various outlets online. Check it out at:

New York Social Diary

Panache Magazine

Norwalk Advocate

More coming I'm sure...

The Civilian Conservation Corps, one of the best-known "alphabet soup" initiatives created by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression, was such a popular work relief program that it operated in every state at its prime, and was active here in Westchester during the 1930s.

While the CCC may be a thing of the past, today there are numerous youth conservation corps programs throughout the country. Like the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps from which they take their name, they primarily engage in conservation-oriented work in local, state, and national parks.

The one unifying principle that seems to define all existing youth conservation corps programs is that they use conservation and service work as a medium for youth development. The programs' goals include instilling the values of hard work, responsibility, service, respect for the environment, and education. To achieve these goals, the programs are not confined merely to physically challenging work, but also typically involve environmental education, team-building activities, career and leadership training, and recreational activity involving outdoor pursuits and visits to museums and historical sites.

Now, a new youth education and empowerment program dedicated to those principles and modeled on FDR's famed Civilian Conservation Corps is taking place right here in Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown.

Known as the Historic Hudson Valley Youth Conversation Corps, the Corps -- launched on June 30 -- is a job readiness program that seeks to instill the twin values of a strong work ethic and conservation in area youth.

The students taking part, ages 15-18 from the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester and from a wide range of social, economic, and educational backgrounds, are working on various projects at Washington Irving's Sunnyside and Philipsburg Manor such as grounds and trail work, riverbed cleanup, erosion control, and more.

All of the work has an environmental component, but there's an interesting artistic element to it as well, as you can see from the images here. Besides clearing trails and helping control erosion, the group is creating life-size animals out of fallen twigs and logs, under the direction of Michael Natiello, creative guru behind HHV's Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze. Nice job guys!

More on the YCC later this week...

Historic Hudson Valley feted Joseph Cotter and his National RE/sources on Wednesday, June 18, at Washington Irving's Sunnyside. More than 300 guests attended the Hudson Valley Hero Gala, which was co-chaired by John T. Cooney, Jr., HHV Board of Trustees Chairman Michael Hegarty, John R. Peckham, HHV board member Mark F. Rockefeller, and Lawrence D. Stewart.

Among those who braved the threat of thunder and the raining of both cats and dogs were, top photo from left, HHV President Waddell Stillman, County Executive Andy Spano, and the guest of honor, Joseph Cotter. Bottom left photo shows Janet Langsam, president of the Westchester Arts Council, along with Brenda Spano. And at right are, from left, Natalie Derby and Claire Hallock.