PowerCorpsPHL Newsletter
June 2015

Ahoy, mateys of the PowerCorpsPHL Monthly Newsletter!  

All hands on deck for the June installment of our swashbucklingly awesome newsletter! The perfect screed to read while taking some sun next to the new pop-up pool our crews are working on at Francisville Playground!

We want to thank you for your continued support of our newsletter and our organization! We are thrilled to deliver stories from our program to your inbox every month. Now read on for information on our upcoming cohorts, what our graduates have been up to, and more!
Where are they now?


One of the many benefits of being a part of the PowerCorpsPHL staff is the monthly "Alumni Update" sent out by our Career Services Manager, Margy Wilcox. Margy works closely with each graduate of our program to help them find the career and education opportunities that are right for him or her, and so she always has the inside scoop on a member's successes and achievements before the rest of us! Recently, we've had a lot of graduates moving on to careers in green jobs, especially Green Stormwater Infrastructure. You can see some of our GSI guys pictured above with Philadelphia Water Department Commissioner Howard Neukrug! Click on the pic to read why the Water Department called PowerCorps the "perfect pipeline for green jobs."

Just as many of our members are interested in working green jobs, many others have diverse interests that include teaching, youth advocacy, criminal justice, and more! Here is a featurette by Margy just for you faithful readers of the newsletter about three graduates who have taken on an exciting opportunity with one of our partner organizations.

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Recently, YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School (one of our Recruitment Partners) hired three PowerCorpsPHL alumni in the part-time role of "Postsecondary Mentor." In order to graduate from YouthBuild, students must complete a number of requirements, including--but not limited to--academic coursework, AmeriCorps community service hours, and completion of a trade certification. Our alumni mentor current YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School students towards completion of these requirements. 

The alumni representing PowerCorps at YouthBuild are Chilon Carroll (Cohorts 2 & 3), Joseph Hill-Coles (Cohort 2), and Malake Rosser (Cohort 2 member & Cohort 3 Assistant Crew Leader). If you follow our social media (and if you don't, links are in the top right corner!), these names are probably already familiar to you. 

Chilon has been crushing it since graduation, currently working for both YouthBuild and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia as a Philly Bike Share Street Ambassador. Joseph, in addition to his work with YouthBuild, has found a home as a barista at The Monkey & The Elephant Cafe and is pursuing his postsecondary studies. In fact, at the grand opening of M&E, Joseph delivered a speech and introduced Mayor Nutter! Malaka has been working very hard since graduating from PowerCorps, both as a YouthBuild mentor and a server at Olive Garden!

All three of these alumni have expressed an interest in pursuing mentorship as a career path and have demonstrated the ability to navigate the many challenges that present themselves in the mentor-mentee relationship. We are very proud of them and wish them continued success!
Julia Hillengas Featured on Philly.com

This is our newsletter, so we're allowed to toot our own horn a little bit, right? 




If you read last month's edition, you'll remember that we congratulated Julia Hillengas, our Deputy Service Officer and a Pretty Cool Human Being, on being named a White House Champion of Change. Obviously this was a huge honor, not just for Julia but for our entire organization. Julia represents the essence of what PowerCorps is all about, and we can think of no one more deserving of this honor than her. Congratulations again, Julia!

But we're not writing this just to rub it in your face remind you of what you already know! Earlier this month, the media caught on to what a gem we have in our office, and philly.com published an interview with Julia about her experience as a public servant here in her hometown of Philadelphia. Follow the link for the full story!
Apply for Cohort V!

We can hardly believe we're saying this, but there are only ~2.5 weeks left to get your applications in for our fifth cohort! That's right, applications are due by July 3rd, 2015 for anyone interested in joining our September 2015 cohort. Why it seems like just yesterday we were evaluating the applications for Cohort IV! 

In the last couple of weeks, we've received several inquiries into our application/recruitment process, so we'd like to use this space to give a crash course in joining PowerCorpsPHL. If you or someone you know wants to get involved, here's what you need to do.

  1. Become a member with one of our Recruitment Partners: To join our program you need to be referred by one of the following organizations--YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School, E3 Power Centers, The Achieving Independence Center, Youth Violence Prevention Partnership, RISE, or the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Links for all of these organizations are in the sidebar --> 
  2. Apply to PowerCorpsPHL: Someone at your RP organization will be able to help you fill out and send your application.
  3. Interviews: After we have reviewed your application, you will be contacted for a phone interview. If that goes well, you'll be brought in for a face-to-face interview, as well as a site interview where you visit a Crew Leader on a PowerCorpsPHL work site, to make sure you understand the nature of the work we do and evaluate your level of interest.
  4. Pre-Service Orientation: If you are offered a position on a PowerCorpsPHL crew, you will have to complete our two-week Pre-Service Orientation at the School District of Philadelphia. This is your introduction to what the program is about, what you can expect to be doing on your work sites, the type of professional development you will receive, and other pertinent information.
After you complete that process, you will be an official crew member of PowerCorpsPHL working on sites all over your city! 

HOWEVER

In order to apply to our program in the first place, you MUST be between the ages of 18 and 26, and possess either a GED or high school diploma. All of this information is available at PowerCorpsPHL.org/Apply. If you have any further questions, please reach out to us! Our email address is PowerCorpsPHL@phila.gov. We look forward to receiving your applications!  

Welcome, Summer AmeriCorps Members!



Earlier this month, our first ever cohort of Summer AmeriCorps Members joined the Cohort IV crews on their work sites. During the summer months, as the workload (and the weather) intensifies, these new members will provide auxiliary support to our crews on their PPR and PWD projects as well as their off-site service at programs such as SHARE (pictured above).

We are very excited to have these members providing support for our teams! As always, if you see one of our crews in your neck of the woods, show them some love while they improve our beloved Philadelphia, block by block. 
About PowerCorpsPHL

PowerCorpsPHL, launched in September 2013, is an AmeriCorps program designed to support Mayor Michael A. Nutter's environmental stewardship initiatives, as well as the City of Philadelphia's youth violence prevention and workforce development priorities.

 

Annually, PowerCorpsPHL enrolls 136 highly-at-risk 18 to 26-year-olds in a 6-month AmeriCorps program that provides participants the opportunity to develop the skills required to become environmental stewards, secure meaningful work, and become civically engaged members of society.

 

During their AmeriCorps terms of service, participants work with partner City departments to tackle pressing environmental challenges, including the need for improved stormwater management, increased tree coverage, and revitalized public land. Upon completion of their service terms, alumni receive intensive transition support designed to enhance their chances for success in career-track employment, post-secondary education, and/or national service.
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Hire Our Alumni!
Our corps members have finished their service terms and are ready to help you expand your business. These alumni navigated six months of full-time service, logging over 780 hours on work sites with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and the Philadelphia Water Department. Additionally, our team members have completed 120 hours of professional development, and are now ready to become members of our region's workforce.

If you are interested in hiring a PowerCorpsPHL alum, contact Carolyn Caton, our Workforce Partnerships Manager, at carolyn.caton@phila.gov to learn more about our employer services.


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