Arborist Training Program (03-DG-11083150-250)

This project consisted of an Arborist Training Program that provided vocational training, educational classes and counseling to minority and underserved populations in urban and community programs.

The Arborist Training Program (ATP) at Norfolk Botanical Garden (NBG) is a 15-week session that provides vocational training, educational classes and counseling. The program strives to meet NUCFAC's category #1 goal: To improve the involvement of minority and underserved populations in the development and delivery of urban and community programs and improve public and private services to minority and underserved populations. The goal of ATP is to place at-risk juveniles who represent minority and underserved populations in the urban forestry workforce. The arboricultural training, job coaching and counseling is designed to teach marketable job skills that will enable graduates to compete for entry-level tree-care jobs in the Hampton Roads Community.

Out of the 15 youth trained, three continue to struggle with the social ills that confront this population. Some obstacles have proven to be so great that it is too much to expect them to overcome these hurdles in the short period of time that they are with us. The good news is that 12 of these kids can be considered successful. 4 are in the tree care & landscaping field making very good money; the others are either in college or working in another field. This meets our secondary goal that aspired to teach work ethics, increase self-worth, and reduce recidivism with placement in the job market. During the 2-year project, we were able to promote our efforts at numerous conferences, several publications and one local newscast. We also have completed a Policy, Procedure and Teaching Manual that can be distributed for national replication of this program.

The objectives that we aspired to achieve with this apprenticeship program are training minority and/or underserved youth to work in the urban tree care industry. We also had secondary goals to teach work ethics, increase self-worth/esteem building, reduce recidivism in court-involved youth and to further their education. Job placement was also an integral part of our program.

Attachments

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