The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and AmeriCorps this week announced the Environmental Justice Climate Corps, a new partnership launched to open doors for people to serve in careers that benefit disadvantaged and other low-income communities.
This partnership will support more than 250 AmeriCorps VISTA members nationwide over three years, with each new participating member completing a one-year term of service.
This historic initiative is the largest environmental partnership in AmeriCorps' history and EPA's first nationwide service effort.
Environmental Justice Climate Corps members will be paid a living allowance and reimbursed for selected living expenses. In total, this allowance is equivalent to receiving more than $25 per hour throughout their year of service.
Members will obtain the benefits of AmeriCorps VISTA service—including the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award, which is valued at $7,395 in FY24, and streamlined pathways into certain federal jobs—as well as gain mentorship and professional development opportunities.
This program aims to recruit participants from communities disproportionately impacted by environmental justice challenges and seeks to recruit individuals with an interest in environmental justice careers.
The Environmental Justice Climate Corps is part of the American Climate Corps—a workforce training and service initiative that will ensure more young people have access to the skills-based training necessary for good-paying careers in the clean energy and climate resilience economy.
The American Climate Corps will mobilize a new, diverse generation of more than 20,000 Americans in the initiative's first year, putting them to work conserving and restoring our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, deploying clean energy, implementing energy efficient technologies, and advancing environmental justice—all while creating pathways to high-quality, good-paying clean energy and climate resilience jobs in the public and private sectors after they complete their paid training program.
Applications for the Environmental Justice Climate Corps will open in early 2025, with a goal for its first cohort to start later that year.
To sign up for updates on the program, visit EPA's website.