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header image: nps.govUS Department of InteriorNational Park ServiceNational Park Service
Visitors hiking in a park.
The Corps Network

­The Corps Network, formerly known as the National Association for Service and Corps (NASCC), is the advocate and representative for the nation’s 136 Service and Conservation Corps in order to preserve and grow the Corps movement.

Service and Conservation Corps currently operate in 42 states and the District of Columbia. Over 26,000 Corpsmembers ages 16-25, contribute more than 16 million hours of service annually. Corps annually mobilizes approximately 125,000 community volunteers who contributed more than 2.4 million additional hours of service.

Service and Conservation Corps are direct descendents of the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) of the 1930’s that built park facilities in the national parks and built parks and other public facilities around the country. Like the CCC, the Corps of today gives young men and women the chance to change their lives, those of their family and their community. Corps create urban parks and gardens, improve public lands, perform environmental restoration, fight forest fires, tutor individuals, staff after-school programs, and renovate deteriorated housing. The Corps Network was established in 1985.

A qualified Service and Conservation Corps means any program established by a State or local government, by the governing body of any Indian nation, or by a non-profit organization that:

  • Is capable of offering meaningful, full-time, productive work for individuals between the ages of 16 and 25 in a natural or cultural resource setting.
  • Gives participants a mix of work experience, basic and life skills, education, training, and support services.
  • Provides participants with the opportunity to develop citizenship values and skills through service to their community and the United States.

Many of the Service and Conservation Corps affiliated with the Corps Network were created in early 1980's when funding for the Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) and Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) was reduced. The founders and current employees of these corps apply many of the same concepts and philosophies of the original federally managed conservation corps in the day to day operations of their current programs. Aside from federal funding, corps receive their funding from state and local government, foundations and corporations.

The Corps Network works as a cooperating partner with NPS by linking youth corps agencies with conservation projects in national parks.

Corps Network NPS Partners