The Youth Pathways program is a pillar of Groundwork Denver's mission. Year-round, youth and young adults join our team as paid staff. During their time with us, they take stock of their own environmental experiences, engage in building relationships with land and community, and channel their passion by taking direct action towards a healthy, equitable, and sustainable environment.
Environmental injustices are concentrated in certain areas of metro Denver, largely based on race and class. With that top of mind, we focus on hiring youth from the most impacted areas to engage in projects alongside their peers and neighbors. These areas include northwest Aurora, Cole, Commerce City, Elyria-Swansea, Five Points, Globeville, Montbello, Northeast Park Hill, Sheridan, Westwood, and other nearby areas.
Keep reading below for more about our many Youth Pathways.
Groundwork Denver Youth Teams are crews of young environmentalists who are paid members of our staff. While with us, they take on projects that improve metro Denver’s urban environment.
Youth Teams aim to:
- Support youth through educational and career success
- Create space for youth to grow their relationships with community and land
- Drive positive, local environmental impact for the well-being of all
- Develop pathways for youth who are impacted by environmental injustices to become leaders in environmental industries and movements
- Offer advancement opportunities for returning youth to grow their leadership and management skills
Year-round, Youth Teams work on a variety of projects like tending to community gardens, installing rain barrels for neighbors, caring for federally protected lands, and engaging their communities in local environmental justice issues.
Promoting personal health and community well-being is also very important to the work that the Youth Teams do. Throughout their experience, Youth Team members take stock of their own experiences through an environmental justice lens, serve as community champions, develop relationships with the land, get know their neighbors, and enjoy the wonders of nature.
Offered year-round, with some teams operating all year, and some operating seasonally.
Ideal for ages 14-21.
Please use the link at the bottom of this page to learn more about any openings.
Our Ground Corps is designed in partnership with land management-focused organizations. Young adults on the Ground Corps support hands-on projects that improve the land while deepening their connection to it and building new skills. From Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City, to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, to Valentine State Park in Nebraska, to public lands in metro Denver, Ground Corps members have a big impact across the region while staying connected to local landscapes.
When participants graduate from Ground Corps, they leave with a host of new skills, a deeper connection with nature, a network of professionals supporting them, and an eagerness to apply their environmental lens along their career paths.
Offered once per year.
Ideal for ages 18-29.
Please use the link at the bottom of this page to learn more about any openings.
Over the course of two months, young adults in our Grit Program embody community leadership skills, deepen their relationship with the natural world, learn how to succeed in the workplace, develop urban resilience job skills, and launch their careers. Participants leave with valuable certifications as well as a year of career support.
Program Includes:
- Environmental career exploration, job seeking, and post-program job support
- Energy conservation principles and practices
- Environmental regulations
- Tree & rain garden training and installation
- Sustainable urban planning
- Water quality and conservation
- Regenerative practices & traditional ecological knowledge
- Community climate engagement strategies
Offered twice per year, wi one cohort in the spring, and one in the fall.
Ideal for ages 18-29.
Please use the link at the bottom of this page to learn more about any openings.